Is there anyway i can prevent tethering on win 7?

[jboydgolfer]

Hello,

as it says in the title, im looking for away to Stop my nephew from tethering his Mobile phone to his PC when our home internet is shut off. I discovered he was doing this a while back, and it really pi$$es me off. I know telling him not to do it is always the best bet, but he is a teenager, and so here i am. I also run openDNS, for filtering, and dont like him subverting our family rules when those rules are inconvenient, both for "parental" reasons, and because of the security issues that this type of tethering could possibly expose my home network to.

his PC is windows 7-i believe he has admin privileges, so that complicates it
his phone is an android phone of some type.
he simply activates tethering, and plugs it into his usb port, and he's off.

i might be SOL, but i figured id ask before i started taking his PC's power cord

thanks in advance

EDIT**

please note that this is my nephew who i care for Full time, & his bolognahead father gave him the phone, so i cant simply remove data, or reduce it via his mobile plan...as im not the person in control of it.

 

[DRDNA]

If you're paying the bill then maybe contact your cell provider and ask them if they can block it.

 

[jboydgolfer]

please note that this is my nephew who i care for Full time, & his bolognahead father gave him the phone, so i cant simply remove data, or reduce it via his mobile plan...as im not the person in control of it.

If you're paying the bill

i added that just after you posted it.

 

[DRDNA]

i added that just after you posted it.

no legal way I can think of.......damn not being able to use jammers legally...lol

EDIT: chicken wire fencing wrecks cell phone signals and I guess you could wrap his room but then he would just open the window and set the phone just outside the chicken wire fencing...

 

[Kursah]

Faraday cage FTW!

In reality, you could attempt to apply an SSID filter to block whatever network he's tethering to or even get a little more advanced with it. Here's a link for some info.

 

[jboydgolfer]

you could attempt to apply an SSID filter to block whatever network he's tethering to

thank You for the link & info, i am curious though, is this something he will be able to simply undo when he discovers it has been done? and if it IS something he can undo, is there a way to stop him from undoing it?

Faraday cage FTW!

id like to just put HIM in the cage

 

[remixedcat]

Do you own or rent your place?

 

[jboydgolfer]

Do you own or rent your place?

currently rent

 

[dorsetknob]

you don't have to take the power cord
there is always the Circuit Breaker

 

[jboydgolfer]

you don't have to take the power cord
there is always the Circuit Breaker

its funny you mention that, i actually have his breaker marked but id rather him not lose power to his lights, fan,etc. what @Kursah recommended sounds liek a good option, but im not sure if I will be able to Keep it blocked, as he could just re-enable it....brain is Straining

Edit
It would be nice if I could just take his phone and somehow permanently disable tethering . Or if I could do it through the desktop

 

[dorsetknob]

@Kursah recommended sounds liek a good option,

Seriously doubt if it would work
what i understand of tethering is
his phone provides the internet as an inderpendent modem over 3G ? to the PC
seeing as you cannot block his phone signal or mod his PC your only options are
Control him
control the power to the PC
Give up find a brick wall and

 

[Kursah]

thank You for the link & info, i am curious though, is this something he will be able to simply undo when he discovers it has been done? and if it IS something he can undo, is there a way to stop him from undoing it?


id like to just put HIM in the cage

So there's a spot on there for a denyall, and then I believe you can add the SSID's to the allow/whitelist that he can connect to. Review Option 4 from the link above.

Then as-far-as how he controls it, setup yourself as admin, set him up as standard. Then he can't make system changes or even install anything without your password and approval.

Seriously doubt if it would work
what i understand of tethering is
his phone provides the internet as an inderpendent modem over 3G ? to the PC
seeing as you cannot block his phone signal or mod his PC your only options are
Control him
control the power to the PC
Give up find a brick wall and

Tethering from a cell phone as I've used it is utilizing the phone's cell network for a wifi connection since it uses data. The cell phone disables its wireless network connectivity and instead broadcasts its own wireless network and SSID. I use it all the time in the field in rural areas of Montana where it is faster than the ISP's offerings.

So in essence if the OP's user is connecting via wireless SSID, then what I suggested will work like a charm.

 

[jboydgolfer]

Seriously doubt if it would work
what i understand of tethering is
his phone provides the internet as an inderpendent modem over 3G ? to the PC
seeing as you cannot block his phone signal or mod his PC your only options are
Control him
control the power to the PC
Give up find a brick wall and

I do have access to the PC. I could make him give me his phone. But any change I do on his PC or on the phone it's something that he could easily on do with the small amount of googling

Then as-far-as how he controls it, setup yourself as admin, set him up as standard. Then he can't make system changes or even install anything without your password and approval.

Is there a way for me to remove his admin privileges because he already has them ,I set the computer up so he could control it completely.because I do have access to the PC, and so if there's something I can do to provoke administrator privileges I'll do it

I know i can nvrmnd

 

[Kursah]

If you have an administrative account on that PC, simple change his user account type to standard. Or if you have Windows 7/8/10 Pro, you can also go into Computer Management and modify which security groups he is a part of, remove him from the Administrators security group.

 

[Static~Charge]

I did some digging and came across this:

Use Group Policy to prevent the installation of new network devices.

You'll find an option in Administrative Templates \ System \ Device Installation \ Device Installation Restrictions \ Prevent installation of devices using drivers that match these driver setup classes. From its description:

This policy setting allows you to specify a list of device setup class globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) for device drivers that Windows is prevented from installing. This policy setting takes precedence over any other policy setting that allows Windows to install a device.

If you enable this policy setting, Windows is prevented from installing or updating device drivers whose device setup class GUIDs appear in the list you create. If you enable this policy setting on a remote desktop server, the policy setting affects redirection of the specified devices from a remote desktop client to the remote desktop server.​

Using policy settings here, you can either create a whitelist or a blacklist, either of individual devices or entire classes of devices (such as network adapters). These take effect when a device is removed and reinserted, so it will not affect the NIC built into the machine, provided you don't apply the setting to devices that are already installed.

You will need to reference the list of device setup classes to find the class for network adapters, which is {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}. Add this class to the blacklist, and soon afterward, nobody will be able to use USB network adapters.​

Of course, since he has administrator rights on the machine, there's a chance that he might find your Group Policy setting and delete it. Here's another angle of attack:

• Get/set the password for the local Administrator account.

• If he tethers his phone after you've said "no", issue a remote shutdown command to his PC.
  shutdown /s /m \\boneheads_pc

• Keep doing this until it sinks into his thick head that the house rules apply to him, too.

This will set you up with a battle of wills. I prefer Kursah's solution of revoking his admin privileges.

 

[MrGenius]

Phones have web browsers. Seems like the only thing it would do is make it less convenient for him. Unless it's just a shitty flip phone or he's online gaming...or something.

 

[Solaris17]

What version of Windows 7 is this?

Is this a desktop or a laptop?

 

[DRDNA]

So in essence if the OP's user is connecting via wireless SSID, then what I suggested will work like a charm.

Yeah BUT all cell phones now days can rename their SSID. So all he would have to do is rename and bam he is in like flin. Blocking the Mac Address might be better.

My cells SSID is currently configged to a very crazy name.

 

[jboydgolfer]

What version of Windows 7 is this?

Is this a desktop or a laptop?

win 7 64b desktop pro

to all & to be clear, he isnt using the wireless, he is connecting via a USB cord, & "tethering" with it. which uses the mobile data to provide the Desktop with a internet source that subverts my network entirely, MY issue is that im a parent who like certain restrictions in place, and he also uses it to avoid down times from parental controls ,or punishments.

 

[Drone69]

Install a firewall and password protect the settings, then block network access via the firewall. Won`t make any difference how he tries to connect that way. Although if he knows what he`s doing he will find a way to remove it, sooner or later.

 

[Kursah]

You could utilize a local policy akin to a domain enterprise GPO that would block USB access via device ID, something like this.

• Click start or go to run, type gpedit.msc.
• This will open the Local Group Policy Editor.
• Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation > Device Installation Restrictions
• Choose the GPO: Prevent installation of devices using drivers that match any of these device IDs.
• Double click to open.
• Add hardware ID as provided in the example, and choose Enabled. Click OK.
• I would log off or reboot and test after that.

 

[jboydgolfer]

I really appreciate everyone's input I'm gonna go through the thread and see what works or doesn't work tomorrow while he's at school

 

[Kursah]

I really appreciate everyone's input I'm gonna go through the thread and see what works or doesn't work tomorrow while he's at school

Sounds good! Nothing I provided about wireless or SSID's will work if that's not what he's using. BUT if you disable USB tethering and he opts for wireless broadcast tethering, you'll have a solution ready to go! Kick his account to standard user status, and restrict what he can do. Good luck and please do keep us posted!

 

[Norton]

Disable all of the USB ports except one for a wireless kb and mouse combo- would be really hard to tether the phone and do something on the internet w/o a kb and mouse

 

[biffzinker]

Not many options other than blocking the install of said smartphone through USB on PC via group policy. Seems everyone forgot this is treating the smartphone as a modem like in the old days (USB = phone-line cord) so the only way to block this is by stopping the connection over USB.

Disable all of the USB ports except one for a wireless kb and mouse combo- would be really hard to tether the phone and do something on the internet w/o a kb and mouse

I'm sure he could figure out how to get into the uEFI and re-enable the disabled USB ports unless jboydgolfer password protects the uEFI setup.