If I share my WiFi with my neighbor, can they see my network traffic?
Hi, everyone. Leo Notenboom here for askleo.com.
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Let's dive right into the question.
"I have a home network with three
computers, two desktops connected with Ethernet cables to a router.
A laptop is wireless,
the wireless signal is encrypted and I gave my next door neighbors my network key
so they can wirelessly connect just to check, email, do banking, etc.
They are not on my home network,
but can they still see where I am surfing such as my bank site with Passcodes, etc.?"
I
I want to make something very, very clear.
You've said that they're not on your home
network. By giving them access to your WiFi.
They are indeed on your network.
They have connected just like any other computer of yours.
That password? That really only encrypts
the connection between the wireless antenna.
If you will, the WiFi access point and their computer once they're past
the access point, they're on your network and they could potentially see everything
that's going on, depending on, well, the details of your network.
So it's important to understand this because while the WiFi encryption is
important, it does secure their connection to the Internet.
It doesn't necessarily protect you.
For example, if you have computers that are sharing files or you have a printer
that you access from multiple computers within your home,
your neighbor could potentially see those files and that printer.
There's a tiny risk that your neighbor could see other network traffic.
It really depends on how your router works
and most of them will not expose your traffic.
But like I said, it's a tiny risk.
The other risk, and perhaps the one that worries me
the most is that if your neighbor's computer becomes infected with malware,
it could potentially migrate onto your own machines.
Remember that one of the things our router does for us is it acts as a firewall.
It has two sides, the Internet side, which we consider to be unsafe,
and then the inside the local side to which all of our computers are connected.
Those are considered to be on a safe side.
They are trusted, whereas the Internet itself is not.
You've allowed someone else onto the safe
side of your connection if you trust them, that's great.
If you're not sure that's a little bit
risky and not something I'm necessarily sure you want to have take place.
Now I do
have a couple of solutions to this. One is that you could use another router,
a second router in a configuration that actually accompanies.
The article associated with this video allows you to use this safe and unsafe
side of your router to protect yourself not only
from the Internet, but also from your neighbor as well.
You put them on this second router in between you and the Internet.
So one approach is, of course, to use a second router.
The second approach and the one that's
becoming a little bit more common these days is that many WiFi routers WiFi access
points even actually cover this scenario by providing two separate networks,
you can set up what they typically call a guest network.
That's perfect for this scenario because
a guest network is isolated from your real network.
It is something that allows them,
your guests or your neighbor to access the Internet through your connection while
still protecting you from whatever it is they might be doing so.
That would be my recommendation if you have the opportunity to invest in a router
a WiFi router that supports a guest network.
Now, I do have to throw out one possible
fly in the ointment, and that's a legality.
It's very possible that this is against the terms of service of your ISP
they want to sell your neighbor their Internet connection.
Having you share your Internet connection
with them is in a way kind of taking a customer away from them.
You can argue that I get that.
But the point is, it's probably against
the terms of service from your ISP for you to do what you say you're doing.
I would be very careful about doing that.
And, of course, remember that when you
allow someone else to use your Internet connection, it's also possible that you
become liable for their activities on the Internet.
Again, it's a Gray area.
It depends a lot of the legalities
involved in your specific location, but I strongly recommend you at least
check it out to see what kind of trouble you could be getting yourself
into by allowing someone else to use your internet connection for updates
for the article on which this video was originally based.
For related links and more, visit askleo.com/2395.
I'm Leo Notenboom. This is askleo.com.