Protect Your Home Modem

[Docartergba]

Hello,

I have been struggling with someone hacking into my home modem for the last couple of years.  I normally telecommute 1/2 of the week.  I started noticing weird network behavior on my DirectTV/Internet.  I recently purchased Ubiquity Unfi equipment to help narrow down the problem.  Upon installation, I realized that this person has visually eyes :  ISP provider was here installing new equipment .  However, soon as he started packing his truck, the Modem was being reconfigured (yellow lite) and the only connection was DirectTV.  So I purchased the wifi pineapple terra.  I am a programmer/NOT a network expert,  just someone who wants to work from the house.  Below outlines my equipment, I really need help on how to fix my modem.

Pace Modem 5286ac

DirectTV (this is what they are hacking to get)

Mac Mini

Several IPhone's

Several Windows PC

I purchased the Wifi Pineapple Tetra but need some help on how to approach this.  Can someone please help?  I just want to telecommute securely:(

[The Power Company]

I'm also no expert, but to start, make sure you are following standard security conventions, such as WPA2 on every thing, proper passwords, etc. Check all of your pcs for malware, the intruder may have installed a backdoor into something directly connected to it. Possibly consider backing up personal data and doing clean installs.

As for the Pineapple, it is pretty great for packet capturing and monitoring wireless network traffic. If you think the person is using wireless attacks on your modem (unlikely unless it is someone nearby) software such as tcpdump can help you monitor what is going on. There are lots of tutorials and threads on this forum that can help to that end.

If the backdoor is in the modem itself, try resetting it, installing latest firmware, or consider getting a different one. You could also simply use the pineapple as your main wifi hotspot. Personally I wouldn't recommend using wifi for telecommuting anyway, since it can be finicky. If you haven't already, I would recommend setting aside one computer for work purposes only, no games or even social media, to minimize the chances of getting viruses from random web pages. Use Ethernet and a VPN on this machine to connect to your workplace.