Thus, MAC addresses are a bit of a battleground for personal data privacy.Experienced electrical professionals know that they can trust their job, their reputation and even their personal safety to Fluke electrical test tools. Because of that uniqueness, the MAC address historically represented the chip itself, the device with the installed chip, and the user that carries it around. The chip uses the MAC address for network communications, which, in wireless, are sent over the air for all to see. It works on both Mac OS as well as on Windows (7,8,10), and provides a huge amount of information in a small package.In this course, you will receive the SANS Wireless Assessment Toolkit (SWAT), which is a collection of hardware and software tools that will jumpstart your.As many of you know, MAC addresses are “burned in” identifiers of radio chips that give them what is supposed to be a unique worldwide address.But once a device connects to a network, the device would only and always use the “real” MAC address. This prevented most types of device/user tracking of passerby (or disconnected) users. In previous versions, the MAC address was only randomized during the device’s discovery process, which is how devices scan to learn about nearby networks.
![]() Wireless Testing Tool Mac OS As WellThe private addressing feature is enabled by default, but it can be disabled by the user or via network profiles pushed by administrators.It’s entirely possible that Apple legitimately planned to release an aggressive randomization algorithm, and they were talked off the ledge by the industry. For each unique SSID (wireless network), the device will choose a new randomized address and use that private address for the network (during beta-testing, this address was also randomized every 24 hours). Even though the final iOS 14 release has less aggressive randomization behavior than betas, the world of MAC randomization is changing, and network operators are wise to follow it.In iOS 14, Apple adds MAC randomization for all Wi-Fi connections, not just for scanning. Aircrack-ng is command line based tool and also has some third party GUI interfaces.The reason for this article is that Apple created quite an industry scare in its first few beta releases of iOS 14. It can be used to analyze, test, crack and attack Wireless Security Protocols like WEP, WPA, WPA2. Any address matching one of the following patterns is considered private:Security analytics platforms like Extreme AirDefense should also be able to identify whether devices are using private addresses.To be honest, for now, there isn’t one. There are ways to address this within the protocol, and there is a broader industry effort to improve individual privacy.Just so you know, it’s that second hex value in the MAC address that indicates a private (software-generated) address. 802.11aq notes that MAC addresses, OFDM data scramblers, sequence numbers, probe request data, and other attributes can all be used to uniquely identify devices. Android defaults to a randomized MAC, which can be disabled, as shown below.In addition to OS manufacturers, the IEEE 802.11aq working group has also incorporated enhancements for MAC privacy. But, this change will take time for network operators.Despite the fact that Apple rocked the boat in their beta, Android has had MAC randomization behavior for connected sessions since Android 10.0. By teasing out the aggressive behavior, they got everyone’s attention, and their goal was to influence the industry to embrace operational paradigms that don’t depend so heavily on MAC addresses. ![]() In security-sensitive contexts, this practice is highly uncommon and not recommended, but it does still happen. One consideration would be to look at alternate authentication schemes that are not keyed by MAC, such as an 802.1X certificate workflow (I know, certs are scary), Extreme’s private PSK, or Hotspot 2.0.Although MAC addresses have always been vulnerable to over-the-air eavesdropping and spoofing (copying by an attacker), some systems use MAC addresses for device authentication. If the MAC ever changes, the infrastructure will force the user through the portal again, creating a user-experience challenge.It’s hard to give specific guidance for evolving portal workflows because they’re used in so many varied ways. They’re used to deliver legal terms and agreements, for guest/visitor login, to capture some guest info in exchange for connectivity, and for authentication/billing purposes, such as usage-based hotspots.In many cases, captive web portals use the MAC address as the device anchor, and so the user’s authorization state is connected to the MAC. Here are some operational areas to get you started.Captive portals are web pages presented to users during initial network connection, typically for guest networks. Of course, they can combat this the manual way by showing users how to disable the feature and stick with the non-private address.Now we’re finally getting to the topic of interest for Apple. In most cases, these operators will adjust to alternate forms of authentication (potentially in a Hotspot 2.0 workflow) whether usernames and passwords, certificates, apps, profiles on devices, or SIMs. Those workflows may need a new approach to associate accounts to devices if the user has private addressing enabled (or if the private MAC ever changes for the SSID). Also, consider the impact of a per-SSID randomized MAC if corporate IT devices connect to more than one SSID.In some public access networks with usage subscriptions (monthly, yearly, metered), usage plans may be device-specific, where the MAC is used in an accounting workflow to track user data consumption. It’s just one more box to check in the profile installation (once your MDM or other provisioning tool supports the private MAC toggle). In this case, the MAC randomization problems can be avoided because IT can push a profile to devices that disables the randomization feature during onboarding. Unintall advanced mac cleanerBut arguably, this engagement tracking use case was more slideware anyways. It is increasingly becoming impossible to make a connection between a scanning device and a connected device, for example, to identify specific visitors with “engaged” visitors. OUI is a trivial mechanism to map a MAC to a device manufacturer, but private addresses will obscure even that basic mechanism. Private addresses will not map to OUI databases. If private MAC addresses change, then the new MAC address will be considered a new unique device, which can sway device/user counts. The main challenge for today is to make sure that the registration happens with the private MAC tied to the operational SSID. Further, in university and other multi-dwelling unit contexts, a MAC registration database can be used for private network security that allows users to access their own devices (similar to home networks), while being blocked from seeing others’ devices. For example, in university environments, students in dorms may be expected to register devices (printers, gaming consoles, TVs, IoT wares) that do not support 802.1X security. To engage users, track user repeats, or extract information, operators may have to sweeten the pot with on-device apps that add more value for the user, which simply raises the cost of entry for a business case.For some environments where operators want users to register their devices, MAC addresses are often used as a simple form of access gatekeeping.
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