Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: afflicted on July 24, 2013, 08:46 pm

Title: mac address
Post by: afflicted on July 24, 2013, 08:46 pm
so........ any one have an idiots guide into changing mac address in linux, I have no clue, and I MEAN an idiots guide step by step.........
I am using tails on a usb...........
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: 1n50mn14c on July 24, 2013, 09:12 pm
1) Open a command terminal and enter the command

    ifconfig

This will return a list of interfaces along with various info such as mac address, ip address, etc.  If you want to change the mac of your wifi card, then your interface will probably be wlan0 or something similar.

2) Type the following commands:

    sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop
    sudo ifconfig [interface] hw ether [mac address]
    sudo /etc/init.d/networking start

Where [mac address] is the address that you want the interface [interface] to have.  For example, if my wifi interface is wlan0 and I want it to have the address 00:11:22:33:44:55, the second line above would be

    sudo ifconfig wlan0 hw ether 00:11:22:33:44:55

BTW, sudo grants you root privileges, so you may be prompted for the root password (unless you're already running as root, in which case you don't need to include the sudo command).

3) Check that the mac address changed by running:

    ifconfig [interface]

I found those instructions here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Changing_Your_MAC_Address/Linux .  From what I gather TAILS is like Debian, but I've never used it so I can't check that this will work.  I'm running Ubuntu at the moment and I change my mac by taking my interface down, using a program called macchanger, and then bringing the interface back up.  In any case, I'm sure there are many other ways to accomplish what you're trying to do.
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: afflicted on July 24, 2013, 09:25 pm
Thanks , that seems quite clear, I will have a look I am new to tails and Linux, I just want the best security I can configure :D
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: ModXPro on July 24, 2013, 09:49 pm
Also if you want the best security, use a WIFI network that not your own. I built a huge bi-quad satellite dish antenna and use the free WiFi from the McDonalds down the street. XD
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: Chernovy on July 24, 2013, 10:25 pm
The ifconfig method only changes it temporarily.  On a reboot it will revert back to the MAC address on the Ethernet device.  In Debian and Ubuntu you would do the following i think:

1. sudo vim /etc/network/interfaces
2. add hwaddress ether AA:BB:CC:11:22:33 under the auto eth0 or auto wlan0 lines where AA:BB:CC:11:22:3e is the new MAC.

to save from vim do :w [ENTER] and :q [ENTER]

There is also a MAC Address Randomize that comes with tails but there is no documentation on it.
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: 69isfun on July 24, 2013, 10:27 pm
You can try macchanger from the repository but I believe you'll have better luck with 1n50's instructions.

 
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: afflicted on July 25, 2013, 03:47 pm
I will contact the tails dev team, I'll post their response incase anyone else is interested
Title: Re: mac address
Post by: Tessellated on July 25, 2013, 03:56 pm
Once you crack the wifi password try the same password on the admin console.

From the admin console you can disable logging and you can find the real MAC address of a system that uses the router but is not on now. Use that MAC address.