So, to sum it up, the simplest part of utilizing Wireshark is downloading and installing it (particularly if you use Windows) – it gets complicated after that, so beginners beware. However, graphical tools for visualizing statistics make it easy to spot changes and common trends. We should also note that while Wireshark can prove useful in preventing zero-day attacks once the alarm bells have been raised, it’s not an actual intrusion detection system (IDS) and shouldn’t be used as such.Īlso, although Wireshark can apply color coding for the sake of user-friendliness and displays malformed packets, there are no alerts. Wireshark is best suited for security (opens in new tab) agencies, educational establishments, small to mid-sized businesses, and nonprofit organizations, but it can also be used as an educational tool for soon-to-be security experts. To properly use Wireshark, you need to possess some technical know-how such as a TCP 3-way handshake and protocols such as TCP, UDP, and DHCP.

(Image credit: Wireshark) Interface and ease of useįirst of all, if you have little to no understanding of network protocols, this is probably not the tool for you. Other noteworthy features of Wireshark include a wide variety of supported capture file formats (tcpdump, Pcap NG, Catapult DCT2000, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, Microsoft Network Monitor, and much more), decryption support for plenty of protocols (such as IPsec, ISAKMP, and Kerberos), application of coloring rules to the packet list for simpler analysis, and capacity to export output to XML, PostScript, CSV, or plain texts. While Wireshark can be used for a couple of things (such as tracing connections, inspecting the content of suspicious network transactions, and identifying microburst congestion), for most users it’s a go-to tool for troubleshooting networks with performance problems. Much like most network packet analyzers, Wireshark tunes in with a network connection in real-time and captures whole streams of traffic – as many as thousands of packets at once.Īfter this, it can check all captured data by applying filters and getting rid of all irrelevant information – thus, you’ll get only the information that’s worth checking out.Īnd then, finally, like any solid packet sniffer, Wireshark will let you dive deep into a network packet while allowing you to visualize the whole conversation and network streams.

(Image credit: Wireshark) Features and functionalityīeing one of the most popular packet sniffers on the planet, Wireshark is also packed with features that provide three primary functionalities - packet capture, filtering (opens in new tab), and network visualization.

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