I’ve had Norton on my computer for a while now. My boyfriend installed it for free for me. It’s been fine until recently. As of a few days ago, I keep getting this MITM attack message. It’s saying that MY network is suspicious and that my personal data may be exposed to an attacker on this network (and it says my wifi name as the network NOT ARP Spoofer or anything like that) This type of Man-In-The-Middle attacker aims to link an unauthorized media access control address with a legitimate IP address.
What’s weird is that I’ve been having some very bad wifi connection lately. I can’t play my online games on it without disconnecting constantly from the game. Webpages sometimes don’t load.
And it’s not just my computer either, there have been some issues with our smart TV connecting to the wifi as well. Sometimes, it just boots us off from whatever we’re watching.
Now I have run a full scan on my computer and there hasn’t been anything detected. It comes back clean with 0 problems found.
However, my boyfriend says that there are multiple attempts with someone trying to log into our wifi network according to Norton (he gets constant notifications about it) and he says that they all come from my computer?
How can I fix this? Is there really someone attacking my wifi network or is it safe to go ahead and trust my network?
Do you know how you fix this problem. You uninstall Norton that’s how you fix this problem
As people said Norton is not great, it’s resource intensive, expensive and not known to be super good at catching things. Recently it’s apparently improved, but it remains expensive and adequate not exceptional.
MITM attacks are man in the middle attacks. Generally there are two options, infected router or virus. Sounds like the first is your issues.
What I would suggest is unplugging your router / modem, flipping it over, find a small pin hole labeled reset and push a paperclip in it for 15 seconds. This resets your router to factory defaults. If you do not have one, look for manual and reset as per manual.
Plug router back in. Go to routers log in page, the info is usually on a sticker on the router or in manual. Type that IP address into Google while plugged in with a ethernet cord or on default wifi network. Log in. Change the default passwords the default is sometime like admin and password, change that. Also give yourself a new SSID (wifi name) and wifi password and don’t broadcast it. Try to make this also an okay password. Set everything up on new wifi network.
If you rent your router from an ISP you can probably request a new version for free. Which might be more comfortable.
Routers are very easy to compromise as often people don’t change the pre-set info, so someone drives around trying various router IP addresses until they log into one with default passwords and messes with it.
It’s also possible your PC is also infected, but if your PC is off and they are still having issues it’s probably the router. Edit: there is a malware removal guide here but I would start by isolating your PC from network and if ongoing reset and lock down router.
Edit 2: Recently a Security Researcher did an IAMA on WiFi router security issues and the number 1 tip was change the default passwords. Change the routers default and wifi ones. This will keep the vast majority of hacks away, for most people. People aren’t trying to hack you they are trying to hack anyone and if default passwords don’t work, it’s unlikely they will care to keep trying unless your the President.
norton is hot garbage the best anti virus is your brain
Norton is borderline a scam, and even acts like a difficult-to-remove-virus when you try to get rid of it. Smack your boyfriend on the back of the head for installing that garbage, and look up a guide on how to uninstall it fully. If you don’t want to pay for a professional antivirus, just keep the default Windows one running; the free versions of ones like Norton and Avast are practically malware.
Your bf should not be getting any notifications, that is not information norton has available to it. Maybe some crazy stupid feature where norton is trying to monitor your router (with a username/password) and is detecting your machine using the wrong login credentials? It’s norton and all but I’d like to think even they aren’t that…sigh…yes that sounds like exactly the kind of WTAF norton would do.
I’d say Norton is being suspicious and is trying to distract you from whatever it’s doing. 
seriously, I haven’t found a 3rd-party one that I feel like I can trust these days. even avast has gotten bloated these days. 
there might be some good enterprise-y stuff, idunno.
I’d remove norton and go with what MS includes by default. imo.
Norton is a joke. Use avg or kaspersky cloud edition
Norton is rock-bottom shit. Uninstall that and all of its add-ons as well.
Instantly watch your PC’s performance increase, too.
Windows 10 has Windows Defender, and it’s all you need.
Windows antivirus and Malwarebytes are all that I use and they work great.
Norton is possibly the worse AV there is. Get another one and see if you keep getting that message.
Norton is suspicious. Nuke it, stick with Defender or get Malwarebytes.
An antivirus is rarely worth it, free one never is. As a computer tech I have to explain this to people every single day. Get ad blockers going on your browser, reset your router and set up again with a different password, run a scan on defender and do a disk cleanup just coz it never hurts, and never download a free antivirus again
No shit. Nothing about this makes sense.
The attempts to log into the wifi were coming from OPs computer? Well… no shit. That’s either normal, or… Why would an attacker attack WiFi from an endpoint that is already connected?
Also, who installs norton (on purpose) for someone they care about?
Wow, this was so helpful. I just got a new router and was wondering what else I could do to secure it. I’ll definitely do the steps you mentioned. Thanks!
Thank you for this information. I am going to go ahead and do this today. I should probably tell my bf about Norton but he’s probably not going to listen.
Don’t use either of those. Windows Defender is enough.
because secretly they don’t care about them and want them to suffer. it is revenge for something that happened in the past.
No problem. Also edited to link a security dude for more info.
I will also mention physical security is also important, don’t leave it next to an open window. But the likelihood of issues with that is low short of having shitty roommates who pawn your stuff for drug money.
