1

I have an on my network.

enter image description here

It does not belong to me or anyone else I know. Is this a problem? Does this just mean that my network can detect a nearby phone or should I be worried that someone has access to my network and computer? Do I need to take any steps to secure my network or computer at this time?

I could be overreacting but I know little about network security or what it means to have a device I don't recognize appear on it.

music2myear
  • 40,472
  • 44
  • 86
  • 127
Dylan Russell
  • 121
  • 4
  • You should _always_ treat _any_ device with internet access as "exposed", and take precautions to protect it. Home wireless networks should always require WPA2 or stronger authentication before permitting a device to connect, and if you can manage the router to disallow unrecognized MAC addresses, you should. – Jeff Zeitlin Mar 14 '18 at 19:44
  • So I definitely require WPA2 authentication to get to access my network. Does the fact that the phone appeared under network mean that the phone knew my network password? – Dylan Russell Mar 14 '18 at 19:46
  • Do you have Bluetooth enabled? (That it does not have a Mac address, and that it's appearing as a discovered device imply to me this is not someone who has had your WIFI) – davidgo Mar 14 '18 at 19:46
  • Yes. I use Bluetooth headphones. – Dylan Russell Mar 14 '18 at 19:46
  • I'm not an expert, but I think this is a badly configured phone on Bluetooth. Does it go away when you disable that? – davidgo Mar 14 '18 at 19:48
  • It actually disappeared on its own after about 10 minutes. Could correlate to someone leaving BT range? I know I'm probably overreacting about this but, again, I know next to nothing about network security other than setting up a WPA2. – Dylan Russell Mar 14 '18 at 19:49
  • Is this Windows 10? – I say Reinstate Monica Mar 14 '18 at 20:30
  • Yes. This is Windows 10. – Dylan Russell Mar 14 '18 at 20:33
  • 1
    I had a similar issue. It was an HTC device that kept popping up. It did not appear, however, when I was in the router looking at connected devices and only appeared from the network page in Windows 10. –  Mar 14 '18 at 20:36
  • That's good to hear. I'll check my connected devices and make sure it's not appearing. I will also look at disallowing unrecognized MAC addresses; but does that also mean authorized visitors won't be able to connect to my network? – Dylan Russell Mar 14 '18 at 20:39
  • 4
    Possible duplicate of [Windows 10: Phones appearing in Network](https://superuser.com/questions/976750/windows-10-phones-appearing-in-network) – I say Reinstate Monica Mar 14 '18 at 21:20
  • Any solution to this problem? – VMMF May 09 '20 at 14:13

0 Answers0