Sniffing and Eavesdropping

Sniffing and Eavesdropping - Network Traffic Interception

Sniffing and eavesdropping attacks focus on passive interception and analysis of network communications to gather intelligence, extract credentials, and monitor data flows without actively disrupting network operations.

Understanding Network Surveillance

Passive Reconnaissance: Unlike active attacks that generate traffic, sniffing operations monitor existing communications to gather intelligence without detection.

Traffic Analysis: Systematic examination of network patterns, protocols, and data flows to extract valuable information from intercepted communications.

Credential Harvesting: Extraction of authentication information, session tokens, and sensitive data from unencrypted or weakly protected network traffic.

Sniffing Attack Surface

Network Positioning:

  • Hub-based networks (legacy broadcast domains)
  • Switched networks through ARP spoofing or port mirroring
  • Wireless networks in monitor mode
  • Internet backbone access points

Target Communications:

  • Authentication protocols (Telnet, FTP, HTTP Basic Auth)
  • Email communications (POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
  • File transfers (FTP, TFTP, SMB)
  • Voice communications (SIP, RTP)
  • Web traffic (HTTP, unencrypted APIs)

Attack Categories Overview

Passive Interception

  • Network Sniffing: Monitor traffic without network modification
  • Wireless Eavesdropping: Intercept radio frequency communications
  • Optical Network Tapping: Physical interception of fiber optic signals

Active Positioning

  • ARP Spoofing Integration: Combine with man-in-the-middle positioning
  • SPAN Port Configuration: Leverage network infrastructure monitoring ports
  • Rogue Access Points: Deploy fake wireless infrastructure for interception

Analysis and Extraction

  • Protocol Decoding: Parse and analyze intercepted protocol data
  • Credential Extraction: Identify and extract authentication information
  • Metadata Analysis: Extract communication patterns from encrypted traffic

Professional Context

Sniffing and eavesdropping skills are essential for security professionals because they:

  • Assess Data Protection: Verify effectiveness of encryption and secure protocols
  • Monitor Network Security: Detect unauthorized communications and data leakage
  • Incident Response: Analyze network traffic during security incidents
  • Compliance Validation: Ensure sensitive data is properly protected in transit

Module Structure

This module covers five critical sniffing and eavesdropping categories:

Passive Network Sniffing

Fundamental techniques and tools for monitoring network traffic without active network participation.

Promiscuous and Monitor Mode

Advanced network interface operations for comprehensive traffic capture and wireless monitoring.

Traffic Interception

Methodologies for capturing and storing network communications for analysis.

Protocol Analysis

Systematic examination of network protocols to extract credentials and sensitive information.

Encrypted Traffic Analysis

Techniques for analyzing encrypted communications through metadata extraction and traffic analysis.

Sniffing and eavesdropping attacks demonstrate the importance of encryption and secure communication protocols, providing essential skills for network security assessment and monitoring.