The equipment manufacturer can usually be judged according to which of the following?

Question

Options

• ASSID
• BMAC address
• CEncryption type
• DChannel

• A
  5% (2)
• B
  83% (34)
• C
  2% (1)
• D
  10% (4)

Explanation

MAC address (B) encodes the manufacturer directly in its first 3 bytes (the OUI - Organizationally Unique Identifier), which the IEEE assigns to each vendor. Tools like Wireshark or online OUI lookups can identify manufacturers like Cisco, Intel, or Apple from just the MAC address.

• SSID (A) is a user-defined network name - anyone can name their network anything, so it reveals nothing reliable about hardware.
• Encryption type (C) (WPA2, WPA3, etc.) is a protocol configuration choice, not tied to a specific manufacturer.
• Channel (D) is a frequency assignment that any device from any vendor can use.

Memory tip: Think of the MAC address as a device's "birth certificate" - the first half (OUI) is stamped by the manufacturer at the factory and never changes, making it the only reliable hardware fingerprint in this list.

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