EffieH's profile

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4 Messages

Friday, January 29th, 2021 6:00 AM

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Our home network was hacked by a neighbor!

I was wondering if I should report this to Comcast so they can be aware of a hacker in my neighborhood?   I believe he may have now hacked into someone else's network in my immediate neighborhood and would like Comcast to be aware of this in case any of my neighbors are experiencing a sudden increase in data usage.

 

By way of explanation -- our home network was hacked back in October, we first realized it when our Internet speeds slowed way down and we started being kicked out of our own home network.  It took me a couple of days to realize what was happening, and I immediately changed my router password, but I intentionally just switched around the last four characters of my extremely complicated 26 character password in order to test my theory.   Our speeds immediately went back up to blazingly fast and we were no longer being kicked out, but it only took the hacker about a day and  half to crack the password again -- and our speeds suddenly slowed way down again and we were again being kicked out.   This time I updated our router firmware, changed the security setting from wpa/wpa2 to just wpa2, and changed the password to a new extremely complicated 26 character password -- and our speeds instantly increased again and no longer being kicked out.  However, I knew the hacker, who only appeared to hack into our network on the weekends, was at that moment most likely working diligently to hack back into our system.  So I checked the perimeter of our property and realized that my wifi range extender was sending a strong signal towards the street behind our house -- I shut the wifi range extender down and within FIVE MINUTES a car sped up in front of our house, a hand shot out of the sunroof of the car and pointed a cellphone at our house.  The car then BACKED SLOWLY DOWN THE ROAD, pointing the cellphone at our house and our next door neighbor's house, then drove SLOWLY BACK UP THE ROAD, pulling in front of our house again, all the while pointing the cellphone at our houses.  Apparently, he was looking for the SSID broadcast of the wifi range extender I had just shut down!!   He didn't realize my husband was in the driveway, and when he saw my husband approach his car to confront him, he sped off -- but made the mistake of turning up a side road toward the street behind our house.   My husband had gotten a good description of his car, and his license plate number, so he drove up to the street behind our house (in the area towards which our wifi range extender had been sending a strong signal) and discovered the car parked at a neighbor's house.   It appears that I turned off the range extender right in the middle of his hacking back into our network.  

 

At that point I shut our whole network down and proceeded to research home network hacking and all the various ways it was possible to hack into a neighbor's wifi, and corrected all possible points of entry into our system before restarting our network a few days later. 

 

The hacker, who had an out of state license plate, showed up at our neighbor's house for a few more weekends afterwards, apparently trying to hack back into our network for the neighbor's use (neighbor is apparently now working at home due to COVID).  But it's been a month or so now since he has been there, so I'm worrying that he may have successfully hacked into one of our other neighbor's home wifi networks, and that they are unaware of it.

 

When I checked our data usage for October -- it was literally doubled over just the few days to a week that the hacker had been in our network, almost exceeding Comcast's new data limits!    Now it has gone back down dramatically to our normal usage, so it appears that we were successful in keeping the hacker out.   But with Comcast's new regulation about data limits, this could cost one of our neighbors a lot of money.  We live in an area with a lot of older and elderly people who may not realize what is happening and I would like to notify Comcast in case anyone in my immediate area is experiencing a sudden and dramatic increase in data usage, so they can take steps to protect our neighbors from this hacker.

Visitor

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5 Messages

4 years ago

Experiencing similar severe speed slowdowns and service disruptions. Suspect a neighbor located behind me. 

(edited)

Official Employee

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1.8K Messages

Good morning @user_4d1521 and thank you for reaching out to on our forums with your service issues. I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing connection problems and would be happy to help get this resolved. How long have you been experiencing slow speeds? Are you hardwired or connected via WiFi? 

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Visitor

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5 Messages

I'm connected via WiFi. However, when I initially set up the new gateway I was testing at more normal or expected speeds (at first). I am paying for gig speeds and expect roughly 250 - 500 Mbps on my equipment. I have received these testing results using various speed tests, including the one provided by X1. What I'm experiencing too frequently is speeds less than 90 Mbps (and sometimes as low as 20-30 Mbps). Also, I use the speed test for the X1 gateway itself. I have consistently get results from 1200 - 1300 Mbps which is expected. However, for the first time yesterday, when testing speed to the gateway I was getting 500-600 Mbps and the test was stopped with the message, " something is not right -- unexpected speed" or something similar to that. I waited a while and retested and the speeds went back to normal. I just tested speed to my computer (I usually get test results at roughly 400 - 500 Mbps.) Per Ookla - download 56 Mbps and per Xfinity 256 Mbps??? While this is much better it is slower than expected. Though using WiFi I'm close to the gateway. 

Visitor

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5 Messages

By the way, scratch what I said about speed to the gateway. Just tested it again and got 325 Mbps vs plan speed at 1200 Mbps. Everything is set up correctly with the gateway, as I said I usually receive test results at 1200 - 1300 Mbps. Highly suspect a hack and troll who is a neighbor. 

Official Employee

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2.1K Messages

I can definitely see how that would be frustrating. Are you using an Xfinity Gateway, by any chance? The Xfinity 'xFi' app will allow you to see every device currently and formerly connected to your network, to help rule out and eliminate any unwanted connections.

If you do feel that your network has been compromised by an external threat, our amazing Customer Security Assurance (CSA) Team may be able to step in and offer assistance. These security professionals handle issues like phishing, spam, infected computers (often called bots), online fraud and other security issues. They are available seven days a week between the hours of 8:00 AM and 12:00 AM, Eastern Standard Time. You can reach them by phone by calling 1-800-934-6489 (1-800-XFINITY), and asking for CSA. You can also reach them online at: 

https://comca.st/3im6sBm

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Visitor

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5 Messages

Absolutely using xfinity gateway, which is just a few months old. I'm aware of the xFi app. About a year ago there was unfamiliar device, but there was no activity associated with that device. I just "paused' that device and left it at that. Thanks for the information regarding CSA team. 

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