The best hacker of your network is your child!!!. Help needed with Parental control

[lbradio]

I am using parental control with time management to prevent my child from access the internet / WhatsApp after 0900 PM.

Checked connections myself, and it seemed to work. But....

My son found a way to still send and receive WhatsApp messages after 0900PM.
Here's the trick, tested on a iPhone.

After internet is disconnected (in blocking timezone), no mail, web or WhatsApp is possible. But when you disconnect the Wifi and connect it again (slider) there's WhatsApp traffic for app. 30 seconds. Enough to receive and send a message.

Any ideas to solve this one?

 

[cofetym]

If he's not paying the bill then take the toys away.

 

[jim769]

Agree after 9:00 pm here all my kids devices are on top of the fridge till after school the next day no exceptions problem solved.

 

[sfx2000]

Technology is no substitute for proper parenting

I like the advice earlier in the thread - at a time limit of your choosing, the devices go on the counter while they're doing homework, whatever...

My son, he's out of college and on his own now, but we let him onto the "net" in the days before mySpace/Facebook/What'sApp, etc...

Sat him down, we discussed what the 'Net was, and put few restrictions on him - but also showed him that all of his access is logged (nice to have have a syslog server), and I set up a script that would scrub the logs and send a daily report to him, as well as myself and the spouse, so if he got somewhere he should not have been, or using the Internet out of the agreed time bounds, he would be called to task...

Everything was fine for a while, until he got his first smartphone - and after the first warning - well... a handsledge is a dramatic example - shocking perhaps for him, but satisfying for me as it was pounded into small tiny bits...

Took me a couple of weeks to find a replacement phone for him...

Never had a problem afterwards

 

[lbradio]

Funny how a technical question turns into parental advise
I totally agree with the reactions. Personally I think kids have to deal to much with internet, social media, etc. What about playing with friends, football, etc.

But still there are situations in where I would like to have a little bit extra control.

I always tell my kids that if you can't reach your goal from the left, try it from the right. So actually I had to laugh when I noticed he found a bug in the parental control. But now it is my goal to have an answer.

I even wonder if anyone ever noticed this behaviour before.

And if so, is there any solution?

 

[Grump]

So actually I had to laugh when I noticed he found a bug in the parental control. But now it is my goal to have an answer.

I even wonder if anyone ever noticed this behaviour before.

And if so, is there any solution?

That's pretty cool he found that and showed you how it was done. Does the bug exist in latest official firmware? You might want to file a bug with them.

 

[lbradio]

That's pretty cool he found that and showed you how it was done. Does the bug exist in latest official firmware? You might want to file a bug with them.

I was even "a little bit proud". (Please DON'T tell him )
But he didn't told me howto.. After logfiles showed his online traffic, I've played a little Sherlock Holmes myself

This 'bug' is on the latest Merlin build (374.42). Never tried Asus builds, so I can't confirm it is also there.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Even if this bug is fixed anyone with basic computer skills or the ability to search the web will come up with ways to avoid access controls.

All that is necessary to circumvent the restrictions is to change the device's MAC and or IP.

The only fool proof method that I have found is set up a separate AP for your children to use and then plug the AP into a simple lamp timer that will shut it down. Put the AP someplace where the children can't access it. You also need to secure your primary router/AP so the kids can't plug into an Ethernet jack or reset it to factory defaults.

 

[IAAI]

I am using parental control with time management to prevent my child from access the internet / WhatsApp after 0900 PM.

Checked connections myself, and it seemed to work. But....

My son found a way to still send and receive WhatsApp messages after 0900PM.
Here's the trick, tested on a iPhone.

After internet is disconnected (in blocking timezone), no mail, web or WhatsApp is possible. But when you disconnect the Wifi and connect it again (slider) there's WhatsApp traffic for app. 30 seconds. Enough to receive and send a message.

Any ideas to solve this one?

Wow thats something new . Smart kid
Hope Merlin finds a fix for it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[CooCooCaChoo]

If he is using the wifi you can have the radios turned off automatically at 9pm for everything and everyone and wake back up again in the morning.

 

[Skirk]

CooCooCaChoo beat me to it with turning the radio off. If you require wifi for other family members, set up a guest network on a time schedule for your kids and change all your passwords.

Failing that, I'm all for the hammer

 

[sfx2000]

CooCooCaChoo beat me to it with turning the radio off. If you require wifi for other family members, set up a guest network on a time schedule for your kids and change all your passwords.

Failing that, I'm all for the hammer

It's good - between controls on the Router/AP, upstream via services like OpenDNS, etc... this can help with the wifi side - and this is important, as more and more items are wifi enabled...

For the smartphones, don't forget about 3g/4g network access - there, touch base with your wireless provider, many of them do offer parental controls for timed access (nothing during school hours for example) and walled gardens with different tiers - many times this is a small bolt-on for the line of service... And many times, those controls aren't just for the handset, but also for hotspot and tethering - so check with the provider to see what options are available.

sfx

 

[tonysamson]

I'm for setting up a "guest network" for the kids. That way, it could be turned off at a set time. Plus parental controls of course.

 

[heatfire]

how about moving all your wifi gadgets to 5ghz or 2.4ghz and let your children have one of the frequencys but set that one on a time limit.

 

[Builder71]

how about moving all your wifi gadgets to 5ghz or 2.4ghz and let your children have one of the frequencys but set that one on a time limit.

Of course this is of no use.
Do you have all your gadgets on 5GHz?
No, 99,9% is depending on 2.4GHz.

Besides the parenting advice from all, this "leak" should not be possible.

 

[lbradio]

Besides the parenting advice from all, this "leak" should not be possible.

I agree, but I wonder if there will be any solution, since Asus until now didn't response on this issue (I've send some mails to them) and on this forum this threat seems to be dead.