How many of you are using computers connected to either dial-up, broadband or other high speed networks and did you ever thought what sort of information is going through those network cables when you are online?
All the web info you or others browse on the network…….
All the messengers’ communications on the network…..
All the VOIP calls you or others make on the network…..
All the usernames and passwords you or others send across on the network….
And what not?
All the information you send/receive using your computer on network is visible to anyone monitoring on your network. Want to know How?
Read on…
There are tools for monitoring your network for potential network problems and same can be used for monitoring all the network activity.
Why anyone monitor network?
Most organizations, from the smallest office to the largest enterprises rely on some kind of network monitoring tools to help them analyze performance issues, alert them to threats, and provide reports on the health of the network environment.
What tools available?
PRTG Network Monitor, InterMapper, LogicMonitor, The Microsoft Network Monitor, Munin, Nagios, Orion Network Performance Monitor, Splunk, Wireshark etc among few.
In this article we will discuss How to capture traffic using Wireshark.
1) What is the price?
2) Where to download?
3) How to use it?
1) What is the price?
Its open source and free.
2) Where to download?
3) How to use it?
a. First you need to install the software
Click on Installer right for your OS. I am downloading Windows Installer (32-bit)
b. Download the file
c. Run the file
d. It will be downloaded
e. If you get any warning like this, click on Run
f. Click on Next
g. Accept the Agreement
h. Accept all the default options until you come here
i. Select Install WinPcap
j. Installation will begin
k. If you get any pop-up saying that WinPcap is already installed, click Ok to force the installation.
l. Click on Next and Finish and you are done.
m. You can Open WireShark by going to
All Programs-> WireShark
n. Initial Screen may look like this
o. Select the Interface or Network Card on you want to monitor
q. You can click on Stop the running live capture button if you want to stop capturing at any time
r. If you want to set Advanced options while monitoring click on List the available Interfaces tool bar or go to Capture-> Interfaces menu or
Ctrl +I
s. Interfaces window appers as
t. If you click on Options on any of the active Interface, the following window appears
u. Check Capture packets in promiscuous mode if you want to capture all packets going on your network. This will enable the network adapter to capture all the packets that it can see.
v. Click on Start for capturing the packets and stop once you are done.