I think someone is on my Wifi Network

[ShadowWolf810]

There should be only two Chromecast's on my network and the other day a third one showed up in the Youtube app named "Living Room." I've confirmed with my roommate that its not anything of his, and its definitely not mine. 

 

The past couple months we've gone over our 1TB of bandwidth limit from the ISP, but we had some possible explanations for that so we didn't think too much of it. 

 

Have a very secure password set, and a restrictive Guest network for when friends come over. However, we weren't running the latest firmware on the router until today, which is 7.6.9 on Apple Time capsules. With apparently no official word from Apple, its speculated that this is the fix for the WIFI encryption protocol exploit that came out awhile back. 

 

I just checked the connected DHCP clients by MAC address and there is nothing out of the ordinary. 

 

Here's the weird part. I discovered this "Living Room" in the Youtube App, never even downloaded the Google Home App to control them, but I downloaded it to check and it didn't see any of the 3 devices the Youtube app sees, and didn't see my TV and Projector (the only two it should see) until they were turned on. But the Youtube App sees the TV when off, Projector when turned on, and the unauthorized Living Room named one. 

 

I've already got a new network name/password planned out, but since I can't find a device or an IP that shouldn't be there I can't go ahead with my plan of kicking them off, and immediately changing everything. 

 

So A) I'm wondering if there's some explanation, and B) If my plan is sufficient to get rid of anybody if this isn't all just a big wild goose chase. 

 

Any help would definitely be appreciated. 

[Lurick]

It's broadcasting itself as a Chromecast device which the YouTube app will see. It's not connected to your wifi network, especially if you have a secure password and can account for all the listed devices that are connected.

 

 

Edit:

To further expand on that, if you want to be extra sure, kill the router's wifi or even just pull the plug on the router and check the app, if you still see it that double confirms what I said above.

[ShadowWolf810]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

It's broadcasting itself as a Chromecast device which the YouTube app will see. It's not connected to your wifi network, especially if you have a secure password and can account for all the listed devices that are connected.

I read some articles and it was saying that it couldn't have a name if that were the case. I.e if someone else's Chromecast were put on a new network, or setup wasn't finished, it would default back to the setup stage and broadcast but with the default name of like Chromecast-3898 or whatever. So the fact that it's called Living Room is what made me think its actually connected. 

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

I read some articles and it was saying that it couldn't have a name if that were the case. I.e if someone else's Chromecast were put on a new network, or setup wasn't finished, it would default back to the setup stage and broadcast but with the default name of like Chromecast-3898 or whatever. So the fact that it's called Living Room is what made me think its actually connected. 

Check the edit I made to be 100% sure. Kill the wifi and check the app again, if it's still there, you're fine

[itsaiden]

Just now, Lurick said:

Check the edit I made to be 100% sure. Kill the wifi and check the app again, if it's still there, you're fine

cant u just kick it off?

[Lurick]

8 minutes ago, itsaiden said:

cant u just kick it off?

How? If it doesn't show up as a connected device then you can't really do much to kick it off aside killing the wifi and changing everything while the wifi is off. Of course OP should check to make sure that the device disappears when the wifi is off before changing the password and whatnot.

[ShadowWolf810]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Check the edit I made to be 100% sure. Kill the wifi and check the app again, if it's still there, you're fine

I'll do that and report back. I'm also unsure because if that was the case, shouldn't my TV show up in the google home app as well as the Youtube app? 

 

I didn't explain that very well in the OP. Youtube App, with no devices turned on I see our TV's built in Chromecast, and the suspect one. With nothing turned on in the Google Home app, it can't find any devices. When I turn on my projector Youtube app sees all 3 as if I can cast to them. With projector on Google Home only sees the projector. 

 

 

Update: disconnecting the router and modem to kill the WIFI removes the "cast to" button in the Youtube app entirely, which is the only place I've seen the LIving Room one so I"m not sure I can test it that way. I tried force quitting the app etc. Usually it takes a few seconds for the button to show up but I gave it a couple minutes etc and its not so I'm not sure how else to implement your test. The Google Home app just says "Connect to a wifi network to see your devices" 

[Lurick]

11 hours ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

I'll do that and report back. I'm also unsure because if that was the case, shouldn't my TV show up in the google home app as well as the Youtube app? 

 

I didn't explain that very well in the OP. Youtube App, with no devices turned on I see our TV's built in Chromecast, and the suspect one. With nothing turned on in the Google Home app, it can't find any devices. When I turn on my projector Youtube app sees all 3 as if I can cast to them. With projector on Google Home only sees the projector. 

 

 

Update: disconnecting the router and modem to kill the WIFI removes the "cast to" button in the Youtube app entirely, which is the only place I've seen the LIving Room one so I"m not sure I can test it that way. I tried force quitting the app etc. Usually it takes a few seconds for the button to show up but I gave it a couple minutes etc and its not so I'm not sure how else to implement your test. The Google Home app just says "Connect to a wifi network to see your devices" 

Ah, well then I guess you could kill just the wifi and change the SSID and password, which I think was your original plan.

 

It just seems crazy to me that someone would go through all the trouble of breaking your WiFi, which is pretty difficult even with the vulnerabilities, hiding the device in the router, just to connect a google device to stream TV and not find a way to hide it from showing up as a castable device in the YouTube app.

[ShadowWolf810]

10 hours ago, Lurick said:

Ah, well then I guess you could kill just the wifi and change the SSID and password, which I think was your original plan.

 

It just seems crazy to me that someone would go through all the trouble of breaking your WiFi, which is pretty difficult even with the vulnerabilities, hiding the device in the router, just to connect a google device to stream TV and not find a way to hide it from showing up as a castable device in the YouTube app.

That was kind of along the lines I was thinking too, but I know just enough about networking and the vulnerabilities etc to know its possible, and not enough to ensure its not the case! 

 

If it was someone in my network I think it would be more like there goal was to use up my download bandwidth for the month, and that maybe they hid their PC but the Chromecast was an accident but it is pretty unlikely. Its just sort of suspicious because I've been using the same ISP for like 4 years and lived with multiple different roommates, and never once did I go over the 1 TB limit, then without myself or my current roommate changing our habits any, we consistently went over for the last like 3 months, and by quite a bit over as well. 

[Lurick]

4 minutes ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

That was kind of along the lines I was thinking too, but I know just enough about networking and the vulnerabilities etc to know its possible, and not enough to ensure its not the case! 

 

If it was someone in my network I think it would be more like there goal was to use up my download bandwidth for the month, and that maybe they hid their PC but the Chromecast was an accident but it is pretty unlikely. Its just sort of suspicious because I've been using the same ISP for like 4 years and lived with multiple different roommates, and never once did I go over the 1 TB limit, then without myself or my current roommate changing our habits any, we consistently went over for the last like 3 months, and by quite a bit over as well. 

Yah, if nothing really changed that you know of, I would try changing the network settings around. Different SSID and password, check for the device, and then you could always change it back after checking for the offending device before you go ahead with reentering the new info on all your other devices if it still shows up.

[ShadowWolf810]

25 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Yah, if nothing really changed that you know of, I would try changing the network settings around. Different SSID and password, check for the device, and then you could always change it back after checking for the offending device before you go ahead with reentering the new info on all your other devices if it still shows up.

Yeah that would be nice to avoid having to re-enter passwords. Especially on my printer that has a keyboard with an alphabet and only a left and right arrow. 

 

Ok this is interesting. When I checked yesterday, none of the Chromecasts in my house were showing up as DHCP Clients. I must have not refreshed I guess...???? I'm sure I would have but what I'm looking at now is a little more concerning possibly. 

 

The one connected to my projector I named, that one is there. Then there is one called "Chromecast" but then with the TV turned on there is also the TV showing up. But I don't know if the Chromecast built into the TV would use the same IP as the smart tv would when its connected on its own.... Hmm. 

 

It's weird because if the suspect Chromecast is "named" Living Room, then it should show up as living room here like how mine reports its actual name in the Youtube app. But if the second one I'm seeing here is the TV, it should show up as the name of the TV like it does in the Youtube app? 

 

Does that all make sense? In my DHCP list there is: 

Chromecast

Ray-Projector (my Chromecast)

LGwebOSTV (which is possibly just the tv or possibly the chromecast built into the tv)

 

But the Youtube app reports 

Ray-Projector

LGwebOSTV

Living Room

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

Yeah that would be nice to avoid having to re-enter passwords. Especially on my printer that has a keyboard with an alphabet and only a left and right arrow. 

 

Ok this is interesting. When I checked yesterday, none of the Chromecasts in my house were showing up as DHCP Clients. I must have not refreshed I guess...???? I'm sure I would have but what I'm looking at now is a little more concerning possibly. 

 

The one connected to my projector I named, that one is there. Then there is one called "Chromecast" but then with the TV turned on there is also the TV showing up. But I don't know if the Chromecast built into the TV would use the same IP as the smart tv would when its connected on its own.... Hmm. 

 

It's weird because if the suspect Chromecast is "named" Living Room, then it should show up as living room here like it does in the Youtube app. But if the second one I'm seeing here is the TV, it should show up as the name of the TV like it does in the Youtube app? 

 

Does that all make sense? In my DHCP list there is: 

Chromecast

Ray-Projector (my Chromecast)

LGwebOSTV (which is possibly just the tv or possibly the chromecast built into the tv)

 

But the Youtube app reports 

Ray-Projector

LGwebOSTV

Living Room

Yah, printer password entering sucks. Sometimes a refresh is all it takes, I know Windows Server doesn't actually refresh DHCP addresses until you manually tell the menu to refresh. The Chromecast app on the TV will use whatever IP the TV gets, just like how a program on your desktop will use the IP that Windows gets.

[ShadowWolf810]

11 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Yah, printer password entering sucks. Sometimes a refresh is all it takes, I know Windows Server doesn't actually refresh DHCP addresses until you manually tell the menu to refresh. The Chromecast app on the TV will use whatever IP the TV gets, just like how a program on your desktop will use the IP that Windows gets.

I must have overlooked it while troubleshooting because I distinctly remember turning on my projector to power up that Chromecast, then checking the list and not seeing any IPs for it, and thinking that was kind of weird. 

 

Gotcha, wasn't sure how integrated one built into a TV would be. But if that's the case, then that means you're suggesting that the one called "Chromecast" is not actually mine? 

 

Edit: I figure I can narrow it down by MAC address. Quick google search says you can use the Google Home app to see the Mac address of any Chromecast device. And yet, the Chromecast in the TV doesn't show up in the list of devices, but if I go into the Youtube app I can cast to the TV without any problem?!? How does that make any sense? 

[Lurick]

12 minutes ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

I must have overlooked it while troubleshooting because I distinctly remember turning on my projector to power up that Chromecast, then checking the list and not seeing any IPs for it, and thinking that was kind of weird. 

 

Gotcha, wasn't sure how integrated one built into a TV would be. But if that's the case, then that means you're suggesting that the one called "Chromecast" is not actually mine? 

I was doing some searching and it's hard to say but they almost make it seem like the chromecast is a separate entity inside the tv. A couple things you can try to verify if "Chromecast" is your and is part of the TV or not. If you fire up the TV and launch Chromecast from the TV there and then on the phone app go to device settings or via the extension to to options > manage cast devices > gear icon.

If the address matches up with "Chromecast" in the DHCP list then we'll know for sure

[ShadowWolf810]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

I was doing some searching and it's hard to say but they almost make it seem like the chromecast is a separate entity inside the tv. A couple things you can try to verify if "Chromecast" is your and is part of the TV or not. If you fire up the TV and launch Chromecast from the TV there and then on the phone app go to device settings or via the extension to to options > manage cast devices > gear icon.

If the address matches up with "Chromecast" in the DHCP list then we'll know for sure

So I was trying something similar to that, but I can't get the TV to show up in the Google home app.

 

Decided to try it with power instead. 

 

With the TV on, it shows up as LGwebOSTV. 

 

I unplugged the TV. Then reset my router to give out new DHCP leases. 

 

"Chromecast" still shows up in this list with the TV completely unplugged. 

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

So I was trying something similar to that, but I can't get the TV to show up in the Google home app.

 

Decided to try it with power instead. 

 

With the TV on, it shows up as LGwebOSTV. 

 

I unplugged the TV. Then reset my router to give out new DHCP leases. 

 

"Chromecast" still shows up in this list with the TV completely unplugged. 

Ah, then it's not the TV.

Your roommate doesn't have a Chromecast as well?

[ShadowWolf810]

33 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Ah, then it's not the TV.

Your roommate doesn't have a Chromecast as well?

Nope, just double confirmed with him. It's his TV so, his only Chromecast device is the TV. 

 

Haven't been able to find specific Chromecast settings in the TV. It doesn't even call it that in the menus and stuff, yet they show the Chromecast icon in the little help images. Its like they're trying to not call it a Chromecast and that you're just sharing things from your phone to your tv via the network. 

 

Edit: I'm trying to find a way to confirm the MAC address of the built in Chromecast to the tv to cross reference with the one listed in the DHCP list but haven't been able to find that yet. Found the TVs MAC address and that matches along with the IP so thats working as expected but can't find anywhere to see the Chromecasts.