Warning for Sky TV owners over alert which makes you think you’re being hacked – there’s a simple explanation
SKY TV experts have warned customers about an alert that could give viewers the impression their phone has been hacked – but there’s a simple and amusing explanation.
In the help forum on the Sky website, more and more Sky Q customers are panicking over a “Falcon” warning for iPhone and Android.
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A Sky customer wrote: “On my iPhone I have the device ‘Sky Falcon (ES240)’, although I have the Sky Q box I am concerned about the ‘Falcon’ wording. Can you tell me what that is?”
Another added: “I just received a notification that a new device was added to my account.”
“When I checked the settings, there was a Sky Falcon ES 240 device.
“Does anyone know what this is please? I deleted it.”
What these aggressive viewers didn’t know is that the Sky Falcon isn’t a threatening device that invades your home WiFi network or tries to disguise itself as your Sky box.
The mysterious device is much more innocent than it seems.
It actually Is Your Sky box.
Sky Falcon is an internal codename for a specific Q-Box model.
There is also a “X-Wing” and a “Titan”, What a Sky expert assumes is because an executive at Sky is a Star Wars fan.
It can be frustrating to see an unfamiliar device in your account, especially as cybercriminals become more sophisticated in their freeloading techniques.
However, it is better not to panic and do a little research first.
Your devices often have a hidden name that you may not know that only appears when connected to an account, broadband, and Bluetooth.
The device ID is unique to the specific item model, be it a Sky box or your bluetooth headphones.
This is used to identify the device during pairing and communication.
There is usually an option to change the name to one you know, but sometimes this is not the case.
Therefore, all you have to do is familiarize yourself with the codename of your device.
However, this can sometimes be difficult as the names are often a seemingly random combination of letters and numbers.
To check your Sky Device IDs, simply open the Sky Go app or follow the steps at Online on Sky.com.
Go to Ideas > Manage your devices and you will see all your connected devices and their codenames.
If you made a similar mistake and panicked and deleted your Sky Q box from your network, just follow these steps to reconnect it:
- Press Home on your Sky Q remote, then go to Ideas followed by Set up.
- Choose network and then select Reset to default (If you don’t see Reset, go to step 4 under).
- Wait for the Sky Q checkbox to check your network, then select Confirm.
- Once the reset is complete, select Connect to Sky Broadband Wi-Fi and follow the on-screen instructions to connect your Sky Q box to your Sky Hub.
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