My internet usage has inexplicably gone through the roof

Question

Level 1

59 points

My internet usage has inexplicably gone through the roof

I'm using a 2-wire Gateway wi-fi modem and I have the network name hidden, a WAP2 password that I've changed several times and a different password that blocks access to the wireless password. For years my average internet usage was around 5GB a month, but in December it soared to 26GB without any change in my behaviour. The same thing happened in January and is happening in February. It's notable that there are big volumes of uploads, though I'm uploading nothing. It's been suggested that I'm somehow functioning as a server for bit-torrent users as a result of having downloaded Vuze and Tomato. I got intrigued by an article about freenet and investigated the whole bit-torrent thing but decided it was too complicated and too dodgy-looking and I didn't download or upload anything. Can something have happened at that time that's enabling people to steal my bandwidth? Is there something I can do about it? How can I block access?

iMac 3.06 GH, Mac OS X (10.6), 4GB RAM

Posted on Feb 10, 2010 4:47 PM

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Answer 1

ctmurray

Level 1

88 points

Feb 10, 2010 7:36 PM in response to Peter Best1

You can set the security of your wireless router (WPA type is better than WEP) where you assign a code, so that only people with the code can use your wireless. This is often enough security. In addition you can set up the router to only broadcast its existence to computers who you designated by their MAC address. So this limits who can even try to access your a network. Both of these can be set up on your router by logging into the router (usually you have to connect directly to the router with an ethernet cable and follow vendor's instructions). More detailed instructions can be found by searching on Google.

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Answer 2

Peter Best1 Author

Level 1

59 points

Feb 10, 2010 7:51 PM in response to ctmurray

Thanks for your response. My modem is set with a WAP2 password to access connection to the internet. To get to the section of the modem where that password is stored requires another password. The network is set to not reveal its name to outsiders, so an outside has first to guess the name of the network, then guess the 12-digit password to enable connection. From my googling it seems likely that my computer is being used as a server by some P2P users. This means they're accessing the internet connection somehow without having to use the passwords. How is this possible? I have no idea. P2P is a total mystery to me. I can't believe that it isn't possible to stop this activity but I can't find out how to do it. I hope somebody knows, and that they'll tell me.

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Answer 3

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,179 points

Feb 10, 2010 11:21 PM in response to Peter Best1

You may want to download and install Little Snitch to check and see if there's something on your Mac unexpectedly doing uploading without your knowledge.

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