jseverson
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Ability to Search Internet for MAC Address of Stolen Laptop
My corporate laptop was stolen a few months ago. Recently, someone suggested it might be possible to search the internet to look for the stolen MAC address.
Is this possible? If so, what is necessary to do this?
Is this possible? If so, what is necessary to do this?
Due to the nature of MAC addresses, i do not belive this would be possible unless you knew what ISP the user is using or the users IP address. If you did know the ISP or the IP address of the user with the stolen laptop, you could place a call to that persons ISP asking about a certin MAC address and when it was logged on and explaining the situation to them. There is no general "MAC address" search on the web where mac addresses just collect so you are out of luck. If any other expert has something to add, please add it
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Like icemanwol said, if you knew the specific network the computer was being used on: ie: a particular isp or corporate network, then the administrator of that network could trace the computer by mac address. But without knowing anything, sorry, you're pretty much out of luck.
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The person I spoke to was thinking of the software that scans the internet looking for networks that are not protected. The theory was that the scanning software might be able to scan for a MAC address on certain networks.
The person I spoke to was thinking of the software that scans the internet looking for networks that are not protected. The theory was that the scanning software might be able to scan for a MAC address on certain networks.