← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Enkidu
Thread ID: 13661 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2004-05-12
2004-05-12 03:17 | User Profile
Iââ¬â¢m not a computer whizbo, and know almost nothing about web access details, but after reading on OD about the IP sleuthing going on, I gave myself a little education today. Iââ¬â¢m sure many of the posters here know much more than I on the subject. Here is what I know:
If you use a dial up modem, as I do, you are assigned a different IP each time you dial up. Sadly, this is not enough to ensure security. There is another number, a MAC number (not related to the Macintosh.) It apparently never changes, although I read some posts on geek forums stating that maybe it can be changed. For now I am assuming it canââ¬â¢t be easily changed.
Any site you log on to can, through the MAC number, get your IP, some associated routing information, and even your ââ¬ÅComputer Name.ââ¬Â I found hacker software mentioned on the web that can extract a good part of your location from these numbers.
Not much you can do to protect yourself. I had been using my whole name as my computer name. Pretty dumb, that. Iââ¬â¢ve changed it.
Enkidu
2004-05-12 03:20 | User Profile
Enkidu,
This is a pretty good site for people who don't specialize in network security.
[url]http://www.grc.com/[/url]
2004-05-12 03:29 | User Profile
I believe MAC address only plays role on your LAN (bottom-most network hierarchy level). I don't think it's transmitted within tcp/ip packets on the net. Otherwise they wouldn't have gone to so great length to use cookies to track your browsing.
You can read about the basic concepts here:
[url]http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/tcpip.htm[/url]
2004-06-03 21:14 | User Profile
I believe MAC address only plays role on your LAN (bottom-most network hierarchy level).
Mostly true, however if your running netbeau your MAC can be coaxed out with a remote probe. Some of the firewall traceback mechanisms do this. There are some other cases also. In general consider yourself to not be anonymous.
2004-06-03 21:48 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Valley Forge]Enkidu,
This is a pretty good site for people who don't specialize in network security.
[url]http://www.grc.com/[/url][/QUOTE] Here's another [url]http://www.security-forums.com/forum/index.php[/url]