How to Check If My Internet or Wi-Fi Is Hacked

Cybersecurity threats are not just a problem for large businesses; home users and small businesses now face these threats every day. Knowing how to check if my internet is hacked is an important skill to protect your devices, data, and privacy. A hacked network may expose sensitive data, redirect your traffic, or limit your connection fee – without giving you clear warning.

This guide describes the most common router vulnerabilities, warning signs that your connection is compromised regardless of whether your router is … compromised and offers practical steps to secure your network.

Understanding Router Vulnerabilities and Why They are Important

The router is the conduit between your devices and the internet. If compromised, an attacker can monitor user activity, steal user information, and disperse malware to finance their criminal activities across your entire network. Not all vulnerabilities will be labelled as vulnerable or obvious, but there are common vulnerabilities that are typically caused by:

Outdated firmware and unpatched firmware.
Weak and/or unchanged access passwords (default passwords).
Misconfigured settings or even open ports.
Remote Management enabled and not required or used by the user.

By ignoring any of these issues you risk turning your wireless router into a path for potential attackers. It is important to keep your router’s firmware updated regularly, disabled and used only essential features, and use strong credentials help you limit these risks before they are even taken advantage of.

How a Compromised Router Puts you at Risk

While slow internet speeds are definitely not ideal, a hacked network access can have far worse consequences than simply moderate your retrieval speeds. Attackers could:

Redirect the user’s web browsing experience to malicious sites (aka pharming).
Steal login credentials, financial data, or sensitive business information.
Disable built-in routers security features (exploiting bugs).

Abuse their newfound access and your bandwidth to finance their criminal activities (sending spam campaigns, DDoS attacks, or crypto mining etc.). Router hacks are particularly harmful to small businesses since they can enable data breaches of client records or intellectual property. Remote management settings are also convenient and an easy target for criminals unless they are secured.

Common Signs Your Internet Is Hacked

Not every quirk means your internet is being hacked but you should never ignore any persistent or unusual problems. This section gives several red flags that usually show a hacked router or network.

Slow Internet

If your internet slumps to significantly below your plan’s usual performance, especially when you have a few devices logged on, it could be that someone is illegally borrowing your internet. They might be using your hacked router to conduct illegal activities, which could degrade your connection speed. Additionally, if your devices are connected to potentially compromised routers, they too can be at risk.

Practical actions:

Conduct multiple speed tests throughout the day.
Confirm the slowdown or drop in speed takes place even when you have only one device connected.
Check your router’s administrator page for any unknown devices logged on.

Unknown Devices on Your Network

It’s good practice to check your router’s “Connected Devices”. Unauthorized devices indicate someone has joined your WiFi.

Considerations:

Label any device you trust so that unknown or suspicious devices are easier to differentiate.
If possible, ensure WPA3 encryption is being utilized and update passwords on a regular basis.
If you use a guest network, disable it or, at a minimum, keep it isolated from your regular network.

Router Log-In Problems

If you are unable to access the admin page of your router configuration, using the correct credentials this may indicate that an attacker has changed your log-in and credentials. This is often done so legitimate users are locked out while they continue to have access to the router, undetected.

What to do:

Perform a hard reset to return the router to factory default settings.
Upgrade the firmware to the most current version as soon as possible.
Use strong, unique passwords for your admin log-in and your WiFi.
Disable remote management unless you need it.

Suspicious Activity on the Network

If you have observed suspicious activity on your router (for example, blinking router lights when no users are online, random reboots by the router, unexplained spikes in traffic), this could indicate tampering. An attacker can change your DNS settings, manipulate traffic, and open ports for access again without asking.

If you suspect, then:

Do a hard reset of the router, and reconfigure it with secured passwords and best practices.
Change the WiFi password, and make all devices reconnect to your WiFi.
Document if there were attempts to log-in again, or unknown IP’s on your router.

How to Make Your Router More Secure if Compromised

First, if you suspect that your internet has been hacked, you will want to make as swift a resolution as possible to mitigate any harm and to protect yourself from harm in the future.

Reset the router and update firmware: reset the router to factory defaults, and get the most current version of the firmware.
Change all passwords, Admin log-in and WiFi should have unique complex passwords.
Enable Network Encryption: If you can, use WPA3, WPA2 is acceptable if older versions of WPA are not available, but never use deprecated WEP.
Remote management: Some routers are capable of being remotely managed. This is a good feature, unless you are not going to turn it on in your environment, never enable it.
Look for unknown devices: disconnect suspicious connections to your network, and update your trusted device list.
Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN): A VPN encrypts the data traffic you send and receive while accessing the internet, so an attacker cannot wiretap sensitive activities you complete online.
Research if there are log reports: Research to find out if the router records any unauthorized login attempts, DNS changes, or port changes.
Educate users, Forever! Regardless if it is in a home environment or larger business environment where people log on to the internet with their own devices, every user of the internet and the connected devices will get a chance to talk about the things they do on the internet, and reflect on the importance of having strong passwords to protect their ownership over the personal data and/or business network assets.

Be Proactive About Protecting Against Internet Hacking

As stated above, a router hacker is often quiet until their actions cause havoc after the fact.

However, by establishing habits such as regularly verifying what devices are connected to your network, remembering to update the firmware on the router, and checking the log activity on the router, you are being proactive in putting barriers in place for attackers to have additional points of entry to access your systems.

For SMBs and business resources, establishing habits like regularly completing IT audits and training staff regularly on how to defeat a hacker would be additional measures you can take to eliminate risk and promote security.

For home-user proactive habits, there are a few options that require a limited amount of internet navigation: consider using a VPN ALWAYS, do not connect through guest networks or replace your old routers that are older than five years.

Building a Safer Internet Experience

When considering how to check if your internet is hacked, it is more than just identifying possible issues; it is about creating a better and safer experience for every user and every device on the network that uses the internet. Most importantly, by being proactive, we can all protect our privacy interests, reduce unnecessary downtime, and sleep better at night!

If you would like to gain IT professionals in your team, Real-Time can help provide a team of IT-specialists to ensure further the security of your router/router settings, network and devices. Please reach out to us today to discuss personal supportive initiatives to keep your home or business safe!