Unknown device appeared on Eero network with hostname of a mobile device, unauthorised access?

UberTiger · 2 Oct 2023 at 20:58

I have a Dream Machine Pro setup at a family members home, it has a few eeros hooked into it temporarily until I add some UniFi access points. It works fine and was plug and play swapping the old router out, so I wasn't too fussed as everything stayed connected.

It's been setup for weeks, in the last hour I got an unknown private device eero notification to my phone. Looking up the mac address online shows nothing, but the hostname for the device in eero app says "SomeName-S23-Ultra"

This sounds like an Android Samsung S23? Eero app says 0kb uploaded or downloaded.

Would it be right that the hostname for a Samsung mobile would be labelled in this way?
Does this mean someone has gained unauthorised access to my network?

Deleted member 77746 · 2 Oct 2023 at 21:01

Just block it if you don’t know what it is.

Then wait till someone shouts if it’s legit.

UberTiger · 2 Oct 2023 at 21:08

Edit: I've now blocked the device completely, there's not really anyone to shout or not beside the immediate family member, which is a bit concerning.

I don't want to alarm them tonight if I don't have to, and I'm pretty sure there's no 'SomeName', visiting the house, but I'll check with them tomorrow.

It's such a rare occurrence getting an new device eero ping, I'm a tad worried. Might be time to rotate the wifi password (which is reasonably strong, but has been the same for a while)

Deleted member 77746 · 2 Oct 2023 at 21:15

UberTiger said:
Edit: I've now blocked the device completely, there's not really anyone to shout or not beside the immediate family member, which is a bit concerning.

I don't want to alarm them tonight if I don't have to, and I'm pretty sure there's no 'SomeName', visiting the house, but I'll check with them tomorrow.

It's such a rare occurrence getting an new device eero ping, I'm a tad worried. Might be time to rotate the wifi password (which is reasonably strong, but has been the same for a while)

Wouldn’t worry about it if you have blocked it nothing to do. Just keep an eye on any new devices appearing.

ED209 · 3 Oct 2023 at 07:15

Does this device need a username and password to join\connect to it?

If so surely its worth changing the password if the random device is not yours\family member

the-evaluator · 3 Oct 2023 at 07:53

GaryTheSnail said:
Wouldn’t worry about it if you have blocked it nothing to do. Just keep an eye on any new devices appearing.

But it's only the current MAC address of the mystery device that's blocked. There's nothing to stop the MAC address changing (do Android phones have the same 'Private Wi-Fi address' stuff that iPhones have?) and that device connecting again.

OP, if you're worried then change your WiFi password.

Rroff · 3 Oct 2023 at 08:06

Dunno if related but there is some kind of Windows bug which will sometimes show a phantom mobile phone as a networked media device though I can't remember specifics off the top of my head and quick Google isn't showing it.