Great Story from another one of my Students.
In the CISCO class I am currently taking at CTC, with Mr. Cisco as my instructor, I have learned about the many protocols, applications and principles on how data travels over different networks. I have also learned the way people try to gain access to that data and the ways a network can be built to defend against those attacks. I never imagined that I would use the very thing that I have been trained to defend against for my own benefit.
This past weekend my son and I had it all planned to have some good ole father and son time by catching a movie, having dinner and then staying the night in a hotel playing Xbox until we pass out. Movie and dinner was great and it is now video game time. I hook up the Xbox to the TV in the room, turn it on and get ready for the fun to begin. The last step before the festivities kick off is to gain access to the internet. Houston we have a problem. Hotels, much like the local Mcdonalds and Starbucks, has a captive portal that requires you to agree to their terms and conditions and put in some basic information before I could access their internet connection. This requires a web browser that the Xbox does not have. I was stumped but the heartbroken look on my sons face did not allow me to give up. I referred to my training and understanding on how LAN's work and how data travels across the network. This is where MAC spoofing came to save the day.
I realized that I already set up my phone to connect to the hotels internet service and that if I could use that connection on my Xbox all will be good. I dug through the network settings on the Microsoft device and came across alternate MAC settings. Hallelujah. I took the MAC from my already accepted phone and applied it to the Xbox. This time when I tried to connect there were no issues and the online gaming session was able to commence. I was very proud of myself and of course I got my hero points from my son. It was very gratifying being able to use what I have learned for my professional career to solve a problem outside of work. MAC spoofing is the normally the enemy that I guard against, but that day it was my friend.
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