danemayer
Well-known member
I've been getting surprised at the data usage on the Verizon Mifi (4510). While staying at State Parks, we're getting unexpected usage of 1 - 2 Gigabytes or even more in a single day. In the past 2 days, over 7 GB of data usage showed up unexpectedly. This level of usage is consistent with watching movies (Netflix or Hulu or similar). Of course, most of our activity is on text-based websites like the Heartland Forum and we're not streaming any video. So this doesn't make sense.
Verizon has no additional info such as what websites were visited, or MAC Addresses of the compute devices using the MiFi, but they graciously issued credits to cover the unexpected usage.
Checking on Google, I found that information on how to crack the security on the Verizon MiFi is readily available. Apparently, with the default security provided on the MiFi, it takes less than 5 seconds to break the passcode. So it's very possible that someone in a nearby space at the park has been using our MiFi to stream video.
There are 2 suggested security improvements to make the MiFi more secure: 1) change the SSID to something that doesn't include "Verizon" or "4510". 2) change the WPA/PSK Passcode to something with at least 20 digits. Mine was originally all numeric. I changed it to a 25 character alphanumeric.
If you change the passcode, be sure to record the new code somewhere you'll be able to find it again. You'll need it if you add or change your compute devices, or if you have a connectivity problem that requires you "forget" the connection and re-establish it.
Verizon has no additional info such as what websites were visited, or MAC Addresses of the compute devices using the MiFi, but they graciously issued credits to cover the unexpected usage.
Checking on Google, I found that information on how to crack the security on the Verizon MiFi is readily available. Apparently, with the default security provided on the MiFi, it takes less than 5 seconds to break the passcode. So it's very possible that someone in a nearby space at the park has been using our MiFi to stream video.
There are 2 suggested security improvements to make the MiFi more secure: 1) change the SSID to something that doesn't include "Verizon" or "4510". 2) change the WPA/PSK Passcode to something with at least 20 digits. Mine was originally all numeric. I changed it to a 25 character alphanumeric.
If you change the passcode, be sure to record the new code somewhere you'll be able to find it again. You'll need it if you add or change your compute devices, or if you have a connectivity problem that requires you "forget" the connection and re-establish it.