We won’t cover how to use macchanger here, although it’s pretty straightforward and you can find all the documentation you need by typing “man macchanger” in a terminal once it’s installed.
(On Ubuntu, look for the “macchanger” package in the Software Center, or type “sudo apt-get install macchanger”) Automating MAC Spoofing
But a more user-friendly method involves using macchanger, which you can download through the software management system of most mainstream Linux distributions. On Linux, you can do that manually using the “ifconfig” command. Fortunately, however, it’s easy to set a different MAC address of your choice on a given device.
Eavesdroppers can also see when you go online and offline by tracking your MAC address.īy default, each networking device in your computer comes with a hard-coded MAC address. Anyone sniffing network traffic can easily monitor how much data your computer is downloading or uploading, for example, even if the data is encrypted. How MAC Addresses Workīecause the MAC address associated with your connection is visible to other computers on the network, it can serve as a unique identifier for tracking your online activity. In practice, using a simple tool called macchanger, it’s easy to “spoof” your computer’s MAC address on Linux by setting a random value for it each time you connect to a network, which helps protect your privacy. The program is pre-installed on BlackArch.In theory, every networking device has a unique media access control, or MAC, address.
Installation on Debian, Linux Mint, Ubuntu To install in minimal versions, run the command: The program is pre-installed on Kali Linux. To list all vendors with the string “Intel” in their name: To list all known vendors and their MAC addresses: Here XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX is the MAC you want to change to.įinally, to return the MAC address to the original, constant value burned-in in the hardware:Īfter changing the MAC address, return the network interface to the up state: Sudo macchanger -mac=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX wlan0 To set the MAC address to a specific value, run: if you check the MAC address, it will be registered as from the same vendor), run the command: To randomize only the bytes that determine the uniqueness of the device, the current MAC address (i.e. The first two lines have already been explained, the line “New MAC” means a new address. To spoof a MAC address to a completely arbitrary address: The line “Current MAC” means the address at the moment, and “Permanent MAC” means the permanent (real) address. To find out the MAC values, run the command with the -s option:Ĭurrent MAC: 00:c0:ca:96:cf:cb (ALFA, INC.) To put an interface down:įor spoofing, you need to specify the name of the interface, in each next command replace wlan0 with the name of the interface whose MAC you want to change. If this option is not used, the MAC will have the locally-administered bit set.Īt the moment of changing the MAC, the device should not be used (be connected in any way, or have an up status). Setting a completely random MAC address will pretend it is a permanent (burned-in on the device) address. If you specify the KEYWORD, then only vendors in whose description it is present will be displayed. This is the default action unless otherwise specified. m, -mac=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX Set the MAC XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX b, -bia Pretend to be a burned-in-address
p, -permanent Reset to original, permanent hardware MAC a, -another Set random vendor MAC of the same kind e, -ending Don't change the vendor bytes It offers various functions, such as changing the address so that it matches a specific manufacturer, or completely randomizing it. Macchanger (also known as the GNU MAC Changer) makes it easy to manipulate the MAC address for network interfaces.