Powerline Flaw

Joshuabishop4 · April 13, 2016

I was wondering, if somebody knew that you were using powerline and you had a plug outside, couldn't they get an extension cable and plug it in to get a network signal or would they need the password or is this just a rubbish question?

KuJoe · April 13, 2016

I don't know anything about Powerline but if it's a wired connection like I think it is then no password is required. Passwords are only used for wireless unless you have some sort of proxy/gateway on your network like some hotels do, in which case yes you'll need the login and password.

leadeater · April 13, 2016

Some power line adapters allow you to enable encryption, at the cost of network speed. Getting access to a power point is much harder than wireless signal so physical security is usually in place unless you have exterior power points, these shouldn't work though since they are on a different fuse/RCD.

brwainer · April 14, 2016

Exterior outlets have to have a GFI (sometimes known as GFCI) on either every outlet or at least somewhere in the circuit (somehow my house got wired so that one GFI in one bathroom protects the outlets in all three bathrooms plus the garage). GFIs and Powerline networking don't play well with one another. That being said, yes in theory someone could gain network access by connecting a powerline adaptor to the outside of the house. The AV2 standard introduced communications over the ground wire in addition to the hot and neutral, which has the by product of often allowing communications between the two phases of the house (this isn't directly related to being able to join the powerline network fromoutside but makes it easier).

Some people say they have seen crosstalk between seperate houses before, and there definitely are cases of crosstalk between different apartments/flats in the same building.

Many HomePlug AV adapters support encryption, and all HomePlug AV2 adapters do. The setup process requires you to put all the adaptors into setup mode at the same time so they can set up the security and only trust each other. I haven't heard of this encryption slowing down communications any more than normal, and sometimes when you buy a pair of adaptors they come pre-encrypted to each other.

Joshuabishop4 · April 14, 2016

Ok, I was just thinking that if you didn't have encryption, someone could hijack your internet.

brwainer · April 14, 2016

1 minute ago, Joshuabishop4 said:

Ok, I was just thinking that if you didn't have encryption, someone could hijack your internet.

They absolutely can if they can get access to a power outlet that works for powerline networking - as I said it can even be in a different house and still potentially join the same powerline network.

leadeater · April 14, 2016

21 minutes ago, brwainer said:

Exterior outlets have to have a GFI (sometimes known as GFCI).

That had me confused until I looked it up and GFI is also known as an RCD outside of US/Canada, why is it everyone must have their own names for the same things >.<

brwainer · April 14, 2016

13 hours ago, leadeater said:

That had me confused until I looked it up and GFI is also known as an RCD outside of US/Canada, why is it everyone must have their own names for the same things >.<

Ah yes I was vaguely aware these had a different name elsewhere. It is annoying.