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Capec-612 Detail

WiFi MAC Address Tracking

Detailed Communications Software Typical Severity: Low

Parents: 292

Threats: T60 T65 T80 T288 T291 T334 T392 T407

Description

In this attack scenario, the attacker passively listens for WiFi messages and logs the associated Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. These addresses are intended to be unique to each wireless device (although they can be configured and changed by software). Once the attacker is able to associate a MAC address with a particular user or set of users (for example, when attending a public event), the attacker can then scan for that MAC address to track that user in the future.

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Low
Open source and commercial software tools are available and several commercial advertising companies routinely set up tools to collect and monitor MAC addresses.

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