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So as many of you may also be doing, I have been assuming a greater role in assisting my parents as they age. Not in any capacity remotely like real assistance, as even in their mid 80's they are both active and mentally sharp. However there are some things I am better doing now than they are.
One of these things is the maintenance of all technical items. They are not technically phobic, each owns a late model iMac and they use them regularly. Dad has macular degeneration so he blows the words up real big on his screen, but it doesn't slow him down much. Mom studies genealogy and plays games and puzzles to stay sharp.
They live a couple hours away and when I visit I am often greeted with a 'To Do' list of stuff they need done, which I am more than happy to attack given a) they are my parents and b) they have supported me through every dumbass thing I have done in my 48 years.
Last Saturday I drove down with a friend for a short visit. My sister, brother in law and nephew had driven in from Connecticut and I wanted to say hello. After awhile dad mentioned a few small concerns - a buzz in the phone line (testing at the box says it's outside the house - Verizon's problem); tune up Mom's computer; and finally check the SD card in the Game Cam I set up outside the house (a hunter's motion activated camera I use for security - they live in the country).
After I was done dad mentions casually "For some reason our internet bill has been going up." RED FLAGS! They use a Verizon Hot Spot for internet with 5gb / month for $50, more than enough for light use by octogenarians. November was $80, December looked to be $130! I popped into their account and it became clear someone was using their hotspot.
As I mentioned before, they live in the country. Where they are there is on house to the left, two to the right and nothing else within a half mile. So other than a car parking outside, the list of abusers is quite small. After some discussion it was reasoned that the likely culprit was a teenager in the left side house who likely had access when he had played videogames with my nephew a few years ago. His family has been having issues and there was a good chance they dropped their internet coverage, so he likely just hooked up on my parents not knowing they had a limited account.
The other two houses have retirees who don't appear to be technically savvy.
So I changed the password on the WIFI, and changed the password to the router just in case and declared it over - no more problem. My parents were happy that we had solved it.
Fast forward to Sunday night, I decide to check their account to make sure everything's still okay. Lo and behold they had been hit again. The usage clearly showed a pattern of 'hits' starting late at night after I left (and when everyone in my parent's house was asleep) and ending with a huge download Sunday morning.
I believe this was a Brute Force Cracking program used to beat the new password. It was only 14 characters long and didn't take a long time to beat.
As it was too late Sunday night to call, I disabled the account remotely from my home and called them Monday morning. I explained what happened and now they are unplugging the unit and removing the battery while not in use. I am due back down this weekend for a visit with my kids, so we'll try again with a 63 character randomly generated password, a new WiFi title telling the person to "F**k Off", MAC access turned on (only pre-approved computers can access), and a call to the sheriff's office.
Happy Holidays you fucker.
One of these things is the maintenance of all technical items. They are not technically phobic, each owns a late model iMac and they use them regularly. Dad has macular degeneration so he blows the words up real big on his screen, but it doesn't slow him down much. Mom studies genealogy and plays games and puzzles to stay sharp.
They live a couple hours away and when I visit I am often greeted with a 'To Do' list of stuff they need done, which I am more than happy to attack given a) they are my parents and b) they have supported me through every dumbass thing I have done in my 48 years.
Last Saturday I drove down with a friend for a short visit. My sister, brother in law and nephew had driven in from Connecticut and I wanted to say hello. After awhile dad mentioned a few small concerns - a buzz in the phone line (testing at the box says it's outside the house - Verizon's problem); tune up Mom's computer; and finally check the SD card in the Game Cam I set up outside the house (a hunter's motion activated camera I use for security - they live in the country).
After I was done dad mentions casually "For some reason our internet bill has been going up." RED FLAGS! They use a Verizon Hot Spot for internet with 5gb / month for $50, more than enough for light use by octogenarians. November was $80, December looked to be $130! I popped into their account and it became clear someone was using their hotspot.
As I mentioned before, they live in the country. Where they are there is on house to the left, two to the right and nothing else within a half mile. So other than a car parking outside, the list of abusers is quite small. After some discussion it was reasoned that the likely culprit was a teenager in the left side house who likely had access when he had played videogames with my nephew a few years ago. His family has been having issues and there was a good chance they dropped their internet coverage, so he likely just hooked up on my parents not knowing they had a limited account.
The other two houses have retirees who don't appear to be technically savvy.
So I changed the password on the WIFI, and changed the password to the router just in case and declared it over - no more problem. My parents were happy that we had solved it.
Fast forward to Sunday night, I decide to check their account to make sure everything's still okay. Lo and behold they had been hit again. The usage clearly showed a pattern of 'hits' starting late at night after I left (and when everyone in my parent's house was asleep) and ending with a huge download Sunday morning.
I believe this was a Brute Force Cracking program used to beat the new password. It was only 14 characters long and didn't take a long time to beat.
As it was too late Sunday night to call, I disabled the account remotely from my home and called them Monday morning. I explained what happened and now they are unplugging the unit and removing the battery while not in use. I am due back down this weekend for a visit with my kids, so we'll try again with a 63 character randomly generated password, a new WiFi title telling the person to "F**k Off", MAC access turned on (only pre-approved computers can access), and a call to the sheriff's office.
Happy Holidays you fucker.
At least I was nice, and didn't decide to flood his machine with viruses 
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