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What is MAC spoofing?

by Unallocated Author

MAC spoofing is a method used to change the factory-assigned Media Access Control (MAC) address of a network interface on a networked device. The MAC address that is hard coded on a network interface controller (NIC) cannot be changed. However, many drivers enable the MAC address to be changed.

MAC address of a computer is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications at the data link layer of a network segment.

Media Access Control (MAC) address is a very common defence mechanism for wireless networks. This is where you configure your APs to enable only wireless clients with known MAC addresses to connect to the network. For that, a very common hack against wireless networks is MAC address spoofing.

The hackers or attackers can simply spoof MAC addresses in UNIX, by using the ifconfig command, and in Windows, by using the SMAC utility or any other tools. However, like WEP and WPA, MAC-address-based access controls are another layer of protection and better than nothing at all.

If somebody spoofs or changes one of your MAC addresses, the only method to discover malicious behaviour is through contextual awareness by spotting the same MAC address being used in two or more places on the WLAN, which can be difficult.

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