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Housemate's internet habits a security risk?

I

imported_jellybean

Junior Member
Hi every1

I have a housemate who is a bandwidth hog. His PC is on 24/7 downloading torrents in the background, downloading everything from dvd rips, music to vast amounts of porn. He doesn't have good internet etiquette or sensible browsing habits, and has had to reformat his Windows-based computer several times this year because it has become so infested with viruses and malware it literally grinds to a halt.

Should I be concerned about the level of threat this could mean for other people's computers in the household, including my Mac?

I recently replaced our wifi router with an Apple Time Capsule. (802.11n router with built-in hard drive) Because our wifi is delivered through the Time Capsule, and thanks to my housemate has a constant flow of torrents coming through it (his torrents alone download at a rate of about a gigabyte per hour), could my data stored on the Time Capsule be at an increased risk of being hacked?

I've tried talking to him about it on numerous occasions but he says I'm being paranoid. Our ISP is Virgin Media in the UK and we don't have a bandwidth cap, it's just the security I'm mainly concerned about.

Thanks in advance!
 
With all that crap, yeah I'd be a little concerned. Might consider getting a 2nd IP from your ISP and hooking up a second router just for his stuff so it doesn't infect anything else but his computer. Your all on the same network and viruses can travel from networked PC to networked PC. Tell the guy to grow up and quit downloading useless crap like that, what's the point?
 
If he downloads a lot of questionable material...even copyrighted material, the first person who is going to get sued will be the guy who pays the bill... if thats you Jellybean.. i would tell your housemate to have the account transfered into his name b/c of all the downloading.

other option, as mentioned get a second isp connection for your housemate... thats in your housemates name.

get a new housemate who doesn't torrent all day.

talk to house mate.. see if he will curb his downlaoding activities to off hours... reduce the amount of s hit he downloads.. and see if he will download less questionable / possibly infected stuff.

the key here is to talk to the housemate.
 
Welcome to AnandTech Forums.

There is only a risk on a Network.

You can take various step to reduce the Risk.

Use a software Firewall that Bans all local IPs but yours.

Or better off, buy a second Router and configure it to a segregated Network.

Network Segregation - http://www.ezlan.net/shield.html

Or even better, get you own private ISP account.
 
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