The Wireshark interface is only able to show the packets that your network card passes to it. Your network card will only pick up messages intended for your computer if promiscuous mode is turned off. If this box is unchecked, you can set the mode on individually for each network adapter. A checkbox at the bottom of the Options screen allows you to set promiscuous mode active for all networks. One of the key settings you need to look at is whether “ promiscuous mode ” is enabled. This looks like a black and white rosette and it leads to the Options screen of the tool. The fourth item on this line is of particular interest.

The second menu ribbon contains items represented by icons, rather than text. Clicking on one of those items provokes a drop-down menu to appear. The top row of menu items is presented as text. Only those networks that show activity are worth investigating. Any network that shows a flat line has no activity. These networks are listed in the interface, with any activity shown alongside as a graph. When you open Wireshark, it will scan for all available networks. This guide will use the Windows version of Wireshark, release 2.6.2. For Debian and Ubuntu owners, you can get the program from the system repository. If you have Kali Linux, you already have Wireshark built into the operating system.

You will have to reboot in order to complete the installation. Clicking on the downloaded file will get Wireshark installed on your computer. Click on the Download button in the main page of the site to get to the Download page.Ĭlick on the version that is suitable for your operating system to get the installer. The code for Windows and Macs is available at the Wireshark website. Wireshark is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Unix. If you are the network manager, however, you will be very pleased with the information that you get out of this free tool. The reputation of Wireshark is such that you shouldn’t attempt to use it on your workplace network without permission from the network manager. This tool’s competence is so widely admired that it has become a commonly used tool for hackers. Wireshark is a very effective and thorough packet analyzer that is particularly useful for capturing wireless network traffic.

Reading wireshark packet capture