Background
By definition, packet sniffing is the process of gathering data packets passing through a particular network for analysis, regardless of how the packets are addressed. It is similar to what filters do, analyzing data packets flowing through a particular network by enforcing the host computer control access policy. The only difference is that the information collected from packet sniffing, can be used by network administrators to control the network bandwidth (Diyeb et al., 2018).
Data and information are transmitted over computer networks in the form of packets. A packet in this context refers to small segments of data delivered over a computer network. Usually, no data sent over any network are ever transmitted in their actual sizes. For instance, an image is broken down into tiny segments (packets) and broadcast to the receiving end, where all the segments are reassembled back to their original state. In theory, however, it would seem much possible to send data in their actual sizes over computer networks, but this would be chaotic if more computers use the same transmission concurrently.
If instead of broadcasting data packets, computers just forward long bits of data in the form of electric signals, other computers sharing the same network would have to wait until the long bits are delivered to their destination hosts before initiating other transactions as well. This would result in deadlock and excessively slow rates of transmission of computer networks. Contrary to this, the internet and computer networks use the packet switching technique of transmission for efficient communication. Packet switching is the technology that allows computers to send and receive data packets in whichever order, regardless of the routes they take on the routing tables before reaching the destination host. As a result, billions of computers globally can communicate simultaneously over the internet without the risk of data collision.
Benefits of Packet Sniffing
First, packet sniffers are essential tools for boosting or rather enhancing network security. Packet sniffers can easily spot and notify system administrators of abnormal packets or queries to the server from network hackers and crackers. Second, when network bandwidth becomes slow, business processes are jeopardized, and network users generally find their experience on the networks unbearable. In such instances, packet sniffers help system administrators monitor the network metrics and packets coming from autonomous sources (Diyeb et al., 2018). Through hop-by-hop path analysis and data correlation, network administrators can minimize network downtimes and optimize bandwidth usage.
Additionally, packet sniffers help administrators analyze network traffic by the exact type. With the right internet protocol sniffers, system administrators can examine packets based on segmentation, source, and destination hosts to single out unofficial bandwidth usage. These can help track network users on social media platforms and any other illegal surfing with company resources at the expense of work. Moreover, packet sniffers also play an imminent role in digital forensics and generally determining the root cause of network problems. With packet sniffers installed on a commuter network, system administrators can quickly determine if it is the network slowing down business processes or if the problem is purely resulting from other applications installed on the network.
Two Best Packet Sniffers
There are two broad categories of packet sniffers in the market: software sniffers and hardware sniffers. Interestingly, sniffers, regardless of the type, cannot always monitor data packets flowing through an entire computer network. Instead, sniffers only monitor data packets passing through specific network segments (Pareek et al., 2017). Computer networks comprise several interconnected nodes for communication (Raza et al., 2020).
The nodes can be computers, servers, and other computing infrastructures that distribute data packets across the network. Usually, before transmission, the data packets are attached to some header information that contains the details of the destination hosts, meant to be received only by the intended hosts (Diyeb et al., 2018). However, sniffers installed within networks ignore the header information and receive all data packets for monitoring regardless.
Hardware sniffers are plugged physically at a network segment’s strategic points to capture the data packets flowing therein for analysis. They either forward the logs to an administrator for monitoring or store them for reference whenever the need arises. Additionally, aside from capturing packets for monitoring, hardware packet sniffers also function to recollect and prevent packet loss in specific network segments due to electromagnetic interference, noise, and any other inadvertent causes.
Software packet sniffers, on the other hand, have a wider scope of performance. Unlike the aforementioned hardware versions, the software versions are purposefully installed on computer networks to activate promiscuous. Once network adapters switch to this mode, the packet sniffers override the header information referencing based on destination host addresses, do more of separation and logging, and monitor all data packets flowing through an entire network regardless of segmentation.
There exist a variety of packet sniffers to choose from in the market. Others are free, while others are not open source. As with every other computing resource, expensive versions tend to be very effective, and what determines the effectiveness of sniffers is the ability to perform deep packet inspection. By far, Solarwinds Bandwidth Analyzer 2-Pack and Wireshack stand out of all available sniffers. The former comes with traffic monitoring capabilities, performance analysis, and fault handling, unlike the latter that only shows important packets. However, both of them provide vibrant graphical presentations of network traffic for easy analysis.
References
Diyeb, I. A. I., Saif, A., & Al-Shaibany, N. A. (2018). Ethical network surveillance using packet sniffing tools: A comparative study. International Journal of Computer Network and Information Security, 11(7), 12. Web.
Pareek, S., Gautam, A., & Dey, R. (2017). Different type network security threats and solutions, a review. International Journal of Computer Science, 5(4). Web.
Raza, S., Maliyekkal, F. J., & Choudhary, N. (2020). Remotely Scanning Organization’s Internal Network. Web.