If the user has to install different hardware due to malfunction of the original device or if there is a problem with the user's NIC card, then the software will not recognize the new hardware. Some software can only be installed and run on systems with pre-defined MAC addresses as stated in the software end-user license agreement, and users have to comply with this requirement in order to gain access to the software. In cases where the provider allows customers to provide their own equipment (and thus avoid the monthly leasing fee on their bill), the provider sometimes requires that the customer provide the MAC address of their equipment before service is established.įulfilling software requirements If leased to the customer on a monthly basis, the equipment has a hard-coded MAC address known to the provider's distribution networks, allowing service to be established as long as the customer is not in billing arrears. This also applies to customer-premises equipment, such as cable and DSL modems. This action is considered an illegitimate and illegal use of MAC spoofing. This allows them to gain access to unauthorized services, while being difficult to identify and track as they are using the client's identity. Computer crackers can gain unauthorized access to the ISP via the same technique. Moreover, the client is not the only person who can spoof their MAC address to gain access to the ISP.

While this is generally a legitimate case, MAC spoofing of new devices can be considered illegal if the ISP's user agreement prevents the user from connecting more than one device to their service. In this case, the client spoofs their MAC address to gain Internet access from multiple devices. This can be circumvented easily by MAC spoofing, with the client only needing to spoof the new device's MAC address so it appears to be the MAC address that was registered by the ISP. Since MAC addresses are unique and hard-coded on network interface controller (NIC) cards, when the client wants to connect a new device or change an existing one, the ISP will detect different MAC addresses and might not grant Internet access to those new devices. Many ISPs register the client's MAC address for service and billing services. New hardware for existing Internet Service Providers (ISP) MAC spoofing is done for legitimate and illicit purposes alike. 1.1 New hardware for existing Internet Service Providers (ISP)Ĭhanging the assigned MAC address may allow the user to bypass access control lists on servers or routers, either hiding a computer on a network or allowing it to impersonate another network device.

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