the network device for 'normal' network packets.the USB device for raw USB traffic (if supported).Ethernet packets) and provides a network interface that looks like an ordinary network interface. The operating system 'converts' the raw USB packets into the network traffic (e.g. Please note, Wireshark is now 64-bit only.A special case are network interfaces connected to a host computer through an USB cable. Easy to configure colouring and filtering makes it simple to make sense of complex data, and while this is not a tool for the average home user, it remain powerful yet approachable. Īs well as working with data that has been captured directly through Wireshark itself, it is also possible to analyse data that has been captured with the likes of Aircrack, tcpdump and CA NetMaster. Wireshark is available for Windows, Linux and Mac, making it ideal for mixed platform networks.

The wealth of information that the program can reveal about network usage is staggering, and support for plugins means that the tool can be extended to add new protocols and features further down the line. Wireshark boasts a graphical front end which makes it easy to analyse all traffic which travels over a network using a variety of protocols.ĭata packets can be captured from both wired and wireless network and this information can be viewed live as it is captured or analysed at a later date. Network analysers are nothing new, but they have a tendency to be impenetrable programs reliant on command line operations and provide information in a text based form which can be difficult to interpret.

If you've ever wondered just how your network is being used, Wireshark may be the tool you have been looking for.

Wireshark 4.0.7 free instals