HIGHLIGHTS
Learn how to administrate and secure your network using NetCut and NetCut Defender
NetCut is a feature rich network administration tool that lets its user perform a variety of tasks, without much hassle. It has managed to make simple click-and-go tasks out of what were previously a sequence of command-line inputs. Conversely, Netcut Defender (the naming convention escapes us, too) is a tool to protect yourself against the effects of netCut. Here, we list some ways in which you can use NetCut and Netcut defender over your network.
View all the IP addresses on your network (netCut)
netCut automatically scans your network and retrieves information on the connected machines, with dedicated tools to find a specific IP. A very good feature here is the one that allows you to choose a different network adapter in case you’re using multiple ones at the same time. Basically, when you connect to a network, and open netCut, you can see a list of all the connected devices on the network, including computer, mobiles, tablets and such.
Clone any computer’s MAC address to your own (netCut)
To clone a computer’s MAC address, select a computer from the list of devices on the network. Click on ‘Change MAC’ in the main address. The screen will show the the IP, the MAC address and the Host Name of the device you selected. Finalise the window that you see and the MAC address of the target will be cloned to your own system.
netCut: Main interface
Change any adapter’s MAC address (netCut)
First, select an adapter to change the MAC address. This can be done by clicking on the ‘Choice Netcard’ button in the main interface. Then, select a computer to clone the MAC address from, and follow the above mentioned steps. Now, when you click on the ‘Change’ button, the following will happen – first, netCut will stop monitoring the adapter. Then, the exchange of packets between the gateway and the PC will be stopped. Then, the MAC address of the target will be cloned to your selected adapter. Then, finally, the software will disable and then re-enable the adapter, now with its new MAC address.
Remotely allow and deny network access to any device on the network (netCut)
netCut can stop any device from using network resources (though it will remain connected), by making it unable to communicate with the gateway. To ‘cut-off’ a device from the network, first check if netCut has fully analysed the network, and is ready to cut nodes off (there will be a ready sign placed beside the ‘Cut Off’ button). When it is ready, simply select the IP of the required device, and click ‘Cut Off’. That will stop the device from accessing network resources. Conversely, you can allow a device to resume access by clicking ‘Resume’.
Explicitly stop two computers from interacting (netCut)
netCut allow you to make any device listed as a node on the network a gateway. To make a computer a gateway, simply select its corresponding IP, and click the ‘>>’ button between the list of nodes and the list gateways. Then, cut-off the other computer. For example, if you want to stop interaction between ‘X’ and ‘Y’, then make ‘X’ a gateway, and cut off ‘Y’. Simple as that.
Protect your own device from ARP Spoofing (netCut)
netCut offers its own defence mechanism in itself. As in, one person with a instance of netCut installed, cannot be attacked by another computer using netCut. You just need to click the checkbox in front of ‘Protect my PC’ on the main interface of the application. Straightforward stuff. It also claims defence against any generic ARP spoofing attack, though this could not be tested.
Guarding against foreign attacks
Protect yourself from any effects of netCut (Netcut Defender)
Netcut defender is practically anti-netCut. You can save yourself from any effect of a netCut attack by using this application. It does not require you to do anything, apparently. Just install this from www.arcai.com and basically forget about it. Effective defence is claimed from any ARP spoofing attack, too (just like netCut itself). So it basically is netCut minus the actual ability to ‘cut’.
The latest version of netCut (and Netcut defender) have a very good feature built in – network refresh, or dynamic network switching; wherein you wouldn’t need to restart your application when network switches frequently, like in places of public WiFi. Also, Netcut defender will tell you the identity of the person who cut you off, if he eventually manages to. Because it is only available for the PC version, the users of other network-capable devices are basically hapless prey to netCut users. Also, one major drawback of the software is that the user interface is crude, which decreases the usability. Still, as a free tool, this is as good as it gets.