The danger occurs in schools, public Wi-Fi, and workplaces alike. Of course, you’d have to use only one of the two devices that use the same MAC address.įurthermore, hackers on the same network as your devices do exist, depending on circumstances. This process allows your spoofed device to gain benefits from the other device. If your ISP or local domain restricts a device’s bandwidth, app use, or priority based on the identified Mac address, changing it to another device’s Mac address fools the ISP. Another term for this transition is Mac spoofing, which is done for legitimate and illicit purposes alike. Other times, you may want your device to appear as another one even though it is not. Sometimes, you may want your device to bypass access control lists on routers or servers to hide it from other networked devices and users.