Block the Wi-Fi Nabbers

If you pulled up in your driveway and saw an orange extension cord running from your exterior outlet to your neighbor’s house, you might have something to say about it. If your neighbors ran a long wire to your cable box to steal your cable, you would probably do something about that as well.

But your neighbors could be stealing your internet connection without your knowledge. Without the need for wires or cords, they could have gained access and your signal strength could be suffering. Worse, you don’t know what kind of activity they’re engaging in over your connection, or what else they may be able to infiltrate over your wifi.

There are a few ways you can tell if someone—a neighbor or even someone paused nearby in a vehicle—is using your internet connection:

1. Internet Slowdown – if your internet connection is suddenly slower, meaning web pages don’t load like they once did or your favorite videos just display an icon circling around instead of playing, you might be running too many devices on your connection. If you know that you haven’t increased the number of computers, phones, tablets, laptops, or IoT devices, someone else may have joined.

2. Check Your Connection Settings – if you can access the app for your router (the box that turns your modem into a signal broadcaster so wireless devices can reach it) or visit the manufacturer’s website to see your account, you should be able to see how many devices are connected to your network. Their customer service department can help you with this step.

Once you find out if someone else has jumped on your connection, it’s actually a pretty easy fix. First, password protect your wifi network, which is a good idea even if no one has been using your connection; however, if you already had a password in place, then the outsider has gained access to it somehow, so simply change it. Also, be sure to check for any available updates to your router’s software since outdated software could have vulnerabilities that outsiders can exploit.

Unfortunately, if someone has been using your wifi, there’s a chance they also accessed sensitive information about you and your family. Change the passwords on all of your sensitive accounts like email, banking, and retail shopping sites, and monitor your accounts for any suspicious activity.

Read next: “Don’t Get Scrooged by a Holiday Scam”