Can a MAC address be altered or is it like a computers fingerprint and
remains unique to that computer only.
A MAC address is a 48 bit ID which used to be stored in a NICs ROM.
That is, for some (old) network cards you would have one MAC per network card
and those cannot be changed without replacing the network card.
On a laptop the network card probably is part of the motherboard, so you cannot
change that.
These values are supposed to be unqiue per card.
(Supposed since some manufacturers messed up).
However many drivers allow you to change used MAC temporarily. They read the fixed MAC from the [P]ROM on the NIC, and store it in RAM. This feature wwas temporarily in most Linux, BSD and Windows drivers. Windows is phasing it out though, most new drivers no longer offer that functionality.
If a person has the computers MAC address can it be used to identify that
computer
It can be used to identify a network card.
That on its own will not proof ownership.
I’m asking this because I had two laptops stolen and I’m going to be going
with the police to retrieve them. However I’m sure the person who stole them
will try to say they belong to him. I still have access to the antivirus
programs which also shows the MAC adress for all devices registered.
That still does not proof anything.
You could have changed the MAC on a device, connected it to your own network and it would show up in your logs. Basically any data which you could have changed is not hard proof.
Now if you bought those laptops new in a shop and filled out a warranty card then you probably have the laptops serial number. That might work a lot better.
Of if you installed windows 10 on it and activated it then the hardware profile of your laptop might be stored somewhere. Still no hard proof. But better than going by MAC.
