Can I hide my computer from the Network completely

[s018mes]

I have a personal Laptop, that I am not allowed to connect to the network at work.

If I connected my laptop to my WORK MAC computer using the internet sharing feature, would my laptop show up on the network visable to the tech people by say the MAC address or as an ip address? Or would it just look like internet traffic is coming from the WORK MAC computer?

If my laptop would show up on the network using this feature, is there a way to access the internet at work using my laptop without showing up on their system using the WORK MAC computer as the proxy?

Side note:

I am not trying to hide the websites I search or do anything malicious. I am just have personal email programs setup on my computer that i would like to access at work. And on my limited break time, would like to play a few mintues of online games, of which on don't want to install on a work computer.

Side question: If this whole thing is possible, would the IT guys notice if you were playing games that require an internet connection like WOW or Diablo II?

[tehboris]

The computer won't be visable on the network. it would look like your mac is running Windows though based on the web traffic.

A good admin will do packet analyzing or have the network hardware such as the firewall do it for him or her from time to time. In a good setup, you will not be hidden at all. Plus the simplest thing to give you away is the connect light on the switch you are connected to. Where I used to work, we had a list of mac addresses of all the equipment on the campus. The dhcp server will catalog those addresses of all equipment connected to the network at any particular time. We also had a map to where every cable connecion was at. Non-standard mac addresses stickout like a sore thumb on the dhcp server. I know we caught a few kids gaming without permission that way. Beside routers and switch management these days are very sophisticated. The network can lockout unauthorized machines very easily or the admin remotely can shut off the port you are using manually without ever coming to where you are.

[tehboris]

Originally Posted by computoman

Where I used to work, we had a list of mac addresses of all the equipment on the campus. The dhcp server will catalog those addresses of all equipment connected to the network at any particular time. We also had a map to where every cable connecion was at. Non-standard mac addresses stickout like a sore thumb on the dhcp server. I know we caught a few kids gaming without permission that way. Beside routers and switch management these days are very sophisticated. The network can lockout unauthorized machines very easily or the admin remotely can shut off the port you are using manually without ever coming to where you are.

The DHCP server never 'sees' the computer connected through the mac.

[tokenuser]

Originally Posted by tehBoris

The DHCP server never 'sees' the computer connected through the mac.

Correct.

What the routers WILL see is the sites visited though, as if they were coming from the Mac. Corporate networks are locked down for a reason ... pissing off the IT folk is not a good thing to do.

Originally Posted by tehBoris

The DHCP server never 'sees' the computer connected through the mac.

On the dhcp servers I have worked with, when a client machine grabs th ip address the server does catalog the mac address and keeps it until the port is no longer in use. You can always quickly spoof a mac address also. Most routers and switches do not have the memory to keep all the addresses accessed. Usually that is done with an internet appliance such as a proxy server at or near the firewall for smaller companies or with network management software keeping tabs on the switches and routers.

. pissing off the IT folk is not a good thing to do.

Only the anal ones. Unless there was a serious offense, most good admins try to educate the user and work things out.

[tehboris]

Originally Posted by computoman

On the dhcp servers I have worked with, when a client machine grabs th ip address the server does catalog the mac address and keeps it until the port is no longer in use.

The mac gives the pc an IP address, not the dhcp server.

[tokenuser]

Originally Posted by computoman

Only the anal ones. Unless there was a serious offense, most good admins try to educate the user and work things out.

Good bad or indifferent, there are two groups of people you never piss off at a company ... the IT support guys, and the office admin people.

In this specific case, regardless of how anal someone might think the IT guys are, there are reasons for not having unauthorised computers on a network. Largely this is to do with security (depending on the environment), data theft prevention, and network usage. Bandwidth is not an infinite resource, and while it might be fine for intranet traffic, depending on the size of the pipe leaving the company, it could be an issue.

This not about the IT guy being anal, it is about the allocation and protection of company resources.