

They’re sent over the air with each packet going to and from the device, as the MAC address is used to ensure each packet gets to the right device. But MAC addresses can be easily spoofed in many operating systems, so any device could pretend to have one of those allowed, unique MAC addresses. MAC Address Filtering Provides No Security

Your router probably allows you to configure a list of allowed MAC addresses in its web interface, allowing you to choose which devices can connect to your network.
