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I would like to monitor who connects to my iMac's WiFi hotspot. I have protected it with a password, but WEP is easy to crack. Is there a utility for OS 10.7.3/Lion to see who is connected?

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Everyone should be aware of who is using his network, and that WEP is just… false security. – daniel Azuelos Apr 28 '12 at 18:49

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Here is a command I let in an xterm running to keep aware of neighbour attempting to enter my WEP [loud loughter] Wi-Fi network:

/usr/bin/sudo tail -f /var/log/system.log | grep 'bootpd.*\[en.\]'

When this window starts to scroll, I know I got a new uninvited guest at home.

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up vote 2 down vote

arp -a

gives a list of connected interfaces on the same network.

  • en1 is Wi-Fi
  • en0 is Ethernet (on the Macbook Air this is Wi-Fi)

How to use

Type this command in the Terminal located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app. To learn more about this command, type man arp in the terminal.

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In hindsight, this is a better option. – George Pearce Mar 17 '12 at 19:15
up vote 1 down vote

You could use a network map like Nmap to 'map out' your connection, and see who is connected. Alternatively, Little Snitch should let you see what they do (ie what they visit).

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But does Little Snitch also show who's connected? – gentmatt Mar 17 '12 at 19:18
I've actually never tried. I wouldn't imagine so though - just the data flow in and out. – George Pearce Mar 17 '12 at 19:20
1  
I use little snitch. When someone first connected, it gave me one prompt. After that, there is nothing showing a list of clients. Further, there are legitimate clients whose traffic I don't want to monitor. I simply want to know if additional clients are associated. I'll check out nmap too, but as you noted on the other answer, arp works well. – trav1th Mar 17 '12 at 19:30

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