Pre-processing Wireshark and Scapy for Packet Analysis

Wireshark and Scapy are two of the most popular tools used by administrators, security analysts, and software developers for net-work packet analysis at the protocol level.

Wireshark: This is a popular network protocol analyzer which helps a user to capture traffic flowing in and out of your network at a real time basis. Wireshark has a friendly graphical user interface to filter packects as well as to analyze packet to diagnose errors and activities of a network as well as check for security breaches. For these reasons, it supports so many protocols making the tool relevant for first-time users and experts in equal measure. Some of the practical applications include locating congestion points within a network, investigating suspicious traffic, and studying working of protocols such as HTTP, TCP and DNS among others.

Let me start guide with installation of Wireshark on your computer, choosing network interface to capture traffic from and capturing a packet. The program once captured for analysis, the filter allows one to display only the required traffic such as HTTP request or packets originating from a specific IP.

Scapy which is a packet manipulation tool is based on python. Packet capture and analysis is the major strength of Wireshark where as in Scapy the strength includes packet creation send and analyze segmented packets. As such, it is particularly well-suited for activities such as network scanning, probing, as well as penetration testing. A great advantage of Scapy is that users have full control over the packets – they can set addresses, change the body or simply simulate an attack on a network.

Combining Wireshark with Scapy offers a powerful workflow: you can use Wireshark for the real traffic and packet capturing and analysis and Scapy for the packet generation and the simulations of the network. This combination proves to enrich the learning of both network and troubleshooting which is beneficial for the professional in networks and securities.

To sum up, Wireshark and Scapy also give the set of tools for packet capture, analysis, and modifications simultaneously.