Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Use school WiFi w/o the school's knowledge can I stop them from seeing?

appleguy123

appleguy123

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 1, 2009
6,873
2,589
15 minutes in the future
Okay before you flame me here is my situation.
All of my stuff is on my MacBook Pro and we were recently issued netbooks by our school to surf the internet, to do assignments in class, and for just general/recreational computing. All of these laptops have WiFi enabled on them. However, my ignorant (in the traditional sense and not the teenage slang :) ) school is afraid that my Mac will hurt their network in someway, and will not allow me on their WiFi network. Instead of carrying two laptops every time I need something, I intend to get the WiFi password from the XP machine using Wirelesskeyview and use it on my Mac.
Here is my problem. There is this wive's tale that the school can see everything you are doing on your computer when you are on their Network. I do not know if it is true or even possible.
Is there any software that can stop the school from seeing my screen (which would stick out like a sore thumb)? Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
 
appleguy123 said:
Okay before you flame me here is my situation.
All of my stuff is on my MacBook Pro and we were recently issued netbooks by our school to surf the internet, to do assignments in class, and for just general/recreational computing. All of these laptops have WiFi enabled on them. However, my ignorant (in the traditional sense and not the teenage slang :) ) school is afraid that my Mac will hurt their network in someway, and will not allow me on their WiFi network. Instead of carrying two laptops every time I need something, I intend to get the WiFi password from the XP machine using Wirelesskeyview and use it on my Mac.
Here is my problem. There is this wive's tale that the school can see everything you are doing on your computer when you are on their Network. I do not know if it is true or even possible.
Is there any software that can stop the school from seeing my screen (which would stick out like a sore thumb)? Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


Hi there,

I used to work in a school and yes there network will probably have a log of all the computers on the network and when one is connected to the network thats not one of theres will probably flash up. We also had software to monitor what the kids were actually doing on the computer.

I'm afraid there's also no software that you could get that could hide your computer, and if found out that you are on there, you may be denied use from all there computers depending on their policies,

why not just stick your work on a flash drive and use one of there laptops and use yours at home alot easier
 
They won't be able to see what is stored on your computer (I guess unless you have shared folders with no password); or monitor your screen (unless you have a vnc client with no password).

You could fake the MAC address to that of the netbook's wifi adapter and change the computer name to that of the netbook and then setup an SSH tunnel over port 443/https to surf the net.
 
I know you don't want to be flamed but the school has put these security measures in place for a reason.
 
and their providing you with netbooks, I just know of a few students that tried doing things like this and head teachers decided to not let them use any of the school computers again.

So if your doing a ICT course or need to use computers you won't be able to
 
1. Reveal wireless key (as you already said you)

2. Spoof your MacBooks Mac address, make you mac have the same MAC adress as your Netbook(don't use both at the SAME TIME)

3. Use "Hotspot shield" (or any other "VPN-like" service like TOR ...)

4. Porn


PS:illy123 bet me to the punch , although mine is more simple)
 
networks have a log of all the computers on the network, and when one logs on without their permission they can block, as it pops up and is clearly visible so sorry!
 
@ finnschi This is more for convenience than to break rules (and why would one look up porn @ school?).
Carrying a flash drive would be nice but sometimes I need spontaneous access to a particular file. I used to carry flash drives to turn in work and they worked fine most of the time (unless a Windows Vista computer touched it(we run Xp)). How do I fake a MAC address?
 
slight issue with faking the mac address as soon as their network detects to of the same mac address on the network it will flash up saying that, also if its a windows network and its set up for schools so there will be other settings you require than just the password for the wireless.

I'm afraid its probably not worth the effort and if you do get on and the IT department finds out it will be pretty easy to spot who's not using one of there laptops if you get my drift, some schools allow it some don't if they don't allow it, its probably best to use what there giving you
 
Zanthus said:
slight issue with faking the mac address as soon as their network detects to of the same mac address on the network it will flash up saying that, also if its a windows network and its set up for schools so there will be other settings you require than just the password for the wireless.

I'm afraid its probably not worth the effort and if you do get on and the IT department finds out it will be pretty easy to spot who's not using one of there laptops if you get my drift, some schools allow it some don't if they don't allow it, its probably best to use what there giving you
Click to expand...

If I only use them one at a time can they still tell? The question of how to fake a MAC address still remains.
 
Slarti Bartfast said:
Can I suggest a Windows Live account - get Windows Live Sync and it will sync any folders you tell it to, then just set it up on both your netbook and Mac ( I have it running on a homebrew XP x64 box and my MBP) then your netbook will have all the files you want, none of the hassle and when you drop it you can hand it back and return home to your mac !
www.home.live.com or google it
Stunning, free software - thanks Bill!!
Click to expand...


I cannot install anything as we are not admins. Does this require that?
 
their is no point in you attempting to fake a mac address now if all there machines lock you out of admin stuff, you won't be able to get all the settings you need to access the internet anyway, you will need more than a wifi key and a mac address.

Sorry
 
Zanthus said:
their is no point in you attempting to fake a mac address now if all there machines lock you out of admin stuff, you won't be able to get all the settings you need to access the internet anyway, you will need more than a wifi key and a mac address.

Sorry
Click to expand...

The Mac has me as the administrator.
 
I know that but you will need a administrator account of the pcs and you don't have that, so you spoofing a mac address won't get you on the network as you won't know any of the dns servers addresses to get you on the internet anyway.
 
I don't know much about the workings of WiFi but there a few details that I didn't think were important when posing the question.
1. The WiFi network used to be open where you just log in with you student id.
2. The school was somewhat worried about what someone could do with an open network.
3. I was on this network in it was condoned.
Do those details help any? And what could I do on my MAc to hurt them that I couldn't do on my pc (arguments sake not a practical question)?
 
appleguy123 said:
I don't know much about the workings of WiFi but there a few details that I didn't think were important when posing the question.
1. The WiFi network used to be open where you just log in with you student id.
2. The school was somewhat worried about what someone could do with an open network.
3. I was on this network in it was condoned.
Do those details help any? And what could I do on my MAc to hurt them that I couldn't do on my pc (arguments sake not a practical question)?
Click to expand...


Hey

They have obviously had issues with students messing around on it or other people connecting so the chances of them letting you in unlikely.

the main reason they won't let you do it is not every student just wants to connect and use the internet, you could be trying to download music and do other things they do want you doing, there are always the people that will try this.

My only advice is to try and convince them you wont do this, otherwise you won't be able to connect your computer, and if you did and they found out they may take away your use of their computers.

so not being able to use your computer there and not being able to use theirs wouldn't be a very good situation. because any attempt and getting on their network is hacking and spoofing mac addresses etc is not a good move really.

Craig
 
Use Dropbox. You can sync 2 gigs of files (for free) between your Mac and their servers.

If you can install their software on your netbook, you can access your Dropbox account directly from Windows Explorer. If you can't install anything, you can access your Dropbox files online.

If you've spoken to your school's IT people and they do not want you to use your own computer, chances are you'll get caught eventually. Better to play it safe than risk getting in trouble for a little bit of convenience.
 
Never mind wirelesskeyview requires an admin user. Is there another way to get the key? This is mostly in the hypothetical as you have all steered me away from my original idea.
 
Really all you can do is ask again and explain exactly what youve said here that all your files are on your mac and you want to be able to use it, not sure what else you can do other than flash drives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back