Previously reviewed software MAC Makeup had a lot to offer, and was back then considered to be one of the best applications for the purpose. The program has not been updated in five years though, and while it might still work it is a good idea to have a more recent alternative at hand.

Windows 7 MAC Address Changer is that program. While it is currently offered as a beta version, its software developer has promised to release the final version of the application tomorrow. Despite its name, it is not only compatible with the Windows 7 operating system, but also with Windows XP and Windows Vista.

The program displays a list of all connected network interface devices under interface name. Here it is possible to select a device to see its current MAC address in the program interface.

A click on Change next to the current MAC address listing opens a new window with options to change the address right away.

It is necessary to select the operating system first, and to add a new MAC address manually or by clicking on the Random button. Random will generate a new MAC address every time the button is pressed.

A click on apply sets the new MAC address. There is an option in the main program interface to reset the MAC address to its default value.

It is furthermore possible to display and save a log file, handy to save the information before making the changes. The program seems to require the Microsoft .NET Framework, but no information are provided on the developer website about the required version.

Windows 7 MAC Address Changer can be downloaded from the developer website over at Blogspot.

The attack was dreamt up by security expert Sam Kamkar who demonstrated at the Black Hat hackers conference a website exploiting common shortcomings in a router to reveal it’s real-world location.

He tricked the router into believing the request for it’s ID information was coming from the connected PC, not from the Internet.  He then used the revealed MAC address with a geo-location feature in Firefox to interrogate the database Google gathered when it made its Street View photographs.

The data, which was controversially gathered, linked the MAC addresses of routers to GPS co-ordinates.  “This is geo-location gone terrible,” said Mr Kamkar during his presentation. “Privacy is dead people. I’m sorry.”

Mikko Hyponnen, senior researcher at F Secure called the demonstration “very interesting” adding that such a technique could be used for “stalking or targeted attacks against an individual”.

“The fact that databases like Google Streetview’s Mac-to-Location database or the Skyhook database can be used in these attacks just underlines how much responsibility companies that collect such data have to safeguard it correctly.” said Mr Hypponen

In 2005, Mr Kamkar created a work that helped him gain more than 1 million MySpace friends in a single day.

00:30:1b:81:d3:f7

Most people only think in terms of IP addresses assigned to a computer. With the help of the Arp command, IP addresses are translated to MAC addresses which, in turn, allow the machine to speak to the network. Your  MAC address is set by the manufacturer. In this article I am going to show you a very handy GTK tool that allows you to change that MAC address.

Why change?

There are reasons why you would want to change a MAC address on a machine.  Some of the reasons are:

• Get past a MAC filtering device.
• Sniffing connections on a network.
• Obfuscate the manufacturer-created MAC address.

Many reasons people change MAC addresses are less-than-friendly. I am, in no way, advocating such acts. I only show this tool for those reasons that are, as we say, “above board”. For example. I have, only rarely, seen an instance where somehow the MAC address of a built-in network card was the same as the MAC address of a router. Because of this that machine was unable to get online. There were two ways around this: Purchase a new NIC or change the MAC address of the built-in NIC. For the latter reason, I took advantage of MACchanger-GTK.

Installation

Installation is simple:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software utility.
2. Search for “macchanger” (no quotes).
3. Select MACchanger-GTK for installation (this will pick up any requirements necessary).
4. Click Apply to install.

That’s it. You are ready to use MACchanger-GTK.

Usage

Figure 1

Using this tool is simple. But you will not find a menu entry for MACchanger-GTK. Instead you have to start it from either the command line (with the command macchanger-gtk) or by hitting <Alt>F2 and then entering macchanger-gtk. Once open you will see a very simple interface (see Figure 1) ready to change your MAC address. To do this follow these steps:

1. Select your Network Interface from the drop down.

2. Click See current MAC (this will display your address in a new window).

3. Click the Known vendor button. If your NIC is detected with enough information you can then change the address to another address of the same manufacturer. If not, your best bet is to go with Random.

4. From the Options drop down select one of the methods for changing your address.

5. Click Change MAC.

That will change the MAC address of your network interface card. Once changed you can then click the Quit button to dismiss the MACchanger-Gtk window.

Final thoughts

I can’t stress enough that this tool should only be used for legitimate, legal reasons. Do not attempt to use MACchanger-GTK for any purpose that would land you in trouble. And, should you do so, Ghacks or the author is not, in any way, responsible for your actions.

On those occasions that you do need to change a MAC address (for the right reasons) it’s good to know you have a simple GUI tool in Linux to do the job.

The Mac Address Changer might also be useful to change the Mac address regularly to avoid identification. After starting the software program it displays the connected network adapters in a pull down list on top. It provides the means to generate a new random mac address for the selected network adapter or enter one manually.

It is also possible to pick a manufacturer from another pull down list to add the manufacturers code at the beginning of the Mac address. The last six digits are 123456 which can be replaced with a combination of the user’s choosing.

The Mac address changing software program provides access to advanced options which are available by clicking on the IP Extras Features link in the main interface.

Those are best kept alone by inexperienced users as they can cause networking problems easily if changed to the wrong or incompatible values.

Update: The developer website is no longer accessible. We have uploaded the latest version of the program to our servers. Keep in mind though that it is likely that it won’t be updated anymore, and that you may run into issues that you cannot resolve on your own. check the related posts at the end of this article for alternatives that are working with the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. You can download the latest version of Mac MakeUp with a click on the following link: Mac MakeUp (17)