A Study on the New Ethernet Communication Method Using Virtual MAC Address

A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment. MAC addresses are most often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface controller (NIC) [1]. In traditional Ethernet network, there is a security vulnerability that allows attackers to easily generate forged frame because they can know MAC address of hosts in the subnet. In this study, we have designed new communication method using a virtual MAC address in order to complement a disadvantage of the traditional Ethernet communication. Hosts generate the frame hiding the MAC address of the header field and encrypting the data field to prevent attacks using forged frame in the subnet.