Will mac address reveal personal information?

will not be exposed. The mac address is burned into the network card when it is produced by the network equipment manufacturer and is public. The function of the mac address is to connect networks to each other and establish communication functions; generally, personal information will not be exposed, but when using it, malicious software must be uninstalled and deleted to ensure the security of mobile phones and computers.

The operating environment of this tutorial: Windows 7 system, Dell G3 computer.

The mac address will not reveal personal information.

MAC address (English: Media Access Control Address), literally translated as media access control address, also known as LAN Address, MAC address, Ethernet Address Or physical address (Physical Address), which is an address used to confirm the location of a network device.

The MAC address is also called the physical address and hardware address. It is burned into the EPROM (a flash memory chip that can usually be erased by a program) on the network interface card when it is produced by the network equipment manufacturer.

The MAC address is a very important piece of information. It stands for Media Access Control Address and it also helps identify your machine on the local network. Every device that can connect to the Internet or other devices has one, including your phone, computer, smart TV, Bluetooth speakers, smart home technology, and more.

Mac addresses generally do not expose personal information because mac addresses are public. Most people will not deliberately detect personal information. The function of the mac address is to connect networks to each other and establish communication functions. Generally, personal information will not be exposed, but when using it, malicious software must be uninstalled and deleted to ensure the security of mobile phones and computers.

Mobile phones and computers are essential office tools, which store various important information and files. Links and APPs from formal channels will generally not be leaked, and MAC addresses will not expose personal information. If there is no secure link address, information and personal security will be leaked.

The structure of mac address

Each device in the network has a unique network identification. This address is called the MAC address or The network card address is written inside the hardware when it is produced by the network equipment manufacturer.

IP addresses and MAC addresses are both represented in binary in the computer. The IP address is 32 bits, while the MAC address is 48 bits. Usually expressed as 12 hexadecimal numbers, each two hexadecimal numbers are separated by colons, such as 08:00:20:0A:8C:6D is a MAC address. Specifically as shown in the figure below

The first 3 bytes represent OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier), which is a code assigned by the IEEE registration management agency to different manufacturers to distinguish different manufacturers. . The last 3 bytes are allocated by the manufacturer.

The lower second bit (LSb) of the highest byte (MSB) of the MAC address indicates whether the MAC address is global or local, that is, the U/L (Universal/Local) bit. If it is 0, it means yes global address. All OUI bits are 0.

The lower first bit (LSb) of the highest byte (MSB) of the MAC address indicates whether the MAC address is unicast or multicast. 0 means unicast.

The role of MAC address

IP address is based on logic, is more flexible, is not limited by hardware, and is easy to remember. The MAC address is consistent with the hardware to a certain extent, is based on physics, and can identify specific network nodes. Both addresses have their own advantages, and different addresses are used depending on different conditions.

Most of the ways to access the Internet are to organize hosts together through a LAN, and then connect them to the Internet through devices such as switches or routers. This raises the question of how to distinguish specific users and prevent IP addresses from being stolen. Since the IP address is only a logical identifier and can be modified by anyone, it cannot be used to specifically identify a user. The MAC address is not the case. It is fixed in the network card. Theoretically, unless the hardware, namely the network card, is stolen, it generally cannot be impersonated. Based on this characteristic of the MAC address, the LAN adopts the method of using the MAC address to identify specific users.

In the specific communication process, the MAC address and IP address are matched one-to-one through the exchange table inside the switch. When there is a data packet sent to a host in the local LAN, the switch first receives the data packet, then maps the IP address in the data packet to a MAC address according to the corresponding relationship in the switching table, and then forwards the data packet to the corresponding The MAC address of the host goes up. In this way, even if a host steals this IP address, it cannot receive the data packet because it does not have a corresponding MAC address. The sending process is similar to the receiving process.

So, whether it is a local area network or a wide area network, when computers communicate with each other, the final performance is that the data packet starts from an initial node on some form of link and is passed from one node to another node. Finally transmitted to the destination node. The transmission of data packets between these nodes is completed by ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) which is responsible for mapping IP addresses to MAC addresses.

ID card is used to prove a person’s identity. The ID card is not very useful on weekdays, but at certain critical moments, an ID card is necessary to explain everything about a person. Then, the binding of IP address and MAC address is like the relationship between a person and his ID card in daily life. Because the IP address can be arbitrary, but the MAC address is the only one that shows the identity of the IP address. For example, to prevent IP addresses from being stolen, usually switch port binding (the port's MAC table uses static entries) can prevent theft of modified MAC addresses when each switch port is connected to only one host. The layer device can also provide binding of switch ports, IP addresses, and MAC addresses.

How MAC Addresses Work

MAC addresses work by helping things on the network send data to the correct device. Your phone or computer sends requests over the Internet. When your router receives this data, it uses your MAC address to know where to send the data. You'd expect the explanation to be more complicated, but that's what it is.

However, there are some nuances. A MAC address is used specifically to identify a device as another device on the same network. When you connect to something via Bluetooth, the only thing that gets your MAC address is the thing you're connected to. Likewise, when you connect to your home Wi-Fi, only devices connected to your home Wi-Fi can see your device's MAC address.

In general, with a few exceptions, your MAC address is not visible to websites and other devices on the Internet. These entities obtain your IP address. Unlike a MAC address, an IP address is not permanent but is assigned while you are online. Therefore, few devices actually have a chance to see your device's MAC address.

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