I know that KisMac (a Mac OS X app, that can passively sniff Wireless networks) will show all wireless MACs that have associated with any base station that it can see traffic from though it also sometimes shows the MAC of the host you're sniffing with, so I suspect that most of the other common wireless LAN tools can do it too. The basic concept of sniffing tools is as simple as wiretapping and Kali Linux has some popular tools for this purpose. In this chapter, we will learn about the sniffing and spoofing tools available in Kali. Burpsuite can be used as a sniffing tool between your browser and the webservers to find the. Basically, this tool is a disk space analyzer that can display the folder structure. Sadly, there is no version of SpaceSniffer for Mac, but there are some other tools that you can try instead. Here is a list of programs that can serve as replacements for SpaceSniffer for Mac.
- Sniffing Machine
- Sniffing For Macbook Pro
- Sniffing Mac Flooding
- Sniffing Mac Addresses
- Sniffing For Macbook
Computers communicate using networks. These networks could be on a local area network LAN or exposed to the internet. Network Sniffers are programs that capture low-level package data that is transmitted over a network. An attacker can analyze this information to discover valuable information such as user ids and passwords.
In this article, we will introduce you to common network sniffing techniques and tools used to sniff networks. We will also look at countermeasures that you can put in place to protect sensitive information been transmitted over a network.
Topics covered in this tutorial
What is network sniffing?
Computers communicate by broadcasting messages on a network using IP addresses. Once a message has been sent on a network, the recipient computer with the matching IP address responds with its MAC address.
Network sniffing is the process of intercepting data packets sent over a network.This can be done by the specialized software program or hardware equipment. Sniffing can be used to;
- Capture sensitive data such as login credentials
- Eavesdrop on chat messages
- Capture files have been transmitted over a network
The following are protocols that are vulnerable to sniffing
- Telnet
- Rlogin
- HTTP
- SMTP
- NNTP
- POP
- FTP
- IMAP
The above protocols are vulnerable if login details are sent in plain text
Passive and Active Sniffing
Before we look at passive and active sniffing, let's look at two major devices used to network computers; hubs and switches.
A hub works by sending broadcast messages to all output ports on it except the one that has sent the broadcast. The recipient computer responds to the broadcast message if the IP address matches. This means when using a hub, all the computers on a network can see the broadcast message. It operates at the physical layer (layer 1) of the OSI Model.
The diagram below illustrates how the hub works.
A switch works differently; it maps IP/MAC addresses to physical ports on it. Broadcast messages are sent to the physical ports that match the IP/MAC address configurations for the recipient computer. This means broadcast messages are only seen by the recipient computer. Switches operate at the data link layer (layer 2) and network layer (layer 3).
The diagram below illustrates how the switch works.
Passive sniffing is intercepting packages transmitted over a network that uses a hub. It is called passive sniffing because it is difficult to detect. It is also easy to perform as the hub sends broadcast messages to all the computers on the network.
Active sniffing is intercepting packages transmitted over a network that uses a switch. There are two main methods used to sniff switch linked networks, ARP Poisoning, and MAC flooding.
Hacking Activity: Sniff network traffic
In this practical scenario, we are going to use Wireshark to sniff data packets as they are transmitted over HTTP protocol. For this example, we will sniff the network using Wireshark, then login to a web application that does not use secure communication. We will login to a web application on http://www.techpanda.org/ Xorg for mac.
The login address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and the password is Password2010.
Note: we will login to the web app for demonstration purposes only. The technique can also sniff data packets from other computers that are on the same network as the one that you are using to sniff. The sniffing is not only limited to techpanda.org, but also sniffs all HTTP and other protocols data packets.
Sniffing the network using Wireshark
The illustration below shows you the steps that you will carry out to complete this exercise without confusion
Download Wireshark from this link http://www.wireshark.org/download.html
- Open Wireshark
- You will get the following screen
- Select the network interface you want to sniff. Note for this demonstration, we are using a wireless network connection. If you are on a local area network, then you should select the local area network interface.
- Click on start button as shown above
- Open your web browser and type in http://www.techpanda.org/
- The login email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the password is Password2010
- Click on submit button
- A successful logon should give you the following dashboard
- Go back to Wireshark and stop the live capture
- Filter for HTTP protocol results only using the filter textbox
- Locate the Info column and look for entries with the HTTP verb POST and click on it
- Just below the log entries, there is a panel with a summary of captured data. Look for the summary that says Line-based text data: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
- You should be able to view the plaintext values of all the POST variables submitted to the server via HTTP protocol.
What is a MAC Flooding?
MAC flooding is a network sniffing technique that floods the switch MAC table with fake MAC addresses. This leads to overloading the switch memory and makes it act as a hub. Once the switch has been compromised, it sends the broadcast messages to all computers on a network. This makes it possible to sniff data packets as they sent on the network.
Counter Measures against MAC flooding
- Some switches have the port security feature. This feature can be used to limit the number of MAC addresses on the ports. It can also be used to maintain a secure MAC address table in addition to the one provided by the switch.
- Authentication, Authorization and Accounting servers can be used to filter discovered MAC addresses.
Sniffing Counter Measures
- Restriction to network physical media highly reduces the chances of a network sniffer been installed
- Encrypting messages as they are transmitted over the network greatly reduces their value as they are difficult to decrypt.
- Changing the network to a Secure Shell (SSH)network also reduces the chances of the network been sniffed.
Summary
- Network sniffing is intercepting packages as they are transmitted over the network
- Passive sniffing is done on a network that uses a hub. It is difficult to detect.
- Active sniffing is done on a network that uses a switch. It is easy to detect.
- MAC flooding works by flooding the MAC table address list with fake MAC addresses. This makes the switch to operate like a HUB
- Security measures as outlined above can help protect the network against sniffing.
In addition to using secure protocols and encrypting information, most business concerns can prevent attacks by using packet sniffer tools software that can detect wireless network sniffers. When you are looking for one such useful software for your business, you can search for them in Google by typing packet sniffer tools Windows, list of packet sniffing tools, HTTP packet sniffer, open source packet sniffer, different packet sniffing tools, network sniffing tools, best-sniffing tools and packet sniffing programs.
Related:
In addition to using secure protocols and encrypting information, most business concerns can prevent attacks by using packet sniffer tools software that can detect wireless network sniffers. When you are looking for one such useful software for your business, you can search for them in Google by typing packet sniffer tools Windows, list of packet sniffing tools, HTTP packet sniffer, open source packet sniffer, different packet sniffing tools, network sniffing tools, best-sniffing tools and packet sniffing programs.
Related:
WireShark Packet Sniffer
This is by far the first network protocol analyzer across the planet that allows a user to access the heavy PCap files and obtain the needful reports in a very short span. It offers a rich and seamless experience with the help of advanced alerts and triggers. It also comes with fully integrated efforts of AirPcap and Wireshark.
SmartSniff
This HTTP packet sniffer can automatically scan all the PCs that work on a specific network and then build a report with details about installed hardware & software, their OS along with other crucial alerts. You can also analyze and troubleshoot the Wi-Fi network along with monitoring the opened TCP or IP ports or other connections on your network.
Microsoft Message Analyzer
This packet sniffer tools for Windows allow its users to capture, display and analyse the protocol messaging traffic with ease. It is equipped with loads of features that proffers support for more than one message provider and is able to import text logs before they are parsed into the key element or value pairs.
The Best Packet Sniffer Tools for other Platforms
Sniffing Machine
The greatest benefit of the packet sniffer Tools Post is that they are now available on separate platforms so that you can seamlessly capture and analyze the live data and retrieve the archived message sets from logs and traces. Now you can display the high-level data summaries in a default view system with the following software.
Packet Capture for Android
This open source packet sniffer for Android allows you to capture packet and network traffic sniffer with SSL decryption and it is extremely helpful for creating apps. You can capture data and record them without the need of any roots or set up a dedicated proxy server on your PC and you can work with this software just if you own an Android device.
Cocoa Packet for Mac
This packet sniffer tool for Mac users comes in several versions. It aids in allowing visibility of network in varying degrees that can be defined as per your requirements. With the passive decoding and recording of network data, you can now determine the security strength of your personal network.
Dsniff for Windows
This is one of the best network sniffing tools for Windows that allows seamless network penetration and auditing along with passively monitoring the network to find out interesting data. It can easily detect the vulnerability of any network application protocols so that you can protect it from any kind of credential theft.
Sniffing For Macbook Pro
Packet Peeper – Most Popular Software
Sniffing Mac Flooding
This is by far the most useful packet sniffer ToolPost loaded with a wide array of features that include TCP stream reassembling, multiple capture sessions, privilege separating, and filters which can be customized anytime you want to. You can also use the python plugins and avail the support for Pcap or TCPdump capture filings. You can also see Traceroute Software
Sniffing Mac Addresses
What is Packet Sniffer Tools?
Wireless packet sniffers are crucial for the maintenance of wireless networks and their features have made them very popular among malicious actors as well. Wireless sniffer software programs allow intrusion as well as hidden network detection for discovering malicious sniffers present on the networks. Besides including features that are used in wireless sniffer tools, there are various aftermarket features which are purposely devised for detecting sniffing attacks. It is also possible for detecting sniffers in the promiscuous mode by sniffing one's own network to detect any hacking activity. You can also see Voipmonitor Software
As you can see, the packet sniffer Tool Post is the reasonable solution for capturing as well as visualizing the traffic that flows through a network. They are extremely useful in security and network troubleshooting and since most of them can be installed without incurring much cost, they are a great aid for all who are willing to present packet data.