alee0729
06-26-2004, 07:21 PM
I just received a very disturbing email.
Many may remember my saga last year with the Tungsten C changing MAC addresses, posted on PDABuzz, PIC and Brighthand. The core of the problem was that the MAC address spontaneously changed from 00:07:E0:xx:xx:xx to 00:E0:18:00:00:00, rendering Palms unable to work with MAC filtered access points. More seriously, if multiple affected end up on the same network, it can create serious network related issues, as well as opening a number of security concerns.
http://staff.pop3now.com/alee/macweb.jpg
You can view those threads here:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33658
http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13860
A PalmOne user recently sent his T|C back to PalmOne as a result of being affected this problem. When he received his unit back, instead of having the problem fixed, simply had the sticker on the back of the unit changed!!!
http://staff.pop3now.com/alee/palm/mac1.jpg
http://staff.pop3now.com/alee/palm/mac2.jpg
He emailed me these pics with hopes that maybe I had an answer. Unfortunately I don't have a good one, but I completely understand his frustration, and am appalled with how PalmOne has handled this.
This is a serious issue:
PalmOne has not respected the IEEE guidelines for the assignment of MAC addresses, specifically that units be assigned UNIQUE MAC addresses. We don't know how many units are affected, and how many users have not sent their PDAs into PalmOne for repair. This leaves an unknown number of rogue T|C units around the world that can create network related issues, and possible IT security concerns if someone mistakenly believes that 00:E0:18:00:00:00 is a valid MAC address.
One can only speculate that this problem was costing PalmOne too much money, and that they thought they could get away with printing up a bunch of stickers with the "bad" MAC address.
I cannot stress enough how serious this issue is! PalmOne has some explaining to do.
Many may remember my saga last year with the Tungsten C changing MAC addresses, posted on PDABuzz, PIC and Brighthand. The core of the problem was that the MAC address spontaneously changed from 00:07:E0:xx:xx:xx to 00:E0:18:00:00:00, rendering Palms unable to work with MAC filtered access points. More seriously, if multiple affected end up on the same network, it can create serious network related issues, as well as opening a number of security concerns.
http://staff.pop3now.com/alee/macweb.jpg
You can view those threads here:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33658
http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13860
A PalmOne user recently sent his T|C back to PalmOne as a result of being affected this problem. When he received his unit back, instead of having the problem fixed, simply had the sticker on the back of the unit changed!!!
http://staff.pop3now.com/alee/palm/mac1.jpg
http://staff.pop3now.com/alee/palm/mac2.jpg
He emailed me these pics with hopes that maybe I had an answer. Unfortunately I don't have a good one, but I completely understand his frustration, and am appalled with how PalmOne has handled this.
This is a serious issue:
PalmOne has not respected the IEEE guidelines for the assignment of MAC addresses, specifically that units be assigned UNIQUE MAC addresses. We don't know how many units are affected, and how many users have not sent their PDAs into PalmOne for repair. This leaves an unknown number of rogue T|C units around the world that can create network related issues, and possible IT security concerns if someone mistakenly believes that 00:E0:18:00:00:00 is a valid MAC address.
One can only speculate that this problem was costing PalmOne too much money, and that they thought they could get away with printing up a bunch of stickers with the "bad" MAC address.
I cannot stress enough how serious this issue is! PalmOne has some explaining to do.