Addresses:

• MAC Addresses:

  A media access control (MAC) address is a unique identifier for physical devices. A MAC address CANNOT be changed. While it is not as relevant as its counterpart, the IP address, it can still be helpful in digital forensics for identification.

• IP Addresses:

  An internet protocol (IP) address is a unique device identifier on a network. IP addresses can change in different sessions, and they are the core of internet communication. Without source and destination IP addresses, it would be incredibly hard for computers to know where to send information. IP addresses are always looked at in cybersecurity during packet sniffing and analyzing logs.

Packets:

A packet is a unit of data. Packets consist of three parts: the header (metadata), payload (body), and footer. The header has all the information about the packet, such as source and destination IP, checksums, etc.. The payload contains the contents of the packet, while the footer is there to make sure that a packet successfully reaches its destination.