Help me make my network "unidentifiable " for a software

[PeterV]

Greetings!

Let me ask the help of IT men who know their way around networks.

I have a client software on my PC, that collects various hardware and software information about my system and sends it to it's server.
I need to run another instance of this client software but in a way so it won't be able to match it's environment with one that is already in it's server's dbase, the one that the first instance was running on.
I can pass this by running it on a different computer, but it will still be able to identify my network somehow.
Please help me what to do in order to prevent this.

I have a cable modem I got from my ISP.
I have a router connected to it and I have my PC connected to the router, this is my network setup now.
I'm not a network expert at all, I'm just a user with limited knowledge and experience.
My first idea is to change the router's MAC address so it won't be the same as was when I was running the client software's first instance.
My network adapter's MAC address will be different too as it will be a different one in a different computer.

If I change my router's MAC will it still be identifiable and matched againts previously stored information about this same router?

Using a sniffer I saw it sending SSDP notify packets. Is that somehow unique with my router or is it a standard one that is sent by all routers and so not enough to identify this piece of hardware?

Is my cable modem identifiable ? I know it has it's own MAC adress too, but changing that won't be good because I think it is registered with my ISP.
I did not see the cable modem's MAC in any network packet's headers so it is probably transparent to the client sofware but I may be wrong about this. Is there a way to identify my cable modem or it is out of reach for software running on my PC because it is behind my router or because of other reasons?

Can the client sofware send out packets to ask what is on the network and receive information so it will know it was running in this environment before?

Can the client somehow "see behind" my cable modem and check network devices that are out of my reach and identify my network this way?

Is there any information stored anywhere (like in the router's memory, or in windows operating system) the client can check to see that other computers were connected to this network and identify them?

My IP address will be different when running the first instance of the client then when running the second, because I'm using a VPN.
Can the client bypass this VPN and see my original IP?

If the VPN is for the TCP protocoll and the client is using UDP, my quess is that it will use my original IP that was given to me by my ISP and so it will able to identify my newtork using that.
How can I prevent this?

Can the client use DNS or DHCP or any other setting to identify my network?

Will connecting a second router beetween my first router and second pc make the client's second instance to match it's environment againts the first instance's ?

Thank you very much in advance for any help!

 

[SecurityTheatre]

What do you mean by "identifiable"?

Whom are you concerned about identifying you?

Obviously, your ISP knows who you are. You won't change that.

Are you trying to protect yourself from a website, or something?

Then you started talking about "the client software" without any context.

What client? What software? You seem to refer to "the client" and "the client software" as two separate things, but I'm not certain.

When asking a question, it's best to start with a description of your goal rather than launching into a bunch of details.

 

[PeterV]

I will try to be a bit more clear and understandable.

What do you mean by "identifiable"?

I will try to explain this with a simple example.
If you run a software on your computer and that software stores some information about the computer, like hard disk serial number and it checks this every time you execute it, it can compare it with the stored ones.
Unless you change that hard disk, the software can identifiy that PC, because it has that information stored already.
Just like the software I'm talking about and need help with, it can check to see if it has been executed on that machine before or not.

Whom are you concerned about identifying you?

Those who run the service I'm using.

Obviously, your ISP knows who you are. You won't change that.

This is not a concern.

Are you trying to protect yourself from a website, or something?

Not a website, it's kind of a service. You need to run a client on your end and it's in connection with a server.

Then you started talking about "the client software" without any context.

What client? What software? You seem to refer to "the client" and "the client software" as two separate things, but I'm not certain.

By client and client software I meant the same thing, I just used different words.
It's just a single piece of software I'm running on my machine.


Thank you for every help.

 

[Fardringle]

You would have to know EXACTLY what the program uses to identify your computer before you can even attempt to block that specific identification process.

 

[SecurityTheatre]

I would say that changing the MAC can possibly prevent some device on the other end of your local LAN from identifying your computer.

However, things like the USB bus and (as you mentioned) the hard disk, all have serial numbers that can be used to identify your specific computer. From within the software stack, software running as SYSTEM can basically do whatever it wants, so I doubt you're going to hide from it.

But this practice is not very common. I heard the FBI does this for some of it's investigative malware, when they want to fingerprint the computer their spyware is running on.

But regardless, you (nor I, honestly) have the technical knowledge to prevent that. If you're that worried about, run it in a virtual machine, or some sort of sandbox environment with virtualized hardware.

 

[JackMDS]

After all of the above I still have No clue about what and who you are afraid of and why you think that multiple changes of LAN IP and MAC addresses are essential to security.

I think that spending some time on learning Networking is your first line of help because I think that rather than being afraid of Zombies, one should realize that Zumbies are Hollywood's amusing invention and Not real.

In any case if you want to secure your own PC on a private LAN with multiple users you can try this.

http://www.ezlan.net/shield.html

 

[Gryz]

So you got software, with a license to run it on 1 computer ? And now you want it to run on another computer, but without paying for a 2nd license ?

Messing with your network is not gonna change much. Mac-addresses are not sent over the Internet. I assume your router does NAT. That means all traffic coming from devices on your home-network will have the same source IP address. The company that supplies your service will see them all coming from the same IP address. So it will surely not (only) use IP-addresses as identification.

Most likely they build a profile from various serial-numbers they find in your hardware. They combine them, encrypt them, or throw a hash-function over them. And then send them from your PC to their database. That will be the identification. You can't change those numbers, so you can't do what you want.

Have you asked them ? I can imagine that when you buy expensive software, the company will allow you to use it on a desktop and a laptop at the same time. As long as it is the same guy/company/user using it. I think it would be fair to charge only once for your software in that case. I could imagine companies selling software with such a license. Maybe you only have to ask ?

 

[taq8ojh]

I have a client software on my PC, that collects various hardware and software information about my system and sends it to it's server.

If you have something like that installed on your PC, it's there for a reason.
I assume it's a work PC that has some kind of monitoring software installed, and that's perfectly fine, and you are not supposed to mess with it.

If it's your own PC, then simply uninstall the software as it's noone's business what you do with your own belongings.

OR you are possibly trying to pirate something, in which case I don't think you won't get any help here anyway.
Bottom line is, why would anyone use software that stores and even uploads ANY information about the machine it runs on anyway? I am sure I wouldn't.

It would be helpful if you gave some straight and honest answers, or noone can even try to help you.

 

[PeterV]

[...] run it in a virtual machine, or some sort of sandbox environment with virtualized hardware.

I will run the second client in a separate PC, but on the same network, so I only need to hide the network, not the PC hardware itself.

[...] No clue about what and who you are afraid of and why you think that multiple changes of LAN IP and MAC addresses are essential to security.

I'm not afraid. I just want to prevent the service provider to link the two clients to one user. That is all. It's not about security. I don't want them to know that the person running one client is the same who is running the second.
The typicial way for them to know this is to collect hardware and software info and link the different accounts together using that info.

Thank you for your link, it seems helpful, I will read it as soon as I have time.

So you got software, with a license to run it on 1 computer ? And now you want it to run on another computer, but without paying for a 2nd license ?

No. I'm a legit paying customer, I pay for everything I use. There is no software piracy involved.

Messing with your network is not gonna change much. Mac-addresses are not sent over the Internet.

My network adapter's and router's MAC is in every packet that reaches the client on my PC, so that would be enough to identify my home network unless I changed them, that is why this came up in my mind.

Have you asked them ? I can imagine that when you buy expensive software, the company will allow you to use it on a desktop and a laptop at the same time.

I don't need to ask the company, because I know for a fact that they allow the running of multiple clients by the same user on the same hardware. I just don't want them to know that the two clients are used by the same person even though it is allowed by their policies.

[...] some kind of monitoring software installed, and that's perfectly fine, and you are not supposed to mess with it.

It's not a monitoring software at all. It provides services for the customers.
The fact that it collects infomation is irrelevant to it's main purpose.

Bottom line is, why would anyone use software that stores and even uploads ANY information about the machine it runs on anyway? I am sure I wouldn't.

You would use it if you would need the service it provides.
I'm sure you installed and used software before without reading every letter of the terms of service and EULA. They might have collected info about your computer, you just didn't know or didn't care.


I would be grateful if someone would try to answer some of my original questions.
If I use a different PC and change my router's MAC but use the same cable modem, is it possible to tell that I'm on the same network?
If you can only use what is collectible on my end by a software you control and you are sitting hundreds of miles away, could you possible tell that I'm on the same network as before? Don't forget that this time I'm using a different IP, not my original. So my IP on your end hundreds of miles away will be different, you can't use this to identifiy me.

Could a software see my cable modem's info or other network devices' behind it? How far could it see?

Is there a protocoll for asking info about devices on a network, is it possible to use that to gather info about devices behind a router ?

 

[Fardringle]

As I said before, you would have to know exactly what the software is using to identify you before you can know if it is even possible to block/bypass that identification.

So far, the answer to ALL of your questions is "Yes, it is possible that they could do that if they really want to." So unless you know what you want to block, the only way to be sure they can't identify you is to completely disconnect your computers from the Internet (which probably wouldn't be a reasonable option).

 

[taq8ojh]

I am really curious what software are we talking about here.