Mac Address + Security

[ImShane]

Hi,

I was told that the mac address, the physical address of the Macintosh can be changed, is this true?

Im just looking into security for my machines, if a mac got stolen, is there anyway you can trace it?

[Cindori]

just fyi, MAC-adress stands for Media Access Control, not Machintosh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Access_Control

[Transporteur]

Changing the MAC address requires one line in terminal.

[goMac]

Im just looking into security for my machines, if a mac got stolen, is there anyway you can trace it?

Nope. Even if the thief didn't change it, it would be very very hard to trace a machine by MAC address. You can't just find a machine on the net by MAC address.

Also, all devices on the internet have MAC addresses. MAC is not the same thing as a Macintosh. They just happen to be the same name by coincidence.

[codymac]

Hi,

I was told that the mac address, the physical address of the Macintosh can be changed, is this true?

Im just looking into security for my machines, if a mac got stolen, is there anyway you can trace it?

1 - Yes.

2 - No. About the only thing you can do is give the police the s/n and file it on insurance. I'm going through this myself at the moment.

You can set up icam or Vitamin D or one of the webcam capture apps and perhaps get photos to give to the police for identification, but don't hope for much in an urban area for a non-violent property crime.
:(

[ImShane]

thanks for the replies guys and i know the the mac address has nothing to do with the actual macintosh :D

Anyway, to go to an extreme level is there something out there like a gps tracking device of some sort you can stick in the machine lol, im serious tho :rolleyes:

[goMac]

thanks for the replies guys and i know the the mac address has nothing to do with the actual macintosh :D

Anyway, to go to an extreme level is there something out there like a gps tracking device of some sort you can stick in the machine lol, im serious tho :rolleyes:

Not really. Just don't let the machine get away from your person, or keep it locked up. Or get insurance.

[codymac]

thanks for the replies guys and i know the the mac address has nothing to do with the actual macintosh :D

Anyway, to go to an extreme level is there something out there like a gps tracking device of some sort you can stick in the machine lol, im serious tho :rolleyes:

LoJack and some other companies have some tracking stuff that is supposed to mail out or somehow let you know the IP and/or other details about the machine's location. I recall one of them would even take snapshots with the built in camera on laptops and forward them.

There's even a free/open source package that works similarly (can't recall the name).

No idea how effective they are.

Homeowner's covered my stuff.

[Vylen]

I dunno... but if you're tech savvy, you could get an Arduino or similar, stick an accelerometer and a GPS unit... kicks on the GPS when the movement is detected...

Get it small enough and hide it under the CPU daughterboard - i think there's room... maybe :p