Web development, programming languages, Software testing & others In this article, we will go through the differences between the 2 so that it is easier for developers to decide which is the best suited for the use case being solved. Some more facts on Wireshark is that it was initially named Ethereal but was later renamed because of issues with the trademark. both have the capability to run on different operating systems like Solaris, macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, or any other Unix distribution. Both the platforms are cross-platform i.e.
Specifically, Nmap falls under the category of network scanner and in turn helps in the domain of network security, whereas Wireshark falls under the subcategory of packet analyzer.
Each of the 2 tools falls under the respective subcategory of network troubleshooting. There are numerous network attacks that you could detect by monitoring and analyzing your network’s packets flow.Īnything from Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Poisoning to Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Flooding and Virtual LAN (VLAN) Hopping attacks leave obvious traces, even if unsuccessful.īy regularly capturing data packets from your network and then filtering them, you’d be able to signal out attempts to access your network without permission.Nmap and Wireshark are defined as networking technique tools that enable users to perform network troubleshooting in various forms like troubleshooting of network, analysis of the network, protocol development in communications, discovering of hosts or services on the network, and so on. Just because you’re using your home’s Wi-Fi connection doesn’t mean your connection is fully secure. Identifying and Learning from Attempted Attacks You’ll also get access to HTTP traffic and be able to analyze included server and client responses and requests. Too many errors in data transfer could slow down your connection as the server attempts to resend the same data over and over. Since the source, destination, and overall journey of each data packer is captured and analyzed, you’d be able to detect issues such as slow or under-performing web servers. By using Wireshark’s filtering and analysis tools, you’ll be able to narrow down the scale of the packages that could be responsible for the network error. Troubleshooting Connection ProblemsĬapturing a portion of data packets going through the network connection is the first step towards error diagnosis. Related: What Is Packet Sniffing and How Can You Stop Sniffing Attacks?īy analyzing captured data packets using Wireshark, you’ll gain information on how and when data moves around in your network and whether there’s any activity you don’t recognize. If the network you’re sniffing is anything but your own private network-a public Wi-Fi connection, for instance-sniffing could be unethical or illegal depending on the data you’re observing and collecting. Sniffing isn’t a privacy-friendly practice. The goal of sniffing is to monitor and scan the data entering and leaving the network to "sniff out" malicious or problematic data flow. Packet sniffing is the practice of observing, collecting, and logging data packets flowing through a network.