MAC Address

Abstract

<p>Media Access Control (Mac) Address is 48-bit address which is permanently assigned to a network interface card (NIC) or wireless cards. This address is assigned by the manufacturer itself. Every host on a network has a mac address which helps those devices to communicate with other devices at layer-2 (Datalink Layer) of OSI- Model on the other hand IP address is a network address which allows a device to communicate with others on layer-3 of OSI- Model (Network Layer) on a network. A Mac Address is also named as physical address of an Interface.</p><p>Mac Address Spoofing is an activity which is performed to change the Mac Address of a machine. It may be done by authorised or unauthorised persons to access the network or resources. These kind of activities are performed by hackers also who changes the mac address of their pc/ laptop so that their machine can be treated as the authorised machine in that network.(Cardenas, 2003)(MAC address spoofing, 2012)</p>