Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

Ethereal

Ethereal, now called Wireshark, is an open source and popular network troubleshooting and packet sniffing tool for both UNIX and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Similar to tcpdump but with a well-designed GUI and many more information sorting and filtering options, Ethereal allows the user to see all traffic being passed over the network by putting the network card into a promiscuous mode. It could be used by hackers to view network traffic information without authorization.

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Ethereal