Macmakeup

MAC addresses - which are different for each device on your network - may seem like the ideal way for intruders, but there's a catch. Since you can change the MAC address on the most modern equipment, someone could theoretically connect to a network filtered by MAC address spoofing.

This makes the MAC address is like a password, right? Not exactly. Firstly, no two devices on a network can have the same MAC address, so if your PC is connected, and someone else is trying to break spoofing your MAC address, the attempt fails. Second, each PC has its own MAC address and its own entrance on the page of your router MAC address filter, which means an administrator can delete an entry compromised without affecting other PC. (This is in contrast with the passphrase WPA-Personal or unique encryption key that everyone on the network shares).

The real problem is that, like the dilemma hidden SSID, intruders can use sophisticated monitoring software to capture the MAC addresses of the air and use them to connect. Think it's hard to change the MAC address? Think again. You can use Mac Makeup, available free from http://www.gorlani.com/publicprj/macmakeup/macmakeup.asp Madmacs or without http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security / Madmacs -mac-spoof, to change the address of your wireless adapter MAC shortly. You can also change your MAC address - without any special software - by modifying the registry. Open the Registry Editor and expand the branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Class \ (4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318). Press Ctrl-F, type DriverDesc in the box, and click Next. Press F3 to scroll through sub-key here (for example, 0001, 0002, etc.) until you hit the one where the value DriverDesc is the name of your wireless adapter. Once you hit the right key, select Change? New? String Value, and name of the value of network addresses. Double-click the new value, type the MAC address you want in the Value data field (without hyphens, like this: 040815162342), and click OK. To put the new address in effect, use the Network Connections window disable then re-enable your network card (or restart Windows). Of course, there are many legitimate reasons to change the MAC address, such as troubleshooting or managing conflict. Even your router is probably a way to change MAC address via MAC address clone feature to match the address of your desktop to remote servers that were configured to allow access from your PC does not reject your router. All this means that there is no such thing as a wireless network impentetrable. If you really want security, wireless and leave the stick with cable.

The Ethics of Wi-Fi: Once you get the technical details of the road, the remaining obstacle when considering using someone else's Internet connection is a question of ethics. There are countless personal wireless networks around the world and most of them, you will find, are not guaranteed. This means you can literally walk down the street in a populated area and probably find a wireless Internet connection for work before they reach the end of the block. Some have been left open intentionally, but most will not be guaranteed simply because their owners did not have the benefit of the "Configuring a wireless router.

Now, just because you can connect to these networks, this mean you should? Are you taking advantage of the ignorance of someone breaking into his private network, or you're simply making use of a public resource that you would be as willing to share?

I'm not about to try to resolve this dilemma in these short pages, I would just ask, and suggest that if you do decide to use someone else's wireless network, you not hurt. Think about your impact, both on the bandwidth of the century.