Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

Packet Sniffing

Packet sniffing is a form of wiretap applied to computer networks instead of phone networks. It came into vogue with Ethernet, which is known as a "shared medium" network. This means that traffic on a segment passes by all hosts attached to that segment. Ethernet cards have a filter that prevents the host machine from seeing traffic addressed to other stations. Sniffing programs turn off the filter, and thus see everyone's traffic.

Related Terms

Packet Sniffing