Wireshark - Network Protocol Analyzer

The world’s most popular network protocol analyzer

Wireshark is a free and open-source packet analyzer used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. It captures and interactively browses the traffic running on a computer network.

• Live Capture and Offline Analysis - Capture packets in real-time or analyze saved capture files
• Deep Inspection - Hundreds of protocols supported with rich VoIP analysis
• Multi-Platform Support - Runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, and others
• Powerful Display Filters - Advanced filtering capabilities for targeted analysis
• Extensible Architecture - Plugin support for custom protocol dissectors

Use Cases

Network Troubleshooting

• Identify network bottlenecks and performance issues
• Diagnose connectivity problems
• Analyze network traffic patterns

Security Analysis

• Detect suspicious network activity
• Analyze malware communications
• Investigate security incidents

Protocol Development

• Test custom protocols
• Debug network applications
• Validate protocol implementations

Installation

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# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install wireshark

# macOS (via Homebrew)  
brew install wireshark

# Windows
# Download from official website: https://www.wireshark.org/

Security Considerations

⚠️ Important: Wireshark can capture sensitive data including passwords and personal information. Always ensure you have proper authorization before capturing network traffic and handle captured data responsibly.

Learning Resources

• Official Documentation
• Wireshark University
• Sample Captures

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Difficulty: Intermediate
Usefulness: Essential for network analysis