Spoofing your MAC for wireless
I was recently at a very expensive hotel that charged $12.95/day for wireless access in the rooms. I couldn’t believe that I could go to a Red Roof Inn and get free wireless, yet at this 4-star hotel/casino, I had to pay that much for wireless access. With the amount of money that I donated to the casino, I felt that I could just “bypass” that for a couple days and it wouldn’t be a big deal.
My laptop picked up the wireless network right away and it seemed like I was connected, but when I opened Firefox, I got the hotel’s page instead of my homepage. I got to thinking about how they could track who has paid and who hasn’t and I figured that it had to be the MAC address of the wireless adapter. Couldn’t I just change or “spoof” my MAC address and get in? Unfortunately, I didn’t have any software with me that would allow me to do anything like this. So, I paid for the first 24 hour period in order to do some research and get some software that would allow me to do what I wanted.
My first step was to get some sort of scanner that would allow me scan the network and get the current MAC addresses that were on the network. I came accross a free tool called Find MAC Address.
After you install and open the program, you’ll see that it’s not that complicated. It picked up the range of IP addresses and I just hit the scan button.
Once the scan was complete, I had a list of MAC addresses that I could just export as a text file and refer back to later. The next step was to find out how to temporarily change my MAC address. After a quick Google search, I found Technitium MAC Address Changer.
Technitium MAC Address Changer allows you to change Media Access Control (MAC) Address of your Network Interface Card (NIC) irrespective to your NIC manufacturer or its driver. It has a very simple user interface and provides ample information regarding each NIC in the machine. Every NIC has a MAC address hard coded in its circuit by the manufacturer. This hard coded MAC address is used by windows drivers to access Ethernet Network (LAN). This tool can set a new MAC address to your NIC, bypassing the original hard coded MAC address.
Not only is it free, but it’s easy to use. Once you open it up, you’ll see a list of network connections towards the top of the screen. All you have to do is click on the wireless connection and then click on “Change MAC”. After that, it gives you a place to insert your new desired MAC address. That’s where that exported list from the other program comes in to play. Type in the MAC you want and hit “Change Now!”. (Don’t worry because you can change it back when you’re done.)
After my MAC address had been changed and I opened Firefox, I was taken to a page similar to the one that required payment, but now it just had a link to activate the wireless. If a password is required after you click that link, I can’t help you there. I knew my password because it was the same as the wireless connection that was used in the conference room.
Warning: Don’t blame me if get into trouble using this technique!
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Very nice tutorial..
I learned a lot from this turorial..
thanks for sharing with us..
Seems simple, will try and thanks man !!