Unwanted / unknown shared connection

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Hi Forum,

Please help: Recently purchased an iMac - Lurvely kit! On Mountain Lion. Have a pw protected wifi network. On finder I have my printer showing, my laptop shows but also an unknown PC named: ek94475c05

Finder says I'm connected as guest but I see no files or any other info. Could this pc be connected to my network and being malicious? Nothing suspicious to report so far (1 week) although after having turned my Mac off for several hours it randomly switched itself on for no apparent reason. I can't seem to be able to omit this PC from my shared list or drop it or ban it. How do I get it to go away and ensure my network is secure and not being hacked?? Thanks
 
C

chas_m

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The "unknown PC" is probably a printer, fax machine, or some other "smart device" like that. Got anything like that on your network?

PS the reason it's being reported as an "unknown PC" is because your router is pretty stupid and can't identify it.
 
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Thanks but there are no other devices. My router has a few codes on it but none relating to ek..... and Finder says it's a PC... Confusing. Could an external PC be using my pw protected wifi? I heard you can get a device that will hack passwords for wifi conections and use them?
 

cwa107


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Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
Mac filtering lets you add your devices to the router manually.

It does, but be aware that it's mostly a false sense of security. Anyone, using any computer, can a) identify allowed MAC addresses and b) spoof one of those MAC addresses, thus allowing easy access to the network.

The best way to secure a wireless network is to enable WPA or WPA2 encryption, both of which are exceedingly difficult to hack. The old methodology of using MAC filtering in tandem with something like WEP is outmoded and easily defeated with readily available tools.
 

cwa107


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Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
PS the reason it's being reported as an "unknown PC" is because your router is pretty stupid and can't identify it.

Routers don't identify devices on a network. The way the device is identified is entirely contingent on how the device broadcasts itself and the protocols it uses. If it's using SMB, it will appear to any Mac OS devices as a Windows PC. The router has little to do with it.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Xserve, iMAC, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPAD 2, Iphone 4s
do you have a cell phone and is connected to your wireless?
 

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