Bypassing MAC address authentication and open authentication

A MAC address is usually associated with a network adapter or a device with networking capability; for this reason, it’s frequently called the physical address.

The first three pairs of digits in the MAC address are called the Organizational Unique Identifier, and they serve to identify the company that manufactured or sold the device. The last three pairs of digits are specific to the device and can be considered to be a serial number.

Because a MAC address is unique, it can be used to associate a user to a particular network, especially a wireless network. This has two significant implications—it can be used to identify a hacker or a legitimate network tester who has tried to access a network, and it can be used as a means of authenticating individuals and granting them access to a network.

During penetration testing, the tester may prefer to appear anonymous to a network. One way to support this...