A switch is a point-to-point network device. Sniffing in the switch is called active sniffing. Sniffing attacks, which pose a significant security risk, enable common network threat types such as man-in-the-middle attacks, insider threats, etc.īy placing a hardware or software packet sniffer on a network in promiscuous mode, a malicious intruder can capture and analyze all of the network traffic. They are used by cybercriminals to steal customer data and compromise network security. Wi-Fi sniffing can be accomplished with a dedicated piece of electronic equipment or a software application.Ī sniffing attack involves the illegal extraction of unencrypted data by capturing network traffic through packet sniffers. Some of these tools can also be used to monitor routers, switches, server traffic, network hardware, and even networks as a whole.Ī Wi-Fi sniffer is a specific type of network analyzer or packet sniffer that is designed to work with wireless networks. In addition, it looks at the path taken by each packet and interprets the logs to give users more visibility into their network. When a distinction is made between IP sniffing and packet sniffing, a packer sniffer is a tool that analyzes all the inbound and outbound packets of a network.

Network administrators and hackers of all stripes can use them to understand the state of a network at any time, find network vulnerabilities, and measure network performance. IP sniffers intercept the traffic flowing in a digital network and log the data, which is then presented in a human-readable form for analysis. In essence, IP sniffing is monitoring traffic over a TCP/IP network. IP sniffers, also known as packet sniffers, network analyzers, or protocol analyzers, are tools which play an essential role in the monitoring of networks, and in troubleshooting network-related issues.

Network sniffing tools