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Nowadays, no matter on the sofa at home or in the coffee shop outside, as long as you turn on your laptop and connect to Wi-Fi, you can keep in touch with the outside world through the Internet. But most of today's Wi-Fi hotspots can track your device through the unique MAC address corresponding to each network card. Here's a look at how to avoid being tracked.

Now many people have begun to pay attention to the issue of personal privacy. The privacy issue is not just about preventing others from accessing private content on your computer (which is another question), but more about legibility, that is, whether it can be easily counted and tracked. Everyone should pay more attention to this. At the same time, the bottom line is that the service provider can track the user only after it has been authorized by the user. For example, the timing Wi-Fi of the airport can only be used after the user has authorized it.

Because fixed MAC addresses can be easily tracked, they should be replaced regularly, and random MAC addresses are a good choice. Because MAC addresses are generally used only in the local area network, random MAC addresses are less likely to cause conflicts.

Introduction to NetworkManager

NetworkManager is developed as part of the freedesktoporg project, which is a free software project that provides a simple way for applications to communicate with each other, by a management system that connects to the network and sets its state through D-BUS. A background service for reporting and a client program that allows users to manage network connections

NetworkManager service: NetworkManager-Linux Networking made Easy

The advantages of NetworkManager: simplify the work of network connectivity, so that the desktop itself and other applications can be aware of the network.

NetworkManager's backend service: for GNOME and Xfce, that's the nm-applet tool, and for KDE users, it's KNetworkManager.

Early versions of NetworkManager (formerly known as NetworkMangler, or network meat grinder) were inconvenient to use, but now they have become a powerful tool that makes managing the network less painful.

Improvements and new features of the new version of NetworkManager

The new version of NetworkManager supports more network devices related. ModemManager support for mobile broadband devices such as GSM, UMTS and CDMA cards has been added since 0.8.1. Using ModemManager also has new features, such as signal strength display and the ability to select 2G/3G mode. You can also turn off the roaming function to avoid additional connection charges

NetworkManager 0.8.1 also supports the use of Bluetooth, not only supports personal area network (PAN) Internet access, but also supports the old Bluetooth dial-up networking (DUN) protocol. All (or most) supported devices can be found on wiki

NetworkManager supports automatic configuration of IPv6 and static IP;NetworkManager new version will also bring DHCP support of IPv6

The new version of NetworkManager enhances the support of devices and protocols, and the latest version of NetworkManager has a new and beautiful client interface.

Command line interface: the biggest feature of the latest version of NetworkManager: command line tool commands, a command line interface for NetworkManager.

NetworkManager has its own CLI tool: nmcli. Using nmcli users can query the status of network connections, and can also be used to manage. Pros: primitive; syntax is relatively simple; using NetworkManager in CLI is easy to master.

Configure NetworkManager

To use random MAC addresses for all Wi-Fi connections by default, you need to create the file / etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/00-macrandomize.conf:

[device] wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=yes [connection] wifi.cloned-mac-address=stableethernet.cloned-mac-address=stableconnection.stable-id=$ {CONNECTION} / ${BOOT}

Then restart NetworkManager:

Systemctl restart NetworkManager

In the above configuration file, setting the value of cloned-mac-address to stable generates the same MAC address each time NetworkManager activates the connection, but uses a different MAC address when connecting. If you want to get a random MAC address every time you activate a connection, you need to set the value of cloned-mac-address to random.

Set to stable to get the same IP address from DHCP, or to let Wi-Fi 's mandatory home page (captive portal) remember your login status according to the MAC address. If set to random, you will need to re-authenticate each time you connect (or click "I agree"), and you will need this random mode when using the airport Wi-Fi. Detailed instructions on configuring a specific connection from a terminal using nmcli can be found in this NetworkManager blog post.

Use the ip link command to view the current MAC address, and the MAC address will be displayed after the word ether

$ip link1: lo: mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000link/loopback 0012 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000link/loopback 0000 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000link/loopback 0000 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000link/loopback 0000 brd 0012 0015 0012 0015 0000 0012: enp2s0: mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000link/ether 52:54:00:5f:d5:4e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff3: wlp1s0: mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000link/ether 52 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 54 qdisc mq state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000link/ether 52VOUD 03LV 2359 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

When MAC addresses cannot be randomized

In some cases, it does need to be tracked. For example, in a home network, the router may need to be configured to assign a consistent IP address to the computer for port forwarding; for example, a company employer may need to provide Wi-Fi services based on the MAC address, which requires tracking. To change a specific Wi-Fi connection, use nmcli to view the NetworkManager connection and display the current settings:

$nmcli c | grep wifiAmtrak_WiFi 5f4b9f75-9e41-47f8-8bac-25dae779cd87 wifi-StaplesHotspot de57940c-32c2-468b-8f96-0a3b9a9b0a5e wifi-- MyHome e8c79829-1848-4563-8e44-466e14a3223d wifi wlp1s0...$ nmcli c show 5f4b9f75-9e41-47f8-8bac-25dae779cd87 | grep cloned802-11-wireless.cloned-mac-address:-- $nmcli c show e8c79829-1848-4563-8e44-466e14a3223d | grep cloned802-11-wireless.cloned-mac-address: stable

This example uses a completely random MAC address (using the default configuration) and a permanent MAC address of MyHome (using stable configuration) in Amtrak. The permanent MAC address is assigned to the network interface when the hardware is produced, and the network administrator can view the manufacturer ID of the device based on the permanent MAC address.

Change the configuration and reconnect the active interface:

$nmcli c modify 5f4b9f75-9e41-47f8-8bac-25dae779cd87 802-11-wireless.cloned-mac-address random$ nmcli c modify e8c79829-1848-4563-8e44-466e14a3223d 802-11-wireless.cloned-mac-address permanent$ nmcli c down e8c79829-1848-4563-8e44-466e14a3223d$ nmcli c up e8c79829-1848-4563-8e44-466e14a3223d$ ip link...

You can also install NetworkManager-tui, and you can edit the connection through the visual interface menu.

When you are walking on the road, you should pay attention to your surroundings and be on guard against possible dangers. Similarly, pay attention to your own traceability when using public Internet resources.

Summary

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