Which tool is a packet sniffer?

Which tool is a packet sniffer?

• A. Wireshark
• B. Nmap
• C. Hping
• D. Scapy

Answer: (A)

Packet sniffing involves capturing live network traffic and inspecting the contents of packets. Wireshark is designed exactly for that: it captures packets from the network, decodes many protocols, and presents them in a searchable, filterable interface for analysis. This makes it the primary tool for sniffing and traffic analysis. The other tools serve different purposes. Nmap focuses on discovering hosts and services on a network. Hping is used to craft and send custom packets to test defenses or measure network responses. Scapy is a flexible packet manipulation toolkit that can sniff as part of its capabilities but is primarily aimed at building and sending packets in Python.

Packet sniffing involves capturing live network traffic and inspecting the contents of packets. Wireshark is designed exactly for that: it captures packets from the network, decodes many protocols, and presents them in a searchable, filterable interface for analysis. This makes it the primary tool for sniffing and traffic analysis.

The other tools serve different purposes. Nmap focuses on discovering hosts and services on a network. Hping is used to craft and send custom packets to test defenses or measure network responses. Scapy is a flexible packet manipulation toolkit that can sniff as part of its capabilities but is primarily aimed at building and sending packets in Python.