Tracing a MAC address internally?

[Giganizer300PRO]

In our school, everyone knew the Wi-Fi password, but there were no issues until now.

But now, some idiot downloaded a pirated episode of some series and someone traced the school IP and a lawsuit or something came here, whatever...

 

The computer guy teacher says he has the MAC address of the device and the data about the transfer, but I don't know about anything else, so he might have more info, but lets just start on this.

Is there anything that could be done, like tracing the device, etc.?

[yourdad165]

I'm pretty sure torrenting is peer to peer downloading and contains multiple addresses (could be wrong though). Also say this teacher did know the MAC address, I'm pretty sure he would still need everyone to voluntarily allow their devices to be checked to see if the address matches.

I don't know for sure but I think they're just trying to scare you.

[Joshua]

http://www.techzoom.net/tools/checkmacaddress Gives you an idea of what you might find. With that info, trace who has that device and what hotspot their connected to (if they connect again) and go find them. That's the best suggestion I have. Of course the result may just be a NIC manufacter (E.G Intel, Broadcom) in which case you're stuffed. 

[Samfisher]

In our school, everyone knew the Wi-Fi password, but there were no issues until now.

But now, some idiot downloaded a pirated episode of some series and someone traced the school IP and a lawsuit or something came here, whatever...

 

The computer guy teacher says he has the MAC address of the device and the data about the transfer, but I don't know about anything else, so he might have more info, but lets just start on this.

Is there anything that could be done, like tracing the device, etc.?

MAC Address info includes the manufacturer and model of the NIC involved, so from there you can backtrace what devices have that particular NIC.  Also depending on your school's network setup, you can do a MAC trace but only if it's still connected.

[Giganizer300PRO]

http://www.techzoom.net/tools/checkmacaddress Gives you an idea of what you might find. With that info, trace who has that device and what hotspot their connected to (if they connect again) and go find them. That's the best suggestion I have. Of course the result may just be a NIC manufacter (E.G Intel, Broadcom) in which case you're stuffed. 

 

 

MAC Address info includes the manufacturer and model of the NIC involved, so from there you can backtrace what devices have that particular NIC.  Also depending on your school's network setup, you can do a MAC trace but only if it's still connected.

 

Forgot to mention, but now they're getting a new security layout, so now every teacher has their own username and password, so less chances of that happening, but thanks formthe info, will try to work up some more.

[Samfisher]

Forgot to mention, but now they're getting a new security layout, so now every teacher has their own username and password, so less chances of that happening, but thanks formthe info, will try to work up some more.

Just throw a captive portal on the network and your problem is solved.

[Joshua]

Forgot to mention, but now they're getting a new security layout, so now every teacher has their own username and password, so less chances of that happening, but thanks formthe info, will try to work up some more.

 

Your school didn't have a login system before!? Everyone in my school has one, and in the case of the wireless devices, P2P is blocked and so is direct download of files >100MB

[Giganizer300PRO]

Just throw a captive portal on the network and your problem is solved.

And what is that?

[Samfisher]

And what is that?

A login system, like what you get at hotels where the access expires and you'd need to sign up or register for access.

[.spider.]

It is possible to change the MAC so it doesn't prof anything.