On So, 2017-03-05 at 09:39 -0500, Greg Freemyer wrote:
On Sun, Mar 5, 2017 at 7:48 AM, Michael Ströder <michael@stroeder.com
wrote: Ken Schneider - openSUSE wrote:
I cannot understand the need for the system to creat a MAC address when every device is asigned an address by the manufacturer.
This is a privacy feature. And yes, you want that when traveling with your laptop in certain countries.
Note that recent Android versions and IIRC Windows 10 also do that. You can observe that when looking at leases in your DHCP server log.
Randomization (by default) only happens during scanning, not when actually associating with the network, i.e. you will always see the same MAC address and Client Identifier (derived from the MAC) in you DHCP logs.
I admin a business WiFi network (not meant for guests) with about 30 known devices that connect regularly (daily/weekly). I get notified when a new to the WiFi MAC shows up.
I can assure you that non-static MACs is not standard on:
Win10 laptops Win7 laptops iPhones (of my users) iMacs (of my users) printers (Brother / Xerox / Canon) android phones (of my users)
The MAC addresses used during association and later on are the ones set in the hardware, given: 1. The hardware actually provides one, which is not generally the case for the RPis 2. The address has not be volutarily altered, i.e. spoofed. You won't see the random addresses on the DHCP server, only maybe on the AP.
If a user of that WiFi ever brings in a device with a non-static MAC, I will have to get with them and figure out how to make the MAC static. I'm not going to allow a device on that WiFi to trigger notices to me routinely and it is an important security control to know who is connecting to a non-guest WiFi.
Sorry, but mentioning MAC address monitoring and security in a single sentence is ridiculous. The MAC addresses are broadcasted over the air, and can be altered in most cases (even many Android phones). Kind regards, Stefan