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Network Sniffer

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19 Jul 2004CPOL 262.7K   14.7K   116   65
Network Sniffer

Sample Image - Sniffer.jpg

Introduction

A "Packet Sniffer" is a utility that sniffs without modifying the network's packets in any way. By comparison, a firewall sees all of a computer's packet traffic as well, but it has the ability to block and drop any packets that its programming dictates. Packet sniffers merely watch, display, and log this traffic.

One disturbingly powerful aspect of packet sniffers is their ability to place the hosting machine's network adapter into "promiscuous mode." Network adapters running in promiscuous mode receive not only the data directed to the machine hosting the sniffing software, but also ALL of the traffic on the physically connected local network.

I hope that this piece of code will help you understand the network better.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer
Australia Australia
Been a programmer since 1999.
Experience in:
.Net, C++, C#, VB, VB.NET, ASP, ASP.NET, DLLs, COM etc.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: Nice sniffer.. but.. Pin
Shotgun4-Apr-05 15:21
Shotgun4-Apr-05 15:21 
QuestionNeat tool, now how does it work? Pin
Jason De Arte22-Jul-04 11:58
Jason De Arte22-Jul-04 11:58 
AnswerRe: Neat tool, now how does it work? Pin
Eran Aharonovich21-Aug-04 7:44
Eran Aharonovich21-Aug-04 7:44 
AnswerRe: Neat tool, now how does it work? Pin
Eran Aharonovich5-Jul-06 8:44
Eran Aharonovich5-Jul-06 8:44 
GeneralSwitch Pin
bishbosh0221-Jul-04 2:32
bishbosh0221-Jul-04 2:32 
GeneralRe: Switch Pin
Eran Aharonovich21-Jul-04 6:53
Eran Aharonovich21-Jul-04 6:53 
GeneralRe: Switch Pin
Michael Hendrickx20-Aug-04 9:54
Michael Hendrickx20-Aug-04 9:54 
GeneralRe: Switch Pin
Eran Aharonovich21-Aug-04 7:40
Eran Aharonovich21-Aug-04 7:40 
The alternatives are:
1) Create a WINSOCK API HOOK at each client.
2) Create a firewall-like intermediate driver which is much harder to implement, and instead of getting a copy of the data you get the exact data so your code must be fast enough or you slow down the whole network.

The above 2 alternatives are better than sniffing data the way I did but takes much more time to write.
It's up to you to decide.

GeneralRe: Switch Pin
Michael Hendrickx21-Aug-04 20:38
Michael Hendrickx21-Aug-04 20:38 
GeneralRe: Switch Pin
Msftone14-Jan-05 14:45
Msftone14-Jan-05 14:45 

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