What is a MAC address?

What is a MAC address?

A MAC address is the unique identifier that is assigned by the manufacturer to a piece of network hardware (like a wireless card or an ethernet card). MAC stands for Media Access Control, and each identifier is intended to be unique to a particular device.

A MAC address consists of six sets of two characters, each separated by a colon. 00:1B:44:11:3A:B7 is an example of a MAC address.

To identify the MAC address of your own network hardware:

• pen the Activities overview and start typing Network.
• Click on Network to open the panel. Select Wi-Fi or Wired from the list on the left, depending on which device you want to check.
• Your MAC address will be displayed as the Hardware Address on the right for a wired connection, or open the connection details by pressing on the button to see the Details for wireless network.

In practice, you may need to modify or "spoof" a MAC address. For example, some internet service providers may require that a specific MAC address be used to access their service. If the network card stops working, and you need to swap a new card in, the service won't work anymore. In such cases, you would need to spoof the MAC address.