MAC address filtering

[rfisher]

I'm confused wrt MAC address filtering for WiFi LAN access.

It seems to be considered a security risk because MAC addresses can be sniffed easily and the bad guys can then get into your LAN by kicking off your genuine phone / computer and using theirs with the MAC address copied.

Why doesn't this technique also work on a LAN that doesn't use MAC address filtering?

Does a LAN using MAC address filtering only look for the MAC address and not the WPA2 key?

[JulianHJ]

If you have physical access to a LAN you can use ARP poisoning (AKA ARP spoofing) to achieve the same aim.

[frisbee]

Years ago people used to do MAC address filtering with no other security.

[Mr E]

Will use both the wpa and MAC address if filtering is on. Would take about 2 minutes to work around Mac filtering if it’s on (and there’s other traffic) and no defence at all from passive eavesdropping.

Not worth the effort.

[rfisher]

So MAC filtering and WPA2 is as good as just WPA2?

I'm not making it easier to hack my LAN by using MAC filtering in addition to WPA2?

Passive eavesdropping averting measures would include what?

Thanks.

[Mr E]

Adding Mac filtering doesn’t make it any less secure, it just probably irritates you more than the 3rd party.

rfisher said:

Passive eavesdropping averting measures would include what?

Not using WiFi frankly.
But, a good WPA2 implementation and password is about as good as it gets if you must use WiFi.

WPA3 adds significant security once 802.11ax turns up.