IPhone packet sniffing. Discussion in 'iPhone Tips, Help and Troubleshooting. Ok so I was bored the other day. I went and used Eavesdrop packet sniffer to see if anyone else was using my wifi network. Then I was curious as to if it would sniff the data of my iPhone. IPad, and Mac platforms. Advertise on MacRumors. HttpWatch is the ultimate HTTP sniffer for monitoring and optimizing web pages. It shows cookies, headers, content, query strings, POST values and low level request/response streams for HTTP and HTTPS.
If you work on a network, you then know the value of information. Solid information leads to a strong and worry-free network (or at least as worry-free as you can manage). In order to gather that information, you need the right tools. The tools I speak of are network analyzers. Once you start looking, you can find analyzers of every shape, size, and price. But for most network admins, the free tools do a solid-enough job to get you the information you need.
But which of these tools are the best? If you start looking, you'll find plenty available. To help narrow the search for you, I've found five of the best network analyzers available. From this list, you should be able to find the one tool that perfectly suits your needs. With that promise made, let's dive in and see what's what.
![Capture Capture](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126028887/328596850.png)
App of the Week Newsletter
Don't waste another second searching for IT and business apps--we've got you covered. Our featured App of the Week might boost your productivity, secure your email, track career goals, and more. Delivered Thursdays
Sign up today Sign up today Five Apps
1. Wireshark
Wireshark is one of the most powerful network protocol analyzers on the market (free or paid). In fact, Wireshark is often considered the de facto standard among the industry. This analyzer features: Live capture and offline analysis; standard three-pane packet browser; multi-platform (Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others); captured network data can be browsed via GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility. Other features include: powerful display filters; rich VoIP analysis; read/write many different capture file formats; capture files can be compressed with on the fly; live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others; decryption support; coloring rules; output can be exported to XML, PostScript, CSV, or plain text.
2. NAST
NAST (Network Analyzer Sniffer Tool) is an ncurses-based tool that has, admittedly, not been under development for quite some time. Even so, the tool is quite useful and does a great job of capturing network traffic. I put this tool on the list because it's invaluable if the only machine you have access to is a UNIX GUI-less server. But even if you have a GUI, this tool is quite handy. NAST features: Build LAN hosts list; follow a TCP-DATA stream; find LAN internet gateways; discover promiscuous nodes; reset an established connection; perform a single half-open portscanner; perform a multi half-open portscanner; find link type (hub or switch); catch daemon banner of LAN nodes; control arp answers to discover possible arp-spoofings; byte counting with an optional filter; and write reports logging.
3. Zenmap
Zenmap is the official GUI for the Nmap Security Scanner. Zenmap is available for Windows, Linux, Mac, and BSD. Zenmap can be used to read live captures or save captures for later viewing. With Zenmap you can empower the features of Nmap to help you with: network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Features include: Host discovery; port scanning; version detection; OS detection; scriptable interface; web scanning; full IPv6 support; Nping support; fast scanning; and much more.
4. Angry IP Scanner
Angry IP Scanner is another open source, cross platform scanner that is designed, from the ground up, to be incredibly fast and very simple to use. Angry IP offers the following features: Portable (zero installation on certain platforms); ping checks; NetBIOS information; resolves hostnames; determines MAC address; can determine currently logged-in user; plug in system; scan results can be saved as CSV, TXT, XML, or IP-Port list; and fast, mutli-threaded scanning.
5. JDSU Network Analyzer Fast Ethernet
JDSU Network Analyzer Fast Ethernet has a long name and is long in features. Although it has numerous features, you don't have to be a full-blown network analyst to make use of this tool. JDSU allows anyone (of nearly any experience level) to: Quickly determine who is on a network, who is using bandwidth, and where errors may be occurring on the network. You can also identify problems before they become serious issues; use expert analysis tools to solve network problems quickly; capture and analyze network traffic in real-time; and analyze data offline. JDSU offers multi-technology analysis, a consistent user-interface across platforms, and is scalable for distributed analysis.
Bottom line
No matter what your level of expertise, and your network needs, one of these tools should make the gathering of information about your network a simple task. Whether you need a simple, ncurses-based tool, or a full-blown, full-featured GUI, you can find what you're looking for and not have to spend a single penny.
Also read:
Wireshark is the most popular free and open-source packet analyzer. It can see all the network communication going in and out of all the computer in the network. Meaning someone who uses Wireshark can see anything on your network that’s not encrypted. But unfortunately, it is not available for Android. Though, that doesn’t mean you cannot track, monitor or capture network packets on your Android device. Here are some of the best Wireshark alternatives for Android to monitor traffic and capture packets.
Packet Capture Software For Mac
Read: 8 Best WiFi Manager for Android (2018)
Credit: https://www.wireshark.org
Why most network sniffer app on Android require Root access?
Before you jump to the following list, you should know, most Wireshark alternative for Android requires ROOT access to capture packets. The reason being the promiscuous mode or monitor mode.
When you are running a packet sniffer tool in promiscuous mode, you will see every packet that is being transmitted over the network. If it is not separately encrypted, all traffic can be read.
In general, most Windows computers require a seprate WiFi adapter to enable promiscuous mode, while some macOS devices can use the built-in WiFi card in promiscuous mode. Android, on the other hand, can also use the built-in WiFi adapter for promiscuous mode. But to prevent its misuse, most manufacture turn OFF this feature. And the only way to bypass this is by ROOT access. In short, without ROOT, you can only monitor traffic from your device. Also for obvious reasons, most of the following apps are not available on Google Play Store.
![Packet Sniffer App For Mac Packet Sniffer App For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126028887/778877202.png)
Wireshark Alternatives for Android
1. zAnti [Root]
zAnti is not just a simple network sniffer, it is a complete penetration testing tool for your Android device. You can do complete network testing and a whole lot of other tests with a simple tap on a button. Some of the things you can do with zAnti include but not limited to modifying HTTP requests and responses, exploiting routers, hijacking HTTP sessions, changing MAC address, checking target device for vulnerabilities, etc. Apart from that, zAnti can also find security gaps within your existing network and gives you detailed reports on how to fortify the defenses to protect your network from possible attacks.
Being a complete penetration testing tool that is specifically designed for professionals and businesses in mind, zAnti needs root access to work. Moreover, for most of the advanced features of zAnti to work, the app will change a few SELinux configuration settings and also puts your device into permissive mode. So, if you chose to go with zAnti, I would recommend that you use a dedicated device that is separate from your work or personal device.
Pricing: The app is free and you can download it from the official website. However, you need to submit your email address to get the download link.
2. cSploit [Root]
cSploit is very similar to zAnti in that it is a complete and professional penetration testing tool for advanced users. In fact, cSploit is a fork of dSploit which got bought by and merged into zAnti. You can think of cSploit as Metasploit for Android. Some of the features of cSploit include the ability to collect and see host systems fingerprints, map local network, perform MITM (man in the middle) attacks, built-in traceroute functionality, ability to add your own hosts, create or forge TCP and/or UDP packets, etc. When it comes to network specific tools, cSploit allows real-time traffic manipulation, DNS spoofing, breaking connections, traffic redirection, capture pcap network traffic files, and session hijacking.
Most of all, cSploit has a built-in Metasploit framework RPCd which allows you to scan for known vulnerabilities and create shell consoles on target systems. What’s more, the developer is actively working on the application and there are future plans to add features like the ability to install backdoors on a vulnerable system, decrypt WiFi passwords, etc.
So, if you are looking for a free and open source penetration testing tool with a good network sniffer then give cSploit and see if it fits your needs. Do mind that you need to have root permission on your Android device to work with cSploit.
Pricing: Free and open source.
3. Packet Capture
While zAnti and cSploit act as full-fledged penetration testing tools with all the bell and whistles you will ever need on a mobile platform, Packet Capture is a dedicated application to capture and record network packets. Using Packet Capture, you can not only capture and record packets but you can also decrypt SSL communication using MITM (man in the middle) attack. Since Packet Capture uses local VPN to capture and record all your traffic, it can run without any root permissions. If you are looking for a simple and straightforward packet capture app then try Packet Capture.
Using Packet Capture is nothing hard. Install it from Play Store and launch the app. When you launch, you will be prompted to install SSL certificate. If you want to record and capture HTTPS traffic then you need to install the SSL certificate. Depending on your requirement, either tap on “Install” or “Skip” to continue. Do mind that if you don’t install SSL certificate, some apps might not be able to connect to the internet when you are using Packet Capture’s local VPN. That being said, you can always install the SSL certificate from the settings panel.
On the home screen, tap on the “Play” icon appearing in the upper right corner. This action will start the local VPN and all your traffic will be automatically tracked and recorded.
If you didn’t install SSL certificate when prompted, you can do so by navigating to “Settings” and then selecting the option “Status” under “Certificate” section.
Free Wifi Sniffer
Pricing: The app is completely free but contains ads.
4. Debug Proxy
Debug Proxy is very similar to Packet Capture in that it is a dedicated traffic sniffer. Just like Packet Capture, it can capture traffic, monitor all your HTTP and HTTPS traffic, decrypt SSL traffic using MITM technique and view live traffic. What’s good about Debug Proxy is that its user interface is very intuitive and captures all packets in native code which makes it pretty fast and responsive. Other than that, Debug Proxy also gives access to other tools that let you do bandwidth throttling, HTTP response and latency testing, network security testing for MITM attack vulnerabilities, web debugging, SSL monitoring, etc.
To use Debug Proxy, install it from PlayStore and launch it. On the intro screen, you will be prompted to install the SSL. Install the certificate if you want to decrypt SSL traffic. On the main screen, tap on the “Play” button appearing in the center-right corner of the screen to start capturing traffic. By default, Debug Proxy will capture traffic from all apps. If you want to capture traffic of a specific app, then tap on the “Android” icon in the upper navigation bar and select the app you want to log or monitor.
Pricing: The base app is free and there are no ads to deal with. For advanced features like the ability to filter system-wide capture and to display request body and response data, you need to upgrade to the premium version for $3 via in-app purchase.
5. WiFinspect [Root]
WiFinspect is yet another free and powerful packet capture and network sniffer. Features of WiFinspect include but not limited to Pcap analyzer, network sniffer, host discovery, port scanner, internal and external network vulnerability scanner, traceroute, ping, etc. Unlike Packet Capture or Debug Proxy apps, you need root permissions to work with most features in WiFinspect. For instance, since the app uses tcpdumps to sniff and track packets, you need root permission.
If you are looking for an app that does much more than capturing packets and not a full-fledged penetration testing tool like cSploit or zAnti then WiFinspect is for you.
Pricing: Free.
6. tPacketCapture
tPacketCaputre does one thing and that is capturing your network traffic, just like Packet Capture or Debug Proxy app. However, unlike both these apps, tPacketCapture will save the captured data in pcap file format. To read that capture data, you need to transfer that pcap file to your computer and use packet capturing application like Wireshark. Other than that limitation, tPacketCapture is pretty good at what it does. So, if you don’t mind the limitation then give the app a try.
Pricing: The base app is free and there are no ads. However, if you want to capture app specific traffic then you need to buy the pro version for around $8.5 (which is asking a lot).
Closing Words
That’s it for now. These were some of the best alternatives Wireshark on the Android platform. zAnti and cSploit are closest when it comes to packet capturing and man in the middle attack. However, if all you want is to boot people off your WiFi network, consider using Netcut app. It also requires root access though.
Comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above Wireshark alternatives for Android.
Read: Top 10 Network Monitoring Apps for Android