Could someone please define both "packet" and "sniffing" in terms of networking and computers.
I have checked out all the wikis I could find but I would like to hear from those in the tech community too.
Also why it is beneficial to understand packet sniffing for network security.
Thanks. :-)

Do your own damn homework.

Why would tech guys have a different definition of a packet, we use the same internet as everyone else...


[edit]
Pretty dickish comment, so I'll give you a decent answer

As far as the definition of a packet goes, I really can't give you a better one than the wikipedia. However if you watch hak5, season 4 episodes 4,6 and 9, you will get a nice understanding of them and how they work. From the viewpoint of a hacker as well.

Why it is beneficial to understand packet sniffing for network security:
Many reasons, however the simple answer is that packets contain sensitive data. If someone is sniffing out those packets, then they can obtain the sensitive data.

It's important to understand that not every packet will contain something the hacker wants. For instance, last time I was sniffing on a network all I wanted was msn conversations. If I started to sniff for traffic however, I would have received every single packet of data. Huge amounts. So, by setting up a few filters, I set up the process to only record the packets that were of interest to me. Once I had automated this process, it was pretty efficient, and I eventually got what I needed.

If you want, I'll explain how to perform such an attack. Should get you some brownie points with the lecturer. Or suspended.


Links:
http://www.hak5.org/episodes/episode-406-packet-sniffing-101-social-media-with-boxee-and-multiple-gordon-freemans-with-synergy
http://www.hak5.org/episodes/episode-408
http://www.hak5.org/episodes/episode-409

What I meant was that I wanted to hear from people here that I can have a conversation about the topic with and ask questions to rather than just reading a few articles written by people that I can't directly contact.

Thanks for your encouragement! :-)

Well then is there anything in my post that you want to talk about?

Thanks for the post. I actually have been watching Hak.5 and have enjoyed the visualization of their topics. As well as their Becks sponsorship.

I have tried looking at wireshark to further visualize all of this and test it, and for some reason my mac os 10.5 (power pc) does not want to run the program properly. Any tips?

Basically what you are saying it that while you monitor a network you see every bit of information(packets), and therefore have to manipulate what you see by setting filters and thereby sifting through and finding what you originally were looking for.
I'm sure once I get wireshark working I will see this myself, thank you for your response.

**edit
What I mean by "does not want to run" is that when I go to open wireshark, I double click and it does nothing. I moved the files(Utilities/Command line folder" to opt/local/bin. Also I changed the permissions so I am not clear on what isn't working....

Mac... Never used one before. I am almost done making my hackintosh, but unfortunately I wont be able to help much until then.


What do you mean by 'does not want to run the program properly'?

Do you have 'parallels', or access to a windows machine?


P.S, It's 2:32am here, so I'm gonna have to go soon.


[Edit]
Answered my question.

Unfortunately I have no knowledge of OSX, so unless you can get a hold of a windows machine, or at least emulate one, I wont be able to walk you through.

Disappointed with myself :(

Thanks for your help. I am playing with directories and making sure everything is where it should be.

I will post anything new.

Thanks again.

One word, TCPDUMP.
The name is a bit misleading though, it can do way more than simply dumping tcp packets....

Use google, it's avaible on most platforms, and is often installed by default.

Or you could be manly and write a program that interacts with the berkeley packet filter.

Not to brag or anything :P

I wish I was that manly. I figure I'll learn to use one before I go to that level.
Do you recommend any program that you stand behind?

I've never actually used any packet sniffers save my cruddy one. Then again, I'm on a mac so I'm not sure how many options there are :D