Unraveling a Mysterious Wi-Fi Situation: Are My In-Laws’ Credentials Being Exploited?

In an age where connectivity is king, a perplexing situation has arisen in my in-laws’ home that I’ve yet to encounter in my professional journey in Cyber Security Consultancy. Currently residing in the UK with my spouse’s family, I’ve stumbled upon a perplexing Wi-Fi conundrum that leaves me scratching my head. While I hold a degree in Computer Science, my recent ventures have led me away from technical matters, making this dilemma even more peculiar.

The setup: my in-laws subscribe to Virgin Media, using a Hub 3 router, which, unfortunately, is still operating with the factory default SSID and password (a combination of “VM” and random characters). Given the increase in residents at their home, I decided to upgrade their Wi-Fi experience by purchasing a high-end router, with plans to configure the Hub 3 into modem mode.

However, a shocking discovery halted my progress—a weak connection persisted to the Virgin router, even though it had been powered off. Intrigued, I employed a Wi-Fi analyzer app to investigate further. To my astonishment, I identified a mysterious access point emitting a signal—remarkably stronger in certain areas of the house, especially in my in-laws’ refreshed bedroom.

When I inquired about this mystery router, my in-laws insisted there was no additional access point present. To complicate matters, the main network input in their house is solely connected to the Hub 3 router. Naturally, red flags were raised. Thus, I concluded that the connection was emanating from another property, specifically their neighbor’s.

The kicker? This neighboring access point is a TalkTalk router—not Virgin Media. My findings were corroborated by a WHOIS lookup revealing that my current public IP address connected through this enigmatic access point indeed belonged to TalkTalk.

A Web of Connectivity

The implications of this unexpected situation are myriad. Who is using my in-laws’ Wi-Fi credentials, and how did they come to be? The neighbor’s house is a rented property with various tenants, suggesting that the credentials might have been passed around without thought to their origin.

Potential Scenarios:

1. A Coincidental Misuse:
Here’s a theory: A former tenant—perhaps in dire need of internet access—obtained my in-laws’ Wi-Fi details, either through observation or more dubious means like brute force attacks