Read: Class 43 Sniffing and Evasion
What is a Sniffing Attack in System Hacking?
A sniffing attack is when someone monitors traffic on a computer network to gain unauthorized access to information. It's like eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Active sniffing - In this approach, the attacker inserts their own computer or device into the network in order to monitor all traffic passing through it. This gives the attacker full visibility but is riskier since the attacker's computer is detected on the network.
Passive sniffing - The attacker passively taps into an existing connection on the network to monitor traffic without inserting their own device. This is stealthier but only provides a limited view of the network traffic.
Encryption protects against sniffing attacks by scrambling data so that even if an attacker intercepts network traffic, they cannot read or understand the encrypted messages. Encrypted traffic appears as meaningless gibberish to someone performing a sniffing attack.
When both the sender and receiver of network traffic have an encryption key, they can encrypt messages for transmission and then decrypt them upon receipt. This ensures that only the intended recipient can read the messages, even if they pass through untrusted networks.
Network intrusion detection systems - These systems monitor network traffic to detect sniffing attacks and other intrusions. Understanding how they work and their capabilities can help you strengthen your network defenses.
Other types of denial of service attacks - Sniffing attacks are a type of denial of service attack. There are many other types of DoS attacks that you should be familiar with to have a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.
Wireless network security - Sniffing attacks are easier to perform on wireless networks due to the broadcast nature of WiFi. Understanding how to secure wireless networks against sniffing and other threats is important.
Encryption algorithms - There are many different encryption algorithms that can be used to protect network traffic against sniffing. Understanding the various options, their strengths/weaknesses, and how to implement them would help defend against these threats.