Before letting any device join the network the router checks the devices mac address against a list of approved addresses. However it will allow you to choose which devices are allowed online.
General Faqs Wtm652g Na Mac Address Filtering
What is mac address filtering. It wont protect you against outsiders trying to actively crack your encryption and get onto your network. Mac addresses are uniquely assigned to each card so using mac filtering on a network permits and denies network access to specific devices through the use of blacklists and whitelists. Instead its more of an administration tool that you can use to control whether or not your kids can access the internet at certain times during the day or if you want to manually add devices to your network which you can monitor. Otherwise its blocked from joining. In computer networking mac filtering refers to a security access control method whereby the mac address assigned to each network card is used to determine access to the network. Mac address filtering is an in built feature that is provided by every wifi router.
How to find mac address of my device. There are some legitimate cases where you can use mac address filtering on your network but it wont add additional security. This is very simple. Mac address filtering adds an extra layer to this process. In computer networking media access control mac filtering or eui filtering or layer 2 address filtering refers to a security access control method whereby the 48 bit address assigned to each network card is used to determine access to the network. You can block third party devices from connecting to your wifi router even after spying on you.
If the clients address matches one on the routers list access is granted as usual. Mac address filtering properly used is more of a network administration feature than a security feature.