Do not post your MAC address or serial number...

[Ed2020]

Hi,

I hope this isn't an inappropriate question - if it is can the mods please remove it?

Whenever I've seen a response to a question here asking for power levels VM employees (and others) always include instructions to not post modem MAC addresses or serial numbers.

Out of curiosity, what could be done with this information? Is it just about preventing thieving *%!$ers from spoofing your MAC on cloned modems, or are there other things that can be done? If it's just about modem cloning I'm confused about advice not to post modem serial number as I didn't think this was used.

If it makes a difference to whether this post is inappropriate I do not want to know how this information can be misused.

Ed.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Ed2020

Out of curiosity, what could be done with this information? Is it just about preventing thieving *%!$ers from spoofing your MAC on cloned modems, or are there other things that can be done? If it's just about modem cloning I'm confused about advice not to post modem serial number as I didn't think this was used.

You answered yourself but a valid post

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Ed2020

Out of curiosity, what could be done with this information? Is it just about preventing thieving *%!$ers from spoofing your MAC on cloned modems, or are there other things that can be done? If it's just about modem cloning I'm confused about advice not to post modem serial number as I didn't think this was used.

If you check a VM modem serial number you'll find that it's just the mac number without any colons. for example mac= AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF will have a serial number of AABBCCDDEEFF

But in simple terms a mac number can be used to clone a modem hence we take the stance of removing all such references from posts on cableforum otherwise we'd just be helping the cloners..

who afaik can just sniff plenty out with a simple app anyway lol

[Kymmy]

Probably but does that mean we should help them do it??

Originally Posted by zing

who afaik can just sniff plenty out with a simple app anyway lol

In reality yes, it almost certainly makes very little difference to comment out the odd mac address on here, I seriously doubt any cloner looks on these forums to get their mac addresses, but thats not a reason to stop. Same with IP addresses, there is very little reason to assume that someone posting their ip address here is actually going to suffer any sort of attack, but we will continue to remove them. Its good common (and security) sense.

[Ed2020]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

If you check a VM modem serial number you'll find that it's just the mac number without any colons. for example mac= AA:BB:CCD:EE:FF will have a serial number of AABBCCDDEEFF

0 out of 10 for perception for me there then! I'd never noticed that. I suppose, having thought about it, that's quite logical. No point in creating two unique identifiers when one will suffice.

Thanks to everyone else for taking the time to reply.

Ed.

Originally Posted by Paul M

In reality yes, it almost certainly makes very little difference to comment out the odd mac address on here, I seriously doubt any cloner looks on these forums to get their mac addresses, but thats not a reason to stop. Same with IP addresses, there is very little reason to assume that someone posting their ip address here is actually going to suffer any sort of attack, but we will continue to remove them. Its good common (and security) sense.

I was not actually disagreeing I do agree that they should not be posted and have reported many a post in the past with ip addresses etc

[KingDaveRa]

The point of cloning being to be to use the MAC of a user with a higher capacity connection, thus getting you the same, presumably?

I'd have thought there'd be a better solution to stop it... something that perhaps only allowed one instance of a MAC onto the entire network. But then that would probably rely on the DHCP (or whatever does it) servers all being in sync, which might be easier said than done.

and all of a sudden hundreds or thousands of legit users would be booted off line

[Xteria]

is there any way to find out if someone is cloning your mac or whatever?

[Ben B]

Originally Posted by Xteria

is there any way to find out if someone is cloning your mac or whatever?

Not as far as I know anyway, apart from being STM'd without being on the internet maybe

[keyholder]

Originally Posted by Xteria

is there any way to find out if someone is cloning your mac or whatever?

Nope!

---------- Post added at 23:59 ---------- Previous post was at 23:56 ----------

Originally Posted by KingDaveRa

The point of cloning being to be to use the MAC of a user with a higher capacity connection, thus getting you the same, presumably?

I'd have thought there'd be a better solution to stop it... something that perhaps only allowed one instance of a MAC onto the entire network. But then that would probably rely on the DHCP (or whatever does it) servers all being in sync, which might be easier said than done.

HAving a Mac code from a person with a higher bandwidth is also not true! Iregardless of what mac the cloner is using They can select any desired speed they wish !

Yes youd think that only 1 mac of each kind on the network would work .. but seems this isnt the case...

If VM pull their finger out and get thier arse into gear soon enuff it wont matter if your mac is being displayed or not due to new security protocols in place

[Thomas.Fisk]

I've noticed that my configuration file has been what looks like a hash for a while now, so I assume that's part of some cloning solution VM are rolling out; possibly something to do with upgrades to the newer Docsis version?

[Impz2002]

the configs are encrypted yes.