Monday, April 13, 2009

Is it possible to locate a PC (within a local network) based on MAC address?

Suppose there's a wi-fi router placed centrally in a park. Anyone can come to the park with their wi-fi enabled devices and use the connection. Everyone in the park will be given Class C IP address. Now, in the admin module of the wi-fi the administrator is able to see, the machine name, the MAC address and the assigned IP address to all the connected devices. Is it possible for the admin to physically locate a particular machine, say, someone who's misusing the connection, and thrash him/her? I know its possible to disconnect/ban him if need be, but can he be really 'located'?



It depends on how hard the administrator wants to work and how many people on connected at the time.


The chances of getting caught the first time will be pretty slim. But by the 5th time, process of elimination will most likely get you ID'd


After that, banning the machine by using the MAC ID is trivial.

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