Instant Wireshark Starter by Abhinav Singh

by Abhinav Singh

Wireshark is by far the most popular network traffic analyzing tool.It not only provides an interface for traffic capture but also provides a rich platform for an in-depth analysis of the traffic. The GUI provides a very user friendly and interactive media that simplifies the process of network forensics. This concise book provides a perfect start to getting hands-on with packet analysis using Wireshark.Wireshark Starter is the perfect guide for new learners who are willing to dive into the world of computer networks. Walking you through from the very start, it transitions smoothly to cover core topics like filters, decoding packets, command line tools, and more. It covers every inch of Wireshark in a concise and comprehensive manner.Wireshark Starter has been designed keeping basic learners in mind. After initial setup, the book leads you through your first packet capture followed by some core topics like analyzing the captured traffic and understanding filters.You will then be guided through more detailed topics like the decoding of captured packets, generating graphs based on statistics, and name resolution. Finally the book concludes by providing information about further references and official sources to learn more about the tool.ApproachGet to grips with a new technology, understand what it is and what it can do for you, and then get to work with the most important features and tasks. Written as a practical guide, Wireshark Starter will show you all you need to know to effectively capture and analyze network traffic.Who this book is forThis book is specially designed for new learners who are willing to dive deeper into network analysis using Wireshark. It requires a basic understanding of network protocols and their implementation and is equally handy for network administrators, forensic experts, and network penetration testers.

Paperback

First published January 25, 2013

About the author

Abhinav singh is a young information security specialist from India. He has a keen interest in the field of Information security and has adopted it as his full time profession. His core work areas include Malware analysis, Network security, System and Enterprise security. He is also the author or “Metasploit Penetration testing Cookbook” and “Instant Wireshark” published by Packt.
Abhinav’s work has been quoted in several Infosec magazines and portals. He shares his day to day security encounters on
www.securitycalculus.com.
Currently he is working as Cyber Security Engineer for JP Morgan.

Linkedin profile: sg.linkedin.com/in/abhinavbom/

Reviews

[Mat Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Instant’ Series of books by Packt are relatively new and are designed to be a crash course on a particular technology. In this instance, I chose my favorite network analysis tool, Wireshark.

First and foremost, it’s a QUICK read. At a commanding 68 pages, you can easily get through this in an hour or so. The book covers the basics from installing and getting familiar with the basics, navigating the GUI, using some of the command line tools, and at the end there’s interesting little exercise pertaining to the BlackHole Exploit Kit.

Overall, a good (and quick) read. Recommended for people who are new to network analysis and the Wireshark tool.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.packtpub.com/wireshark-sta...

[Abdul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short and sweet book to give you an overview of how Wireshark is used and introduces you to few important concepts and options within Wireshark.

Wireshark is an open-source network packet analysis tool (also referred to as Packet Analyzer, Packet Capture, Network Sniffer etc.) which is used for various reasons:

- Hackers use the tool to sniff (capture) data travelling over the network such as passwords and sensitive data they can use to attack their target further.

- Security professionals use packet analysis to spot anomalies and suspicious network activity.

- Network professionals often use this tool to analyse and troubleshoot network problems at protocol level.


This is an invaluable tool in every Security professional's arsenal.

Please keep in mind that this book assumes no prior knowledge or experience with Wireshark and it is a short book only aimed at getting you started. So please do not complain that it is a very short book or a Beginner level if you are Intermediate/Advanced user. It is aimed at wireshark beginners.

Although it was written for an older version (I found a few options have changed between version v1 and v2.0.2 which I am currently using) it is still relevant and a short google search can iron out any option that has changed.

Do not be put off by the fact the author is using a Windows version of Wireshark, if you are a Linux user (which I am), you should be able to follow along and complete all exercises without any problems.

One nice touch I liked was the fact the author made available a read-made capture file to use for the final exercise in which he put all principles together and guides you through a sample case of analyzing malicious DNS redirects and a virus infection through the browser. This puts it all together in a way and is a nice bonus at the end.

[Mahmoud ElSherif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wireshark crash course and quick introduction about wireshark usage , it is a nice reference for the beginners but doesn't include any tips&tricks or any kind of advanced usage for network analysis and troubleshooting .