Any network specialists in here?

patooyee · Jul 15, 2013

I provide free wifi at all my restaurants. Recently the cable company has been sending me warnings of service cancellation due to copyright infringement. They don't say what is being infringed so I called to get more info and found that full-length copyrighted pornographic movies are being illegally downloaded via my free wifi. They can tell me the times of the day and the movie titles but that's about it. (Apparently this person is a big fan of anal intercourse.) Its happening late at night, long after we are closed, cleaned up, and gone for the day, so I don't suspect an employee or even that its being done from within the property. Its obviously one of the local houses bumming our internet. I wouldn't particularly care other than that the cable company is saying they will eventually have to quit serving us, which would be a problem since my credit cards run through that network.

I need a net nanny of some sort that can watch my network's traffic and block copyrighted / pornographic downloading. Barracuda, Webtitan, Umbrella, and Lightspeed have all been mentioned but those are all extremely expensive with recurring fees. I don't feel like spending two grande per year just to keep some prick from watching Assmasters 2. Anyone know of any other solutions?

Joc · Jul 15, 2013

turn the wireless router off when you close if its happening after hours.

patooyee · Jul 15, 2013

Joc said:
turn the wireless router off when you close if its happening after hours.

That's a pretty simple solution I guess ... still, something automated would be nice just to head off future issues such as pervs watching porn in-house where children can see it. (This has happened at one of my other locations during business hours, had to ask patron to leave after a mom complained.)

ridered3 · Jul 16, 2013

That's one way to provide dinner and a show...

Setup a password protected wireless whereby the patron gets their free WIFI, but needs a password. Would need to change the password maybe monthly to keep the perv from getting the password just by being a patron of your establishment. But I'd think if the perv is using your interwebs to download skin flicks, he/she/it probably wouldn't come not the restaurant.

redneckengineered · Jul 16, 2013

Running a completely open "free" WIFI network with zero login credentials is a bad idea anywhere these days. You can still make it free but enable security and have printed slips to hand patrons with the login instructions. Change the password monthly or however frequently or infrequently you choose. Any other solution worth a **** is going to cost money and you're still going to end up with patrons having to login one way or another. That being said, we utilize Sonicwall products here at work and they are great. You can select what you want blocked from an admin panel and it will block that particular content. You can also do lots of other neat **** and get really in depth as they are very powerful little routers but they come with a cost. And yes, I would be considered the network admin, server admin here...among other things.

My advice, password protect your Wifi and see if you have any more problems.

85buggy · Jul 16, 2013

Just tell tacomajd to download his porn somewhere else

patooyee · Jul 16, 2013

redneckengineered said:
My advice, password protect your Wifi and see if you have any more problems.

It has been password protected all along. There is nothing keeping the perv from just coming in, ordering a drink, and asking for the password though. I guess I can change the password regularly. I can barely keep up with the passwords I've got though.

BadRockOffroad · Jul 16, 2013

This video I found is a little cheesy but I have done the same at my house, most routers will have a similar admin page.

How to block a website using your router

redneckengineered · Jul 16, 2013

patooyee said:
It has been password protected all along. There is nothing keeping the perv from just coming in, ordering a drink, and asking for the password though. I guess I can change the password regularly. I can barely keep up with the passwords I've got though.

Gotcha. Well the next "free" option I think would be to try and log the MAC address of the unit that is doing the downloading and ban it from your router. This is pretty effective and will take some effort on the part of the perv to bypass. It can be done but he's really got to want free wifi and I'd imagine it would be easier to just go to Panera or Chick-Fil-A.

patooyee · Jul 16, 2013

redneckengineered said:
Gotcha. Well the next "free" option I think would be to try and log the MAC address of the unit that is doing the downloading and ban it from your router.

That sounds like fun because he would know he was busted. How do I do that?

redneckengineered · Jul 16, 2013

Depends on your router. Log into the settings and there should some area that shows active login sessions. This will usually have the IP and MAC address of each client logged into your router. If it's 3am and there's only one active session you have your culprit. Your ISP may also have his IP address but blocking it won't do a lot of good. It's easy to bypass and changes with each session anyway. The MAC address however is unique to each device and once blocked that device cannot log back in. The only way for him to really bypass the block would be to get a new network card which would have a new unique MAC address but that would require money and effort on his part.

What router do you have? Make and model

patooyee · Jul 16, 2013

redneckengineered said:
Depends on your router. Log into the settings and there should some area that shows active login sessions. This will usually have the IP and MAC address of each client logged into your router. If it's 3am and there's only one active session you have your culprit. Your ISP may also have his IP address but blocking it won't do a lot of good. It's easy to bypass and changes with each session anyway. The MAC address however is unique to each device and once blocked that device cannot log back in. The only way for him to really bypass the block would be to get a new network card which would have a new unique MAC address but that would require money and effort on his part.

What router do you have? Make and model

I'll have to get back to you on that. I'm not at that location again until Thurs. Thanks for your help though.

ridered3 · Jul 27, 2013

What did ya figure out on this?

patooyee · Jul 27, 2013

Re:

We're just unplugging the router at night right now. Haven't had time to find a better solution yet. I did see where i can log and ban mac addresses in my router settings though. Problem is i have to be there to catch the perv in the act to see which Mac is his and i just don't want to hang around that late at night. Especially not knowing for sure that he is going to even do it on any given night. It would be nice if the software logged times with the addresses but it doesn't. It just tells me the addresses without any other info that i can tell? If it gave a time i could just ban the late night Mac addresses. It would also be convenient if it had a timer where it would automatically shut wifi off and then back on. But nope!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Slippery · Jul 27, 2013

Re: Re: Any network specialists in here?

Router should also have ability to select hours to operate.

Sent off camber

TBItoy · Jul 27, 2013

$6 solution.

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=148297-207-TM01DHBLPD&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3333492&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

residential timer.

:afro:

viseashane1 · Jul 27, 2013

go to harbor fright and get a $5 timer I used one on my pool for years if you want it

Neal3000 · Jul 27, 2013

Why don't you just go out there at 3am and beat his ass?

patooyee · Nov 5, 2014

Just an update to this ... by paying a little closer attention we were able to narrow the suspect down to two customers. I figured out how to log MAC addresses and we also logged dates and times of each of those customers' visits. By cross referencing dates / times of the infractions on the notices that the cable company was sending me we were able to pin the porn on one of the guys so I blocked his MAC from my router. 2 days later on his next visit he came up to the front counter and asked what was wrong with the wifi. We acted like we didn't know, even though the router gives an obvious message to the user saying, "I'm sorry, your MAC address has been blocked, please consult your network administrator for further information." After that he hasn't come back and the notices from the cable company have completely stopped.

The most ****ed up part of it all is that he is the owner of a large complex down the street for kids. They have bowling, mini put put, arcades, and playgrounds for children. Tons of kids birthday parties, etc.

Just thought I would close this thread off.

tkinze · Nov 5, 2014

good to hear, log files are always good to keep an eye on!! Depending on the router you can automate the process, some routers have the ability to enable/disable the WiFi signal based upon a schedule. For instance you can auto enable at 10AM and disable at 11PM, some can even be done based upon specific days of the week You should also be able to filter content but it will require ongoing maintenance as things change constantly.

good luck!!