Fing Desktop Block & Pause devices [Preview]

 

Fing Desktop app 3.2.0 includes a new ability to pause internet access and block access to a network.

The features "Block intruders" and "Pause internet access" of Fing Desktop are currently in preview and available for Fing Premium users only. Fingbox users are not affected by this new functionality added to the Fing Desktop: they can still pause internet and block intruders from the Fing mobile app as always. 

• Block device: prevents the target device from accessing the internal LAN traffic and Internet traffic. Use it to blacklist suspicious unrecognized devices that might be using your WiFi without your consent. Any attempt to obtain an IP address will be countered, and it won't be able to send data to and receive data from any other device in the network, preventing sharing, streaming, casting, and any other local network activity.
• Pause internet access: prevents the target device from accessing the Internet via the current network, but still allows connectivity to internal devices. Use it to temporarily pause internet access to enforce internet downtime such as preventing gaming consoles from running.
  Attempts to access the local network will be allowed, but requests to access the internet via the network gateway will be denied. 
  For example, a paused computer still sends a document to the printer. A paused mobile device could still cast a video on a streaming dongle.

Block and Pause cannot run simultaneously on the same device. 

 

 

Pre-requisites of the feature

 

1. Blocking and pausing devices is allowed only on private networks; you can express what type of network you're monitoring in the "Network" page when you scan the network if not already assigned. Please, be mindful that the feature is intended to be used in a private, controlled environment where you are the owner and administrator of the network

 

2. You will be directed to review and accept the Terms & Conditions, which have been displayed during the installation and are always available on the Fing website. To ensure compliance with the terms of service, some details of the network and blocked devices will be logged. 

After clicking Pause or Block, a dialog appears, and you have to accept Terms&Conditions of the service by clicking on the 'I agree' button if you want to proceed and use the feature. You can also access the Terms&Conditions online by clicking the link in the dialog

 

 

3. The feature is in preview and enabled for Premium users only at this time.

 

The approval process for the feature

Each network - identified by the Gateway MAC address - must be approved to enable the feature. We're planning to make sure you use the feature according to the Terms & Conditions available on the website. 

As such, the following prompts may be displayed, based on the approval process status

 

The network context is missing

The app will show the dialog below. You can set the context by clicking on 'Set Context.' Please follow the instructions explained in the section Pre-requisites.

 

Your Network is not private

The Network context is not set as Home. Please take a look at the instruction explained in the section Pre-requisites. The Desktop app will show you the dialog below; you can just contact support for more instructions.

 

Terms&Service Agreement missing

Terms&Service agreement needs to be included. The Desktop app will show you the dialog below. Please follow the instructions explained in the section Pre-requisites about Terms&Conditions Agreement.

 

Approval Pending

The access to the feature is under review by Fing for this Network. The support team will reach out to you before proceeding.  

 

Approval Denied

Fing denied access to the feature for this Network. Please get in touch with the support team if you think you own this Network. You can contact the support for further instruction by clicking on 'Contact support.'

 

 

Blocking a device

This feature permanently block (blacklist) a device from accessing the current network.

To access this feature from the Desktop Dashboard:

• Click on the "Devices" item in the sidebar or "See all devices" from the home dashboard. The list of all devices will appear
• Click on the device you would like to block. The page of details of the selected devices will appear.
• Under the section "Improve security", click on the "Block" tool.

 

 

The first time you use the feature, you will be prompted to review and agree with the terms once before proceeding. A prompt will ask to confirm to block the device indefinitely.

 

Once blocked, the status in the top-right corner will change to "Blocked" and a red hand will appear also in the table of devices in the row of the newly-blocked devices, under the "Status" column.

 

To unblock a device:

• Click on the "Devices" item in the sidebar or "See all devices" from the home dashboard. The list of all devices will appear
• Click on the device you want to unblock, identified by a red hand icon on the right. The page with details of the selected devices will appear.
• On the right side under the 'Improve security' section, you will see that the button "Pause" is disabled and the button with the red hand is labeled "Unblock".
• Click on Unblock. Alternatively, you can unblock a device by clicking on the Resume button in the Header.
• Confirm you’d like to unblock the device, granting access to your Network

 

Pausing internet access for a device

The Desktop Pause feature acts similarly to the Desktop Block feature, allowing you to suspend access to the Internet from reaching a device or a user. However, instead of cutting off access to the entire Network, pausing still allows those devices to communicate with other devices on your Local Area Network, i.e., you can pause your child’s laptop’s access to the Internet, but it can still send documents to the printer or send screen mirroring to a casting Dongle.

To access this feature from the Desktop Dashboard:

• Click on the "Devices" item in the sidebar, or on "See all devices" from the home dashboard. The list of all devices will appear
• Click on the device you would like to pause internet access for. The page of details of the selected devices will appear.
• Under the section "Improve security", click on the "Pause" tool.

A dialog allows to select how long you'd like to pause the selected device for. The device's ability to access internet will be suspended for the selected duration.  When you select the option 'Pause and resume later' the Pause lasts forever until you unpause the device manually.

A new network scan will be scheduled to run when the time expires, to update the list of your devices. Under normal usage, the timing is sharp but depending on the status of the PC (power-safe mode, sleep-mode), it may take a few additional minutes to run, causing a slightly longer period of blocking.

 

To resume internet access for a device:

• Click on the "Devices" item in the sidebar, or on "See all devices" from the home dashboard. The list of all devices will appear
• Click on the device you would like to unblock, identified by a pause icon on the right. The page of details of the selected devices will appear.
• On the right side under 'Improve security' section, you will see that the button "Block" is disabled and the button with the pause sign is labeled "Resume".
• Click on Resume. Alternatively, you can unblock a device by clicking on the Manage button in the Header.

A dialog allows to select a different duration of the internet pause. A new option "Resume internet access" allows to resume the normal behaviour for the device.

 

Protected devices

The pause&block feature is disabled by default in your Network in order to ensure the right functionality of the entire network environment for the following devices:

• The Gateway
• The Fingbox, if present in your Network
• The device where you are currently running the Desktop app.

Both tools will appear as grayed-out and not executable.

 

Timeline of events

The Desktop app allows you to retrieve pause&block events in the device timeline.  On the device detail page, click on the timeline button.

 

The timeline will show you the pause&block events:

• When the block&pause event started
• How long the event lasted

The block events are marked with a red dot, while the pause ones with a yellow dot.

 

Network setup warnings

The Block & Pause functionality works with IPv4 networks. Based on your network setup, some IPv6 configurations may also work. Fing automatically detects when an end-to-end IPv6 configuration is detected and prompts a warning that blocking may not work on that setup.

 

IPV6 is active

The Desktop app can detect that an end-to-end IPv6 setup is active in your Network. When IPv6 is detected, Fing may be unable to pause internet access or block devices and suggest disabling it, opening the router configuration. The Desktop app will show the warning dialog below. If you click on 'Don't show again,' keeping enabled IPv6 in your Network, the dialog below doesn't display again.

 

The blocking device is offline

For each network, a user may have only a single PC that performs the blocking&pause network activity. If you have multiple Fing Desktop installations on the same network, only one device will perform the actual blocking.

 

The device that has been used to accept the Terms&Conditions is automatically elected as the "Blocking device".  When looking at the network from another Fing App, if that device is detected as offline, a prompt will be displayed to inform you that the request to pause/block has been recorded, but it will be applied only when the blocking device will come back online.

 

You can elect a new blocking PC to act as the blocking device by going into the "Network" page in the Fing App running on the new device and click on "Make this the blocking device".

 

Frequently asked questions

Will the feature work on mobile, too?

We plan to integrate the feature to allow to pause/block from the mobile device, although it would still need a running Fing Desktop on the network to perform the action. It's not possible to block/pause devices using a mobile alone.

 

Do I need to install anything on the target devices that I want to block?

No. Fing works at the networking level and does not require you to install any additional software on the target devices. That makes it also suitable to block devices that don't allow to install of extra apps such as Smart TVs, Smart Home devices, Gaming Consoles.

 

Does the Fing Desktop Internet Pause feature work with IPv6?

This feature is currently only available for devices communicating on IPv4. Depending on the type of IPv6 connection (local IPv6 only, full end-to-end IPv6) the functionality may anyway work. If Fing Desktop detects a full IPv6 end-to-end connection, a prompt will be displayed to warn about the limitation.

 

My devices still have access to the Internet when I pause them

Some applications, social media, and streaming websites, such as YouTube, will often download packets of data in advance to make the use of them smoother. You will see this on Youtube in the bar at the bottom of the video. The line in red indicates how far through the video you are, but you will also see a grey line further ahead of the red – this grey line shows you where the application is downloading the data. As this data has already reached your device and does not require the Internet to watch when the Internet is paused Youtube will continue to play the video until the red line catches up with the grey line. When it catches this up the video will stop working as Youtube cannot access the Internet to download more data.

This catch-up process can sometimes take a minute or so, so if you want to know immediately if an Internet Pause has worked, try refreshing or opening a new screen.

If you still have access to the Internet at this point, it could be one of 3 things preventing the block from working.

• IPv6 – this is a method of communication that some devices use when IPv4 is blocked. Unfortunately, some of the IPv6 communications cannot be blocked. If you feel comfortable and your router allows it, you can disable IPv6 within your router settings. All devices communicate on IPv4 so it should not impact the average user’s network performance.
• Incompatible Router – Fing Desktop pauses the Internet using a technique called ARP spoofing. Some high-end routers contain software designed to block ARP spoofing, so prevent it from enacting this feature. Kindly let us know what model & internet provider you are using, to improve the list of incompatible routers.
• Firewalls – Fingbox generally plays very well with firewalls, but like with the routers, some software in the firewall may clash with the Fingbox software. If you believe this may be the case email us on support@fing.com with the details of your firewall so we can investigate.

Troubleshooting

The following conditions may improve the performance of the block&pause feature:

•  If possible, prefer the ethernet connection of the blocking device where the desktop app is running.
• If you have a mesh router and the blocking device is connected via WiFi, you can connect to the nearest Access Point.

The VPN connection may interfere with the Desktop app with different behaviors:

• the VPN application creates a tunnel communication with a new network/Gateway. In this case, the Desktop app detects the new network, but it can see only the router and your device connected. All your connected devices cannot be monitored. Disabling the VPN, the App reverts to your network.
• The VPN application creates a tunnel communication keeping the same network/Gateway. The Desktop app detects all your devices, but It is possible that the block&pause feature doesn't work as expected due to VPN interaction. To make the feature more effective, you need to disable the VPN connection.

You can visit the page Block&Pause Troubleshooting to a solution to some common issues