gen-briefly-explain-a-mac-address-and-one-common-misconception-a-4d4e

Briefly explain a MAC address and one common misconception about it.

## MAC Address A **MAC (Media Access Control) address** is a unique hardware identifier assigned to a network interface card (NIC) during manufacturing. It's a 48-bit address typically displayed as six pairs of hexadecimal digits (e.g., `00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E`). MAC addresses operate at Layer 2 of the OSI model and are used for communication within a local network. ## Common Misconception **"MAC addresses are permanent and cannot be changed"** While MAC addresses are burned into hardware at the factory, they can actually be changed through software—a process called MAC spoofing. Most operating systems allow users to override the hardware MAC address with a different one. This is sometimes done for privacy reasons, troubleshooting, or unfortunately, malicious purposes like bypassing network access controls. So despite being called a "physical" or "hardware" address, it's not truly immutable.