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What do you know about MAC Address?
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Quote:IP addresses identify you online, but there’s another layer of identification that most people don’t know about. There’s a label assigned to every device that can be exploited to track its location, and it’s called a MAC address.

How MAC addresses work
It all starts with a little piece of hardware called the Network Interface Card, or NIC. This is the piece of circuitry that allows your device to connect to a network. The NIC manufacturer provides each one with a unique MAC address. This is why MAC addresses are also sometimes called burned-in or hardware addresses.

The MAC address is an essential part of how network devices interact with one another. When you connect to a WiFi router or directly to your building’s ethernet, your device will send its MAC address through to form a connection with the next device along the chain. The next device will then send its own MAC address further along the chain, thereby building your connection to the internet, link by link.

MAC addresses also look different from IP addresses, and you’ll never get the two confused once you learn how to tell them apart


Does your MAC address make you vulnerable?

Your MAC address is generally fairly secure, but it can be turned against you to monitor your location, disrupt your internet access, or even perform a man-in-the-middle attack. However, all of these approaches are fairly difficult to implement, and there are easy ways to counter them.

How to protect your MAC address?


It’s difficult to effectively use your MAC address to attack you. Your devices’ MAC addresses are difficult to tie to your identity, they almost never travel beyond the very first network device they connect to, and it’s rare to find yourself in a situation where a hacker could use it to attack you.

However, in the wrong situation, it can become a vulnerability. In addition, some local networks, like the one at your job or school, can use MAC address filtering to block certain online content.

Completely blocking your MAC address isn’t really a good idea, since without it, you won’t be able to connect to any other network devices and go online. However, there are a few different techniques you may want to use with your MAC address to stay secure or private.

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