Corrent me if I'm wrong....but.

[mattx]

On this BBC article: BBC News - How hardware hacking (almost) made me a fraudster

So called expert states:

The motherboard swap was undoubtedly the cause of all the trouble, said James Gorbold, a veteran DIY PC maker from electronics firm Scan, which sells computers and components.

"What I suspect has happened is that your motherboard will have a different network controller," he told me.

That's important, he said, because the address on that component, the MAC address, is logged along with an Internet Protocol (IP) address when a computer goes online. Everything that connects to the net needs an IP address so data can reach the right destination.

I am no SCAM, sorry Scan fan however, surely it would be the router's MAC address and not the PCs......?

[AngryTechnician]

Yep, read that myself this morning and before even finishing the article I'd come to the conclusion that it was nonsense. Surely you've learned by now that all technology stories on BBC News are utter tosh?

[Earthling]

I was confused by the high-fiving his son when the new mobo booted first time.

Why wouldn't it?

[Oaktech]

might be... If you had a cable setup with a direct modem connection it would be the PC Mac (best your firewall be good). Also, some cable service (former NTL and Nynex) requires you to spoof the PC mac onto the router as the PC address is recorded as an authorised address when you sign up.

[mattx]

Yep, read that myself this morning and before even finishing the article I'd come to the conclusion that it was nonsense. Surely you've learned by now that all technology stories on BBC News are utter tosh?

Yep - should have learnt my lesson by now !!

[twin--turbo]

ROLF....

Utter Garbage.

Rob

[X-13]

The real question is... Does that article have no comments, because it has no comments or because they were disabled as it's clear it's BS.

[Lee91]

The real question is... Does that article have no comments, because it has no comments or because they were disabled as it's clear it's BS.

I'm going to go with the latter.

[Sdrawkcab]

might be... If you had a cable setup with a direct modem connection it would be the PC Mac (best your firewall be good).

Would it? Isn't the MAC address changed on each hop? So the frame leaving his PC would have the MAC from his NIC as the source address (and the MAC of the interface at the router as the destination), but when the router forwards the frame to the next-hop the source would be changed to the router MAC.

But hey that guy from SCAN is probaly just trying to sound "technical" so he's picked an address type that most people don't really know about. MAC addresses sound big and scary because they're PERMANENT and because most people won't actually know (or ever need to know) what they're used for.

I feel especially annoyed because I only passed my CCNA Part 1 exam yesterday so I know it's wrong, to the point where I tried to track the author down on twitter to correct him!

[X-13]

MAC addresses sound big and scary because they're PERMANENT and because most people won't actually know (or ever need to know) what they're used for.

Every [non-technical] person I know thinks MAC addresses have something to do with Apple.

So, any shady tech support talking about MAC addresses is just going to get "but I use Windows not Apple..."

[Pottsey]

I am a bit confused about some saying this is utter garbage. Whenever I change my spending habits either from a different computer, different locations or even different spending habits I get that phone call. The fraud people ring up and check everything is ok.

Like many of you I have a home network and shopping from my normal computer is ok but the secondary computer can cause problems with extra security checks needed to buy items.

So I can fully believe a situation where someone at his house went on the computer with the new motherboard and network card. The websites no longer register the computer as the normal computer so all the extra security checks activate. The fraud team spot the unusual activity from a new computer stop your card and ring up. What most likely happened is another family members who is used to 1 click shopping got an extra security question to fill in and did not know what to put, failed the check and the card went into lockdown.

Like I said at the start it happen to me before more then once.

[mattx]

He is a 'Technical Marketing Manager' - 'Nuff said.

[SYNACK]

I am a bit confused about some saying this is utter garbage. Whenever I change my spending habits either from a different computer, different locations or even different spending habits I get that phone call. The fraud people ring up and check everything is ok.

Like many of you I have a home network and shopping from my normal computer is ok but the secondary computer can cause problems with extra security checks needed to buy items.

So I can fully believe a situation where someone at his house went on the computer with the new motherboard and network card. The websites no longer register the computer as the normal computer so all the extra security checks activate. The fraud team spot the unusual activity from a new computer stop your card and ring up. What most likely happened is another family members who is used to 1 click shopping got an extra security question to fill in and did not know what to put, failed the check and the card went into lockdown.

Like I said at the start it happen to me before more then once.

Nothing to do with the MAC address though, if your PC is leaking a MAC address to the wider internet your security does not exist, it's just not the way IP works.

[Sdrawkcab]

I am a bit confused about some saying this is utter garbage. Whenever I change my spending habits either from a different computer, different locations or even different spending habits I get that phone call. The fraud people ring up and check everything is ok.

Like many of you I have a home network and shopping from my normal computer is ok but the secondary computer can cause problems with extra security checks needed to buy items.

So I can fully believe a situation where someone at his house went on the computer with the new motherboard and network card. The websites no longer register the computer as the normal computer so all the extra security checks activate. The fraud team spot the unusual activity from a new computer stop your card and ring up. What most likely happened is another family members who is used to 1 click shopping got an extra security question to fill in and did not know what to put, failed the check and the card went into lockdown.

Like I said at the start it happen to me before more then once.

I'm not saying that the article overall was wrong, just the guy from Scan when he was talking about MAC addresses being used for identification. Though equally I don't see why they'd use hardware as a means of identifying someone online. I have a load of devices I use to access the internet and I've never had my card stopped due to purchases I've made from them. Location/time zone I can understand, but not IP address or hardware because they both have potential to change dramatically without warning.

I think this article was mostly borne out of the BBC guy being low on ideas for articles, and the SCAN guy getting his technical explanation spectacularly incorrect.

[Pottsey]

Nothing to do with the MAC address though, if your PC is leaking a MAC address to the wider internet your security does not exist, it's just not the way IP works.

I thought some online shops build up a profile up with your local IP and MAC address. Steam for example records your local network card and MAC address doesn’t it? You cannot buy items from a different new PC and new network card.

Out of curiosity when websites build a profile off your PC what info do they store?