We've written about this topic in the past. Most recently, last month we discussed how the Chinese use your internet connection as a jumping off point to "look local" in their attacks on your fellow Americans.

Hopefully that bothered you enough to do something about it. If not, there are consequences beyond just someone maliciously piggybacking off your connection.

First, and something we've seen before, your IP address will be put on blacklists and you will find yourself unable to do business with some online services. We experienced this several years ago with a local company who had been infested with the Mirai botnet on their cheap, Chinese security cameras.

No matter how many times they petitioned the vendor to remove them, they were quickly added back. A little traffic capture and investigation revealed that their security cameras had been compromised by the notorious Mirai botnet that "firehosed" terabit distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks at prominent people and services in the US.

Second, and a more recent development, you may be shut down by U.S. law enforcement. In recent years the FBI has taken to more strong arm actions against these attackers and their infrastructure. While we have reported on individuals being busted and extradited to the U.S. for trial, the FBI has also shutdown and seized their infrastructure. While they probably won't seize your internet modem, they may pay you a visit and give you some "tough love" options.

Ultimately, this is a problem you can't and shouldn't ignore. The "I didn't know" card has been overplayed and, frankly, law enforcement and large tech providers are a little tired of it. If someone was making and selling drugs out of your house, you wouldn't get the same lengthly deference that we've given for cyber crimes up until now.

Do yourself a favor and shore up your defenses. Put some detection capabilities in place and respond quickly when they alert.

Need help? We are here and ready.

References:
https://spur.us/blog/hidden-economy-residential-proxies