No. of Recommendations: 15
Other than looking on my network, is there another way to find out if a device is infected?
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The best I can suggest is to be vigilant.
As a baseline, I assume that everything asking for a Wifi connection was made by a firm with no software security department at all. Just assume that every device you give your Wifi password to has been rooted, knows everything on your computer, and is sending the most valuable bits somewhere bad. Frankly that's a bigger concern for me than whether it's part of a DDOS botnet, or whether your TV manufacturer is selling your watching habits to someone (it almost certainly is).
So my humble suggestion:
One very simple step in the right direction is just never to give your Wifi password to any device you don't *absolutely* need to have connectivity. If the thing can't get on your net, at least you're safe from vulnerabilities in that one box. I would never give my password to my fridge or doorbell or washing machine or TV or printer. Some things have to have it to provide functionality I choose not to live without, but in our house that's only Apple devices--at least Apple probably has a pretty good security budget. We're vulnerable, but less vulnerable that we might be.
Other things like my pool monitor or my alarm system, which need to have internet access to be monitored by people elsewhere, are on dedicated subnets isolated from my house net. (you can buy small boxes pre-configured with complete port isolation, so each thing plugged into it can get to the internet, but not to anything else within the house--no need for router table expertise). I don't use the Wifi in the router from my ISP, I turn that off and buy my own wireless access point. I like Ruckus.
I enjoyed the book "If it's Smart, it's Vulnerable." By a leading security expert, but it isn't a cheery read. The title kind of says it all.
Jim
(no smart phone)
