Chapter 10: Sniffing and Evading IDS, Firewalls, and Honeypots

Sniffing is an old method with new technology. Back in the day—before smartphones—we had telephones. There was a method used to tap into the phone line and listen in on conversations. You could record traffic, as well as intercepting data going across the line.

This required you to select a target and then connect with a listening or recording device. This was typically achieved by unofficial or official channels—depending on the legality—as well as a direct line mechanism. You could also use radio wiretaps. The whole purpose here was to listen in on conversations or record data that was flowing.

An attacker can intercept and read any network packet containing plaintext information. This information could include usernames, passwords, personal codes, banking information, or anything else valuable to the attacker.

Packet sniffing has the same concept as wiretapping—just on a different...