iOS 14 MAC randomization privacy feature may cause Cisco enterprise network issues

A new iOS 14 privacy feature could potentially cause problems for enterprise or educational network and device management setups, Cisco warned on Thursday.

The privacy feature in question is an option to use a "private," or randomized, media access control (MAC) address when connecting a Wi-Fi network. Generally, devices identify themselves using the same MAC address when connecting to networks, which can allow for tracking by network operators.

But the random MAC address can also break certain network or device management systems. For example, in a notice on Thursday, Cisco warned that its Identity Services Engine could run into problems if a user has the feature enabled because it relies on MAC address lookup.

Mobile device management, or MDM, systems could fail to detect a device running iOS 14 if it's using a randomized MAC address. Employees or students using a Bring Your Own Device system for education or work could also see issues with network security requirements, since those often rely on MAC addresses for authentication.

It isn't just Apple devices that can cause issues. Google in Android 10 also added randomized MAC addresses as a feature, the networking company notes.

Cisco notes that there's currently no large scale solution for these problems that can be deployed by itself or network operators. However, there is an easy solution, by asking a user to disable the feature.

Users can turn off private Wi-Fi addresses by tapping on a network in the Wi-Fi Settings pane and hitting the toggle next to Private Address.

While that could allow for a network operator to track users, it will mitigate potential issues with MDM and "bring your own device" systems at work and school. It's also worth noting that the feature is enabled or disabled on a per-network basis, meaning you can selectively disable it just for work or school networks.

17 Comments

davidmalcolm 402 comments · 9 Years

About 4 years ago

Ok this is going to drive so many calls to Shaw’s call center. They use the device’s MAC to auth connections on their network of WiFi base stations all across western Canada.

Man their tech support is gonna HATE iOS 14. (I’m enjoying it but I will be turning off this feature. I turned it off on my home network. Need to see if you have to do it on a per network basis.

julsssark 4 comments · 6 Years

This feature in iOS 14 will also break any fixed IP address assignments (since the MAC address will change each time the device connects) and therefore any firewall rules that are based on IP addresses for those devices will break.

juls

Grayeagle 59 comments · 6 Years

IMO, iOS14 is an unmitigated disaster.

Thank goodness I just updated my secondary iPhone to check it out.
I'm an elderly sleeper and have to set my alarm accordingly, both for the night, and in the daytime. Ha! The Alarm hnow has to be set using the Health app. And the Health bases your sleep it on an 8-hour cycle. Changing wake and sleep times is a b***h.

Also, it doesn't like my selection of an IMAP mail server, and keeps trying to steer me to one of its favorites.

I've just turned OFF the automatic updates in both my primary iPhone and iPad. Am I nuts, or just plainly senile?

mike1 3434 comments · 10 Years

Grayeagle said:

IMO, iOS14 is an unmitigated disaster.

Thank goodness I just updated my secondary iPhone to check it out.
I'm an elderly sleeper and have to set my alarm accordingly, both for the night, and in the daytime. Ha! The Alarm hnow has to be set using the Health app. And the Health bases your sleep it on an 8-hour cycle. Changing wake and sleep times is a b***h.

Also, it doesn't like my selection of an IMAP mail server, and keeps trying to steer me to one of its favorites.

I've just turned OFF the automatic updates in both my primary iPhone and iPad. Am I nuts, or just plainly senile?

You can still set alarms in the Clock app just like you always could, unrelated to any Sleep functionality in health.
Haven't set up a new e-mail yet, but what are its "favorites"???

astrofish 31 comments · 16 Years

Grayeagle said:

IMO, iOS14 is an unmitigated disaster.

Thank goodness I just updated my secondary iPhone to check it out.
I'm an elderly sleeper and have to set my alarm accordingly, both for the night, and in the daytime. Ha! The Alarm hnow has to be set using the Health app. And the Health bases your sleep it on an 8-hour cycle. Changing wake and sleep times is a b***h.

Also, it doesn't like my selection of an IMAP mail server, and keeps trying to steer me to one of its favorites.

I've just turned OFF the automatic updates in both my primary iPhone and iPad. Am I nuts, or just plainly senile?

I just looked in the Clock app and in the Alarm pane when you scroll to the very top of your list of alarms, the Sleep alarms are still there - and seems the screens it take you to when changing them are fancier than before.