If you are into the world of computing, you may have already come across the term “Sniffer” and want to know what it is exactly, but no matter what page you look on, you only find texts with terms that are difficult to understand and, it seems that a “Sniffer” it is something that only an applied in the computer science area can understand.
Well, it’s not like that! Here we will easily explain to you what a Sniffer is , what it is for and other information that you should take into account about this interesting software.
What is a Sniffer?
It is a software in the computer world that monitors and analyzes data packets that enter and leave a network, this network can be one between two devices or the entire network of a company.
The detail of the Sniffer and is what makes it look like something dangerous in the world of computing , is that those data packets that it monitors and analyzes are those that pass through the network, but they are not intended for you.
To understand this better, let’s imagine that you have a Sniffer and that everyone in your home is connected to the same network, at this moment someone is sending emails, as that person is connected to the same network as you, the Sniffer allows you to see those emails in addition to obtaining private data, all without the person realizing it, since, if you are intercepted by a Sniffer there is no way to know, but spying is not the only purpose.
What is it for?
- It allows a total administration and control of the network of a person or institution making you aware of all the data that enters and leaves the LAN network . So a Sniffer serves parents who want to know what their children are doing online or a company that wants to be aware of the employees who handle sensitive information.
- It allows a complete evaluation of the network to detect failures, that is, by checking all the data that comes in and goes out, it can detect those that behave in a “strange” way, such as a document that cannot be sent.
- It detects intruders in the system by blocking and eliminating them immediately.
So as we see a Sniffer serves to have total control over a LAN network and under the control of certain people it is not dangerous or illegal, but we fully recognize that this software can be used by malicious individuals.
We do not want you to end this post traumatic , so we will easily explain 5 ways to prevent Sniffer attacks, you will see that you will not have to worry about hacker attacks.
4 ways to prevent spy attacks
Way 1
You can download a Sniffer , so to speak, you will attack fire with fire, after all, installing a Sniffer is the best option to protect your data from malicious people.
To download a Sniffer there are many apps on the market, which you must be careful before downloading, since, by means of the permissions you grant before installation, you could give external users control over your data.
That is why when looking to download a Sniffer from your browser, we recommend having a good antivirus that will notify you if the software is reliable.
Way 2
This form can be somewhat complex, since you will need a person specialized in the subject, we are talking about data cryptography . It consists of encrypting your data under codes so complex that it makes it difficult for a Sniffer to be able to analyze them and obtain the data within your LAN network.
Way 3
Remember that Sniffer analyze data packets . What happens if your data is fragmented? We are talking about network segmentation and encryption.
The Sniffer can only capture data when they are in the same network segment, so, the more segmented the information is, the more difficult you do the job for the Sniffer to obtain your data, for this you can resort to switches such as Lenovo desktop or routers.
Way 4
Try to navigate only on encrypted sites, that is, those that begin with “https”, since being encrypted makes data compression more difficult, protecting yourself from a Sniffer when entering and sending files from any page.
