Unidentified client connected to network. bsrf?

Unidentified client connected to network. bsrf?

Author
Discussion

FiF

Original Poster:

45,521 posts

258 months

Friday 1st November
quotequote all
Per title, we've got something logged onto our guest network which is protected by a decent password.

The client is called bsrf and is both downloading and uploading data.

All other clients are recognised.

Status at the moment is that the car is charging on a low price session as decided by power supplier. The charger is logged on as itself and nothing untoward there. The car itself is off and locked so it's not showing as connected to WiFi or at least it's regular client name isn't showing.

Have googled the MAC address and it's registered to Continental Automotive Systems in Illinois USA.

I'm guessing this is something on the car. Or should I be concerned? This bsrf showed earlier today when trying to download data to phone app.

babelfish

966 posts

214 months

Friday 1st November
quotequote all
FiF said:
Per title, we've got something logged onto our guest network which is protected by a decent password.

The client is called bsrf and is both downloading and uploading data.

All other clients are recognised.

Status at the moment is that the car is charging on a low price session as decided by power supplier. The charger is logged on as itself and nothing untoward there. The car itself is off and locked so it's not showing as connected to WiFi or at least it's regular client name isn't showing.

Have googled the MAC address and it's registered to Continental Automotive Systems in Illinois USA.

I'm guessing this is something on the car. Or should I be concerned? This bsrf showed earlier today when trying to download data to phone app.
Have you tried googling: "bsrf" "Continental Automotive Systems" ?


Glosphil

4,500 posts

241 months

Friday 1st November
quotequote all
From Google :

Continental Automotive's BSRF Intelligent Antenna Module is a component for the Peugeot 308. Continental Automotive is a company that provides a range of automotive products and services, including:

Telematic solutions
Continental offers networking devices for heavy-duty vehicles, including custom and off-the-shelf options.

Brake systems
Continental is a brake system specialist and is developing future brake system technologies.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)
ADAS includes features like blind spot detection, which uses sensors to monitor the vehicle's surroundings.

Control units
Continental offers a range of control units, including airbag control units, assisted and automated driving control units, and body control modules.

Broadcast antennas
Continental offers broadcast antennas for receiving radio, TV, and digital signals.

Continental Automotive also offers Smart Mobility (SMY) solutions, which focus on connecting drivers, vehicles, and infrastructure.


FiF

Original Poster:

45,521 posts

258 months

Friday 1st November
quotequote all
Thanks for showing up my laziness in not taking it to the next step.

Almost got there. Paranoia over net security. The bsrf has certainly disappeared off the network as a pause in charging currently, presumably energy prices have increased temporarily. Charging to start again about 00:20 it seems.

babelfish

966 posts

214 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
FiF said:
Paranoia over net security.
What are you so concerned about? You must have something you really need to hide or you are truly paranoid.

FiF

Original Poster:

45,521 posts

258 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
babelfish said:
FiF said:
Paranoia over net security.
What are you so concerned about? You must have something you really need to hide or you are truly paranoid.
Nothing to hide. Just don't like not understanding what's going on. Our network is used for more than just random browsing. It has to be secure for work purposes and therefore a professional attitude is appropriate.

Is this the odd little PH attitude of trying to have a poke at anyone for some strange sad little amusement?

FMOB

1,994 posts

19 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
FiF said:
babelfish said:
FiF said:
Paranoia over net security.
What are you so concerned about? You must have something you really need to hide or you are truly paranoid.
Nothing to hide. Just don't like not understanding what's going on. Our network is used for more than just random browsing. It has to be secure for work purposes and therefore a professional attitude is appropriate.

Is this the odd little PH attitude of trying to have a poke at anyone for some strange sad little amusement?
I think the OP is right to be concerned over an unknown user on their internet connection. It maybe completely innocent but until you check you wouldn't know. In this situation I don't think ignorance is bliss but babelfish seems to be a subscriber.

Forester1965

2,788 posts

10 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
How has it connected to the guest network? Did you give the car/charging infrastructure the credentials and this is piggybacking on those?

FiF

Original Poster:

45,521 posts

258 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
Forester1965 said:
How has it connected to the guest network? Did you give the car/charging infrastructure the credentials and this is piggybacking on those?
Yes, the car and the charger connects to the guest network and to enable connections you log on with the password.

It's a work around that we found by googling when the charger refused to connect to the main mesh wifi network for some reason. Initially got the charger working by connecting to another router but there was a weak signal which can lead to instability and service problems.

Searches showed that others had an issue between TPLink mesh WiFi and the specific kit we chose. They had got round it by creating a secure guest network using the same physical node units as the main network. We tried this as it's quite easy to do and connection made straight away. We needed a charger that connected by WiFi as other options used 4G and the signal with us is variable to say the least.

Tbh I don't understand the technical why etc but it worked first time, simple to do and it's been solid since. Setting up the vehicle connectivity it seemed reasonable to use the same access point.

Magnum 475

3,650 posts

139 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
babelfish said:
FiF said:
Paranoia over net security.
What are you so concerned about? You must have something you really need to hide or you are truly paranoid.
Not at all. Would you be happy with unknown clients on your home network?? Maybe downloading / uploading illegal content - the sort that gets you a jail term? That activity would be traced to your IP address, with inevitable consequences.

119

9,533 posts

43 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
FiF said:
Yes, the car and the charger connects to the guest network and to enable connections you log on with the password.

It's a work around that we found by googling when the charger refused to connect to the main mesh wifi network for some reason. Initially got the charger working by connecting to another router but there was a weak signal which can lead to instability and service problems.

Searches showed that others had an issue between TPLink mesh WiFi and the specific kit we chose. They had got round it by creating a secure guest network using the same physical node units as the main network. We tried this as it's quite easy to do and connection made straight away. We needed a charger that connected by WiFi as other options used 4G and the signal with us is variable to say the least.

Tbh I don't understand the technical why etc but it worked first time, simple to do and it's been solid since. Setting up the vehicle connectivity it seemed reasonable to use the same access point.
At a guess, the guest network only operates on the 2.4 band..

Some devices hate mesh as that mainly uses 2.4 & 5 bands which many devices don’t like 5 for some reason.

FiF

Original Poster:

45,521 posts

258 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
119 said:
At a guess, the guest network only operates on the 2.4 band..

Some devices hate mesh as that mainly uses 2.4 & 5 bands which many devices don’t like 5 for some reason.
That's a thought. The TP link app shows that both networks can operate on both 2.4 and 5. But wonder if having two networks means they 'decide' to operate on one or the other but never the same. Need to do a bit more digging in the admin functions.

Mr Whippy

29,908 posts

248 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
FiF said:
babelfish said:
FiF said:
Paranoia over net security.
What are you so concerned about? You must have something you really need to hide or you are truly paranoid.
Nothing to hide. Just don't like not understanding what's going on. Our network is used for more than just random browsing. It has to be secure for work purposes and therefore a professional attitude is appropriate.

Is this the odd little PH attitude of trying to have a poke at anyone for some strange sad little amusement?
Everyone has everything to hide.

A network security issue is as risky as having someone sat over your shoulder perpetually on any device, with a key logger.

Ie, what Microsoft was proposing and got told to FRO over.

Arlen

172 posts

174 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
FiF said:
That's a thought. The TP link app shows that both networks can operate on both 2.4 and 5. But wonder if having two networks means they 'decide' to operate on one or the other but never the same. Need to do a bit more digging in the admin functions.
TP Link (On the kit I have) you can assign a 2.4 WiFi network SSID and one SSID for the 5. Recently ran into a similar issue as my ISP supplied router only lets you have one SSID for both. I disabled the 2.4 network as devices will auto connect to whichever responds first which always seemed to be the 2.4. This in turn gave speeds of 30 instead of 250 (cannot remember but think Mbps).

New TV arrived (which should support 5) would not connect to 5 for love nor money, connected straight away on 2.4 (when re-enabled) but this then led to speed issues on devices. Turned it back off and hard wired the TV instead which luckily I was in a position to be able to do.

Super Sonic

7,250 posts

61 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
babelfish said:
What are you so concerned about? You must have something you really need to hide or you are truly paranoid.
Or maybe he has internet banking.

xeny

4,664 posts

85 months

Saturday 2nd November
quotequote all
Super Sonic said:
Or maybe he has internet banking.
The clue is in the name there. If the connection between your device and the bank is secure to pass across the internet, there's not much a device on your LAN can do to inspect it.

FMOB

1,994 posts

19 months

Sunday 3rd November
quotequote all
xeny said:
Super Sonic said:
Or maybe he has internet banking.
The clue is in the name there. If the connection between your device and the bank is secure to pass across the internet, there's not much a device on your LAN can do to inspect it.
If you are referring to inspecting a packet on its way I would agree but having an unknown entity on the network isn't good and once they are in you are relying on the security of each device to ensure they don't get compromised.

Easier to just keep them out in the first place than mitigate once they are in.

Baldchap

8,365 posts

99 months

Sunday 3rd November
quotequote all
Put Guest on a separate VLAN, along with all your IOT stuff and only put things you trust on the one you bank on.

Mr Whippy

29,908 posts

248 months

Sunday 3rd November
quotequote all
xeny said:
Super Sonic said:
Or maybe he has internet banking.
The clue is in the name there. If the connection between your device and the bank is secure to pass across the internet, there's not much a device on your LAN can do to inspect it.
It’s still utterly stupid to not audit.

That connection could be doing all sorts of questionable stuff via your IP.

If the system was generally secure then fine, but it’s creaking at the seams with encryption certs being abused, installed by any old software, MS themselves have a firewall like a sieve, then all that crowdstrike debacle.
Then all the data leaks.

I’d suggest random devices on your local lan need inspecting.

Though I’m still curious how anything can connect without you allowing it.

Baldchap

8,365 posts

99 months

Sunday 3rd November
quotequote all
Mr Whippy said:
Though I’m still curious how anything can connect without you allowing it.
Guests sharing passwords or allowing access via QR code even if they don't know the password is one way.