Hey everyone gimme your opinion on this please. I have recently installed GlassWire elite https://www.glasswire.com/download/ and enjoy it. I’ve come across a message in my “things” that says “Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd device joined the network.”
I’m not aware of what this is and I’ve never seen it before. I have to utilize a hardwire USB connection with PDAnet android application, through my android phone, to connect to the internet. (remote location not near good internet providers etc)
I’ve used PDAnet for almost 2 years and I’ve used the GlassWire free edition for several months and this has never come up. I’ve attempted to do an IP address search (10.1.19.1) and the most I get is this is a private internet connection. Is there any way this could be identifying my PDAnet application? If not, can someone please help me figure out if this is a security concern etc? With the security concerns of the Chinese company HuaWei I’d really like to know what this is and if it’s safe.
I have also seen an HP printer (if I remember correctly) with that name. It’s Foxconn.
“Hon Hai Precision Industry has a big hand in making the devices you hold in your hand. The company, known by its trade name, Foxconn, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer.”
Okay, thanks Ken and zzz00m. I do not have an HP printer. Only Brother printer. But from what you’re saying it could be a TON of things. I’m going to assume it’s just because my phone is USB connected and move on as if it’s not a threat or concern. As always, thanks for the quick responses and information!
That IP address is internal (i.e. within your own private home network as opposed to external/internet) and sounds like the gateway address of your router. It’s easy to check. In a command prompt, enter the command ipconfig /all. The result will show you your ‘gateway’ address (as in ‘gateway to the internet’).
Enter another command - arp -a - and you’ll see all the IP addresses used within your private network. Look alongside the ‘Internet Address’ for 10.1.19.1 and you’ll see the ‘Physical Address’, i.e. the MAC address of the network interface you are interested in.
You can use the MAC Address Vendor database to double-check the manufacturer of the network interface.
I had a Rosewill (Newegg house brand) USB-to-WirelessN adapter that came up as Hon Hoi, and then just yesterday (4/14/2018) I had a hobby-related IoT device come up as Hon Hoi . If I was in your position, I would not get terribly upset, but I would try to find out what it is/was.
I can’t remember what the app was that I found it, wild guessing it was DD-WRT on our wireless router before, and now I use Fing on Android.
I need to visit this forum more often, just learned of PDANet and the arp command.
I think it is important for anybody that is running a home Wi-Fi network to be aware of all devices connecting to it.
My router admin console can show me a list of connected MAC and IP addresses. But that is one more thing I love about GlssWire is that I don’t need to stay logged into my router to see what is connected. Being alerted to any ‘things’ that join the network by GW is a plus!
I changed my Wifi password 20 minutes ago. Nothing beside my computer is connected right now. After about 18 minutes, Hon Hai “joined” the network.
It would be easy to figure out if I could just block it and see if my internet stops working (I doubt that as it was running fine for 18 minutes)… why can I not block someone from my network? At least I could not figure out how this works with Glasswire and also did not find information in the FAQ
The MAC address just shows it’s a device from this company in China. I do not like things I do not know from China to access my network.
No. And as I said I was surprised because I changed my WiFi password and Name right before I installed Glasswire. The only device connected was my PC. I do not necessarily think it’s a threat because several other people reported it too. But strange it is. Especially as it has a different MAC.
I do think, though, that we should be able to block potentially unwanted devices via GlassWire.
… and I guess I’ll just go back to a MAC “positive” list on the router side. I’ll let you know if and what stopped working after blocking Hai Precision
My Lenovo laptop wireless connection shows up as Hon Hai etc.
Each network connection from your computer will have a different MAC address. The wireless/WiFi connection MAC address will be different than the cabled/ethernet MAC address.
When my laptop is docked and connected by cable, the wireless connection is stopped. But if the cabled connection disconnects then wireless reconnects.
“Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd device joined the network.”
Your “device” on your local area network is recognized by it’s physical address - or MAC Address.
A MAC address has six pairs of hexadecimal numbers. The first three pairs identify the manufacturer of the device - or more correctly the network interface in the device. In your cast the device MAC address will start with E8:9E:B4: which is Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co.,Ltd…
You can look up a MAC address vendor at MAC Vendors.
If you want to know which MAC address is associated with which IP Address, go to your command line and ping the IP Address, then type arp -a
The table on the screen will show you which MAC address - which physical address - is associated with the IP Address. Go online and look up the MAC address and you’ll know the vendor.
I too have a Brother printer (connected via WiFi) , and the “Hon Hai Precision” connection is the only one showing in my Glasswire “Things” (apart from my Modem).
So, like you, I am assuming that this connection is a legitimate one with the Brother printer.
