Manual Mac Authorization

A lot goes on behind the scenes when a computer attempts to connect to a wireless hot spot. You can use your PC every day without knowing -- or needing to know -- its media access control address, but your router checks it every time you sign on to your network. You can utilize this function of your router to strengthen your network's security.

Basics

A MAC address is also referred to as a hardware address or a physical address. The address consists of 12 characters, or hexadecimal digits. Unlike the decimal numerical system you use in everyday life, the hexadecimal system consists of 16 digits: the numerals 0 through 9 and the letters A through F. For example, '00:11:22:AA:BB:CC' (without quotes) is an example of what a MAC address might look like. The first three groups of digits identify the manufacturer; the last three groups of digits represent a serial number. To find your MAC address, press 'Windows-W' and search for 'connections.' Then click 'View Network Connections' and double-click 'Wi-Fi.' From there, you can click the 'Details' button and find the information listed in the Physical Address field.

Nov 29, 2017 Re: MAC BASED AUTHENTICATION ON ISE Absolutely, yes, it is possible. You would need to add the MAC addresses to a particular Endpoint identity group and then check the membership of the group in your authorization rules. It is easy to do, but depends on how familiar you are with ISE. Apple Macintosh Instruction Manuals (User Guides) As per reader requests, direct links to official Apple Macintosh instruction manuals in PDF format - hosted by Apple's own support site- are provided below as well as on the specs page for each G3 and newer Mac. Not sure which Mac you need to locate?

Purpose

A computer needs an Internet Protocol address to communicate with other PCs on the Internet. A router assigns IP addresses to computers on a network. Like a MAC address, an IP address is unique to a PC; it's used to locate and identify a device on the network. If two devices sharing the same MAC address tried to connect to the router, however, the router wouldn't know that the connection requests were coming from two different computers. Depending on how the network is configured, it might assign an IP address to one device and then refuse the connection from the other.

Authentication

Most routers enable administrators to block or allow clients on the network using a feature called MAC address authentication, or MAC address filtering. In enterprise environments, information technology staff enter into the filter the physical addresses of all office workstations allowed to access the network. This process helps to protect the network and its connected clients by blocking out unauthorized users. When a computer attempts to connect to the network, the router authenticates the device's MAC address. That means the router uses the MAC address to identify the computer; if the address is allowed through the filter, the router then authorizes the computer to establish a connection with the network. Consumers can also use authentication to protect their networks; MAC filtering is especially important if you do banking or access other confidential information from your PC.

Workarounds

Hackers can clone, or spoof, MAC addresses to get around the filter. Attackers can use sniffing software to find legitimate addresses and then use the Windows Registry or third-party tool to change their network cards to match an available identifier. Once the hacker has configured his computer to use a viable address, he can sign on to the target hot spot and potentially spy on data sent over the network.

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References

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Available only on Mac computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip, Startup Security Utility offers three features to help secure your Mac against unauthorized access: Firmware password protection, Secure Boot, and External Boot.

To open Startup Security Utility:

Turn on your Mac, then press and hold Command (⌘)-R immediately after you see the Apple logo. Your Mac starts up from macOS Recovery.
When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose Utilities > Startup Security Utility from the menu bar.
When you're asked to authenticate, click Enter macOS Password, then choose an administrator account and enter its password.

Firmware password protection

Use a firmware password to prevent anyone who doesn't have the password from starting up from a disk other than your designated startup disk. To set a firmware password, click Turn On Firmware Password, then follow the onscreen instructions. Learn more about firmware passwords.

You can also use External Boot to prevent even those who know the firmware password from starting up from external media.

Secure Boot

Use this feature to make sure that your Mac starts up only from a legitimate, trusted operating system. Learn more about Secure Boot.

External Boot

Use this feature to control whether your Mac can start up from an external hard drive, thumb drive, or other external media. The default and most secure setting is ”Disallow booting from external media.” When this setting is selected, your Mac can't be made to start up from any external media:

Startup Disk preferences displays a message that your security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk.
Startup Manager allows you to select an external startup disk, but doing so causes your Mac to restart to a message that your security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk. You'll then have the option to restart from your current startup disk or select another startup disk.