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On Wednesday 01 January 2003 04:21, Cameron Nikitiuk wrote:
> From what I understand it is impossible
> for any device to have the same MAC as anyone else.
oh, it's possible. but if they are on the same local network things won't work
properly. but it hardly matters if you are on different networks.
> As far as changing a
> MAC, unless you are changing the device you aren't able to do it. If you
> were, it would make IP spoofing and hacking a hell of a lot easier.
well, only marginally easier, as the MAC is usually only visible locally
(though one can get a peak at it remotely if the remote machine is using
particularly stupid software, like MS Word. i kid you not.). the MAC only
really matters locally, though, as it is used by the Ethernet network to
perform final delivery of packets. so getting on to a network that only
accepts certain MAC addresses or spoofing another machine on the same
network, for instance, can be done by changing your MAC, but that's about it.
> As far as why do you have a MAC? Like others have mentioned, having a
> registered MAC (with the manufacturer) allows your device to communicate
> with others, as well as giving a way for your machine to be identified.
the manufacturer has nothing to do with "registering" your card's MAC. you can
enter your own MAC address and things will be just fine. the numbers are
usually manufacturer specific so as to avoid cards with the same MAC address
being sold on the market (which would mean they wouldn't work properly on the
same local network).
> This is beneficial for firewalls, and other security devices as they may be
> able to filter and limit access by a MAC address.
yes, this is a common usage of MAC addresses, as are things like network
address allocation (e.g. DHCP)... such applications require a fairly static
network to be useful, though.
- --
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
- Albert Einstein
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