MAC address. How and why to hide it?
Description
"An exposed MAC address of your phone or computer on public networks can expose you to a number of security and privacy risks.
In public places like cafes, airports, or shopping malls, devices actively broadcast their MAC addresses when connecting to Wi-Fi networks, which can be abused to track your movements or even conduct targeted attacks.
In the simplest case, this data can be used by marketers at those same shopping malls for analytics.
A MAC address is a unique number that every device that connects to the Internet (such as a phone, computer, tablet, or printer) has. This address is used to allow the device to communicate with other devices on the same network.
For example, when you connect to Wi-Fi, the router sees your MAC address to differentiate between devices and know who to send data to.
Hiding your MAC address can increase your privacy, especially when using public Wi-Fi networks. There are several tools and methods for doing this on both phones and computers."
In public places like cafes, airports, or shopping malls, devices actively broadcast their MAC addresses when connecting to Wi-Fi networks, which can be abused to track your movements or even conduct targeted attacks.
In the simplest case, this data can be used by marketers at those same shopping malls for analytics.
A MAC address is a unique number that every device that connects to the Internet (such as a phone, computer, tablet, or printer) has. This address is used to allow the device to communicate with other devices on the same network.
For example, when you connect to Wi-Fi, the router sees your MAC address to differentiate between devices and know who to send data to.
Hiding your MAC address can increase your privacy, especially when using public Wi-Fi networks. There are several tools and methods for doing this on both phones and computers."