Re: [PHP] MAC address user recognition?

[Chris Cook]

I have used MAC address authentication using the arp table and it worked for what I used it for, but it does only work over the local network and spoofing is an issue. Using a cookie in conjuction with a MAC address helps the authentication, but it sounds like SSL is the way to go...

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start learning SSL?

Thanks,
Chris

From: Jason Sheets <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Leo Spalteholz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [PHP] MAC address user recognition?
Date: 20 Feb 2003 21:13:16 -0700

MAC addresses are used for on a LAN and not the Internet.  Using a MAC
address might work for identification on a LAN BUT in most operating
systems you can easily change the effective MAC address on the card.

It would probably be better to look for some other form of
identification like SSL certificates or a cookie with the secure bit on
so it will only be sent over an SSL connection.

If you were concerned about the overhead of SSL you could make only your
login page go over SSL and the rest of your site go over normal HTTP.

Jason
On Thu, 2003-02-20 at 20:29, Leo Spalteholz wrote:
> I've been thinking about how to do authentication and user recognition
> for my site without cookies.  I had this idea but I don't really know
> if its possible at all.
> If I got the IP address from the request could I use ARP to get the
> MAC address for that IP?  If so I could compare that MAC address with
> a (previously obtained) database of addresses and if it matches they
> would automatically be logged in.  So I could preauthorize my friends
> and remember other users once they have signed up.
>
> It seemed like a cool idea but is this at all possible or am I just
> insane?
>
> Thanks,
> Leo
>
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