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But I gotta share (that is what PB is all about…the sharing and caring)
The new version of nmap security scanner can pick up MAC adresses (the hardware number in an ethernet card) and identify the vendor of the computer.
So if any of you get kidnapped, be sure to have your family or friends save the ransom e-mail (if any) with headers and send it off to me. If they sent it from a Compaq or HP, I should have my chances of finding the computer that sent it increased.
Of course this is a free service as well.
Not quite right Kurt…
The MAC address of an Network Interface Card (NIC) is, as you say, globally unique. And the first so many bits of that address (I forget how many) are known as the Organisationally Unique Identifier (OUI).
Identification of the OUI allows the very simple process of cross-verifying which vendor manufactured the NIC.
This doesn’t necessarily equate to identification of the computer that the NIC resides in, considering the fact that a vast number (majority, perhaps) of PCs are constructed from scratch, using the seperate components, and assembled by third party dealers.
By that reasoning, only PCs built by the main manufacturers, such as Dell, HP, Compaq etc. would be identifiable.
I believe. 8)
So wait…If I should get kidnapped-and they happen to email ransom demands, does that mean you could look at the email and say, “hmmmm, this looks as if it were sent from al mansoor street, house #10 in N.W. Fallujah from a left-handed typist”
or:
“hmmm, it seems as if his kidnappers wrote this on a hewlett packard….”
BTW, Kurt nice job on the BFC, maybe this will help people get back to writing about things related to travel, and travel in less than perfect places- I have to say, I checked in with the Thorn Tree for the very first time yesterday, and I was stunned. As much as BFC’ers make fun of it, it is, well, informative about travel. What I thought the BFC was supposed to be.
So wait…If I should get kidnapped-and they happen to email ransom demands, does that mean you could look at the email and say, “hmmmm, this looks as if it were sent from al mansoor street, house #10 in N.W. Fallujah from a left-handed typist”
or:
“hmmm, it seems as if his kidnappers wrote this on a hewlett packard….”
BTW, Kurt nice job on the BFC, maybe this will help people get back to writing about things related to travel, and travel in less than perfect places- I have to say, I checked in with the Thorn Tree for the very first time yesterday, and I was stunned. As much as BFC’ers make fun of it, it is, well, informative about travel. What I thought the BFC was supposed to be
oops, forgot to log in. sorry.
Actually, on many modern ethernet cards, you can set the MAC address to anything you want. So you could spoof someone else’s address.
Also, the MAC address isn’t transmitted with email so there is nothing to track. It’s stored temporarily in switches and the router on the net local to the system.
-David
@Anonymous wrote:
Actually, on many modern ethernet cards, you can set the MAC address to anything you want. So you could spoof someone else’s address.
Also, the MAC address isn’t transmitted with email so there is nothing to track. It’s stored temporarily in switches and the router on the net local to the system.
-David
Is that true?
I thought that the layer 2 address (MAC address) is not stripped off, just encapsulated within the layer 3 (IP) address.… True about overriding the MAC address and assignijng your own though. We use to do precisely that on the British Airways Token Ring network.
The replacement addresses we used, reflected the building, wiring closet, and switch port number.My new version could detect a system that I built myself as using an Abit motherboard (w/ integrated ethernet).
In theory I could detect the specifict type of computer if the computer was still online using the same IP.
But, in most places you would be kidnapped, they would use dial-up and the IP would be from a pool of IPs, therefore it would take a good deal of work…and not be guarenteed.
Hence another reason for it being free of charge (not purely due to my generousity, but me also not liking to charge for un-guarenteed work.
Maybe to prevent kidnapping we could put our names up on a “rich enough to buy a few plane tickets and own a computer” type website.
Meaning that if they expect more than the cost of a RT ticket or a low end PC, they will be wasting their time.
Probably wouldn’t work, but the humor value might make it worth while.
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