With MAC address filtering in place, all you have to do is create a new entry
for each new PC you want to allow to connect wirelessly. And of course,
you??™ll need to remove entries for PCs you want to de-authorize. For this reason,
it??™s useful to keep a record of the MAC addresses of all the PCs on your
network in say, a text file, somewhere safe.
If you??™re worried about others on your local network breaking into your PC
and reading your files, see ???Turn Off Administrative Shares,??? in Chapter 8,
for another backdoor you can close.
Figure 7-14. The MAC address of your wireless adapter is the ???Physical Address??? listed
in the Network Connection Details window
Build Your Network | 371
Networking and
Internet
Why MAC Address Filtering Is Not Perfect
MAC addresses??”which are different for each device on your network??”may
seem to be the perfect way to keep out intruders, but there??™s a catch. Since you
can change the MAC address on most modern hardware, someone could theoretically
connect to a filtered network by spoofing the MAC address.
This makes the MAC address somewhat like a password, right?
Not exactly. First, no two devices on a network can have the same MAC
address, so if your PC is connected, and someone else tries to break in by
spoofing your MAC address, the attempt will fail. Second, each PC has its
own MAC address and its own entry on your router??™s MAC address filter
page; this means that an administrator can remove a compromised entry without
affecting any other PCs.
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