dSniff

From Encoresoup - The Ultimate Guide to Free/Open Source Software

dsniff is a packet sniffer and set of traffic analysis tools written by Dug Song, a computer security researcher at the University of Michigan. Unlike tcpdump and other low-level packet sniffers, dsniff includes tools that parse information sent across the network, rather than simply capturing the raw data. The name "dsniff" refers both to the package as well as an included tool. "dsniff" the tool decodes passwords sent in cleartext across a switched or unswitched Ethernet network. Its man page explains that he wrote dsniff with "honest intentions - to audit my own network, and to demonstrate the insecurity of cleartext network protocols." He then requests, "Please do not abuse this software."

Other tools included with the package include:

• "webspy", a program which intercepts URLs sent by a specific IP address and directs your web browser to connect to the same URL. This results in your browser opening up the same web pages as the target being sniffed.
• "sshmitm" and "webmitm", programs designed to intercept SSH version 1 communications and web traffic respectively with a man-in-the-middle attack
• "msgsnarf", a program designed to intercept Instant Messenger and IRC conversations
• "macof", a program designed to break poorly-designed Ethernet switches by flooding them with packets with bogus MAC addresses (MAC flooding).

[edit] References

• Official website
• dsniff FAQ

[edit] See also

• Comparison of packet sniffers
• Network tap