So my mom is a property manager for a few apartment complexes in my town and she just asked me If I would accept a sort of freelance job for her boss.
Her boss knows I am well versed in computers and that I am looking for work, but I am unsure of the possible implications of taking on this job.
One of the apartment complexes offers free WIFI, and apparently one of the tenants has been using it to pirate movies. My moms boss wants me to trace the IP of the pirate and figure out who’s doing it. This is apparently ongoing.
The job doesn’t seem too hard, I could see myself simply setting up an evil twin AP and capturing all the traffic for a while, then I could see who’s doing what and the boss would have her IP for the police or whatever.
My question is, are there any problems with me (18, not certified or employed) doing something like this? Would there be any complications for me legally?
I think as long as you get a 1099 for your work as "contractor" you should be fine. It's the owner of the network contracting you to do it. I'd make sure not to find out WHAT they're downloading, just who's doing it, and go out of your way not to see/capture his traffic as that might violate some kind of a privacy law.
Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure the MAC blocking route is a good idea because the boss has a theory that it might be her ex husband tryi g to get her in trouble, and if that's the case he probably won't take the bait.
What are the terms of use for the WiFi? There might be privacy implications going through their data, however that's not really needed for this kind of job anyway.
You should be able to find that AP the traffic is going through without needing to look at the specific traffic data (would be encrypted anyway). Get the MAC and you'll know what the hardware it is and roughly what floor/flat.
Make sure you have some sort of written contract or agreement detailing what work you'll undertake.
Well its gonna be an classless IP, not a public IP. So you could just implement a packet sniffer to listen for UDP traffic on anything expect ports 67, and 68. Should help give you some candidates.
In addition, do you have any advice on what this should cost her? I believe she wants me to throw out a number, and I have no idea what this kind of work is worth typically.
I don't agree with the punishment someone would get over this, but at the same time they're using a free connection and the companies keep complaining to the complex, so they have a right to put a stop to it.
On top of that, I'm a highschool student that just turned 18 and I have no prior job experience. I live in a small town where jobs are hard to come by as it is and so this could work wonders for my resume...
If I'm capable of doing this job then it's an offer I can't refuse. Not only is it my only lead so far on IT related work after searching for the last year, but if she's happy with this she may hire me as the companies IT person, since they don't really have one.
@anon5205053 That's a good idea. I'll let her know that finding the ip or mac address of the device doesn't = finding the guy, and that it would be safer to just block that kind of traffic.
I don't see how the landlady would be responsible for what individual users are doing on an apartment network. If she suspects her ex-husband, you can expect to be summoned into court in the future to explain any actions you take right now when the landlady and her husband are duking it out in court. The worst thing to do is jump in on a couple fight, they will both turn on you and you will be the victim. As the korean dramas would say, it's like running into a burning building with your arms full of dry hay bales:)