MAC addresses are uniquely assigned to each card, so using MAC filtering on a network permits and denies network access to specific devices through the use of blacklists and whitelists.
While the restriction of network access through the use of lists is straightforward, an individual person is not identified by a MAC address, rather a device only, so an authorized person will need to have a whitelist entry for each device that they would like to access the network.
MAC address filtering can be considered as security through obscurity because the effectiveness is based on "the secrecy of the implementation or its components".
Other devices, such as Cisco Catalyst switches, support MAC filtering on a port-by-port basis.
Port security may be configured statically with a list, dynamically based on the first given number of addresses detected, or a combination of these two methods.