Bt access controls and clever teens

[theredhen]

I am pretty sure my ds is managing to override the access controls I have set up on our bt home hub.

I think he is changing the MAC address or IP address of his computer.

He's not got access to the settings on the main PC.

Any idea how to out fox him?

Are you setting parental controls at the router level? Is the default setting the most secure with your own access as a bypass option? Is your password secure (from your ds)?

He shouldn't be able to circumvent the router as that's the access point to the Internet, so unless he's got another Web connection (mobile phone?) then it should be OK.

Do you have evidence of the circumventing?

unplug and take the router to bed.

He admitted this morning to changing the VPN address (not sure what this means) on his PC.

Think I'm just going to have to take the router away which is something I hoped to avoid.

The MAC address of a computer is built in to the network hardware. The only way to change it is to install a new network adapter.

The IP address would normally be supplied to the computer by the hub. Changing it shouldn't make any difference to parental controls.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. There is no such thing as a VPN address. A VPN is used by businesses as a way of allowing a remote worker to talk securely to their company network. What your son has done is set up a VPN connection from his computer to another one on the internet that then handles all his internet requests. This means your router has no idea which websites he is visiting. It also means that all the data to and from your son's computer is encrypted so the router has no way of seeing what he is doing. As you have discovered, this means the router's parental controls are ineffective.

Some routers allow you to stop people using VPNs to subvert parental controls. I've no idea if the BT router has this capability.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. How has he connected to another computer for the Internet? I don't really understand how that works. I do know he needs our router because he complains bitterly when the wireless drops out!

I will try and find out if I can block things through the router.

A simple program such as TOR will circumvent parental controls and browser safety features, i am not aware any router been set to block programs such as this

You connect to another computer on the internet whenever you browse to a website.

All he has done is install a piece of software that sets up a private communication channel with a computer (technically a server) somewhere. Cyberghost VPN is an example of a free piece of software that has this functionality. Once he has installed that on his computer the traffic goes through the router but it is encrypted so the router can't see inside it any more.

To use an analogy, imagine you acted as a messenger taking notes between him and his best friend. You've been able to read the notes up to now so you can refuse to deliver any messages you aren't happy with. He and his mate decide to get around this so they start putting the messages in envelopes and coding them so that, even if you open the envelope, you can't read them because you don't know the code. You still carry the messages but you can't filter them any more. That is effectively what he's done.

Why bother, apart from teaching him computing skills, what is the point.

Porn, chat rooms and mischief are far more appealing if they are forbidden.

Education and trust are far more valuable for the rest if his life.

I'm with starballbunny, have you talked about what you are trying to block and why and why he's battling to get round it?

I'm assume that he's old enough that accidental access to unsuitable stuff isn't the problem if he's doing all this (remembers eldest googling Carol Vorderman and getting some...interesting.. images- that's when we put controls up!)

If he's doing what prh47 explained , that would make me very concerned about what he's doing. That's serious devious stuff and not, I assume what a say 16yr old would do to look at "straight forward" porn (ick) for instance. It looks rather more like he's doing something for which you would really blow your top- I dunno, extreme porn, terrorism I can't imagine- but I'm terribly trusting and simple.

I'm afraid I ain't green enough to believe he's doing all this to get round controls "just to prove I can" though.

I'd be taking the router to bed and to work till this was sorted. Just also be aware that, say a £20 sim in a 3 phone would also get unlimited tethering net access that is completely beyond you control....

He's doing it because he's a techno whizz who loves doing things differently. He can't just accept things the way they are, he has to fiddle and tinker and make it "better". The main reason is that I have always insisted on curfew times with the computer and Internet and I have trusted him on those.

Ironically I found him on the Internet late one night doing revision because he had been gaming all evening.

I've been trying to discuss things with him and explaining about mutual respect but apparently anything less than allowing him 24 hours a day Internet and computer time with no chores or family time is unreasonable of me!

He's always been a great kid but is being quite obnoxious recently.

I would just like to thank mumsnet for teaching me how to bypass the parental controls on my internet LOL

Wow good job at copy pasting info from the Internet without even knowing what the fuck you're talking about

Wow good job at being rude to someone who is actually an expert in this stuff and didn't copy/paste a single word.

all s/he has to do is reset the bloody thing; this clears all access control settings and resets the admin password to the original.

This thread is 5 years old. I doubt the OP still needs any answers. And, as it seems her son was using a VPN to bypass the router's access controls, resetting the router would not have made any difference.

It may well be 5 years old, but I am brand new to mumsnet and do not know how information is promulgated within it, so saw my post as possibly a means of informing as many bt users as possible of this absolutely free, no tech knowledge needed, way that their access controls might be being circumvented by others not using VPNs. On a separate topic, oh prh47bridge, I hope that not all 'net users are as fond of putting down newbies as you are.

There is no easy way for me to know you are a newbie. It is, however, easy for you to see that this is an old thread. In general, resurrecting old threads is frowned upon. And if you consider my previous post a put down, you may find Mumsnet a little robust!