MAC attacks

If you are from the United States (US) and grew up around McDonald's back in the good old 1970s before it became the worldwide phenomenon it is now, you'll remember their interesting commercial with the phrase describing a Big Mac attack, which was two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, onions, all on a sesame seed bun. However, we're not talking about food. MAC is short for media access control, and every single NIC we get has a MAC address.

Packets sent on Ethernet are always coming from a MAC address, and they're also sent to a MAC address. I know you're thinking: wasn't that the job of IP? Well, TCP/IP deals with MACs, but when we get down to it, it's the MAC address that is utilized for the transmission and receiving of packets. Each port, whether it's on a NIC or on a printer or a laptop, is going to be unique.

If the network adapter is receiving a packet, it's comparing the packet's destination...