To start this article, I would like to describe what are the Clandestine Internet Providers, or also called “Illegal Internet”.

Illegal Internet service providers (Gato Net) are typically set up by individuals or companies that subscribe to a residential Internet connection and generally do not have licenses from government authorities to resell Internet service. They usually subscribe to a residential connection and share it or sell it to their neighbors, friends, etc.

Illegal internet service providers, in addition to being illegal (pursuant to Article 183 of Law No. 9,472 (General Telecommunications Law—LGT)), can pose risks to our networks, since they are most often set up by people who lack the technical knowledge necessary to maintain a network with proper configuration practices. In many cases, Gato Net ends up being the target of DDoS attacks, which have negative effects on its provider.

If a customer is identified at your provider who is committing such practices, legal means can be used to stop such practices.

However, how do we identify a customer who is using these practices to share or sell illegal internet?

With the Made4graph tool, we were able to visualize the customers with the highest bandwidth usage:

We can also check the customer’s real-time graph along with the complete usage extract, showing us the consumption in each period that he was connected:

With this information we were able to make some comparisons with other customers who have the same amount of bandwidth contracted.

If there is a big difference in usage between customers, we have an indication that this user is illegally sharing the Internet. Another observation we can make is by using the Customer History Chart; there, we’ll see a pattern similar to that of an ISP’s charts, where the heaviest traffic occurs between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

It’s important for internet service providers to be proactive and maintain their networks so they don’t have to deal with even bigger problems!

Would you like to see more chart options in the Made4Graph software? Try the demo version or schedule a presentation with the Made4it sales team!

Gelso Baltazar | Consultant