WinPcap

Common networking applications only need sockets and other standard elements of an operating system to access network data. The operating system manages protocol handling and packet reassembly so that ongoing traffic can easily be read by applications.

WinPcap is the direct packet access standard for the Windows operating system. It establishes an individual raw network data connection for programs like protocol analyzers, network analyzers, network scanners, traffic generators, network intrusion detection systems, and many other security utilities.

The network analysis and packet capture software serve as a device driver on the system. This driver is found in the network component of the Windows kernel, along with DLLs, which make the programming interface easy to exploit for the categories talked about above.

Dynamic libraries are included with the application. They generate a series of individual functions for the system which can be used to obtain a list of network adapters that are available. They can also obtain detailed data about specific adapters and find current packets over a Network Interface Card. These packets can be saved and sent by it too. In addition, packet filters can be created for certain packet sets.

WinPcap can help certain programs function properly, including Free HTTP Sniffer, nTop, Snort, Nmap, and Wireshark. This software contains the facilities needed to obtain raw packets that go through the network adapters available and the adapters in which other computers exchange. The packets can also be filtered by implementing user-defined rules. Other things you can do include gathering statistical data on current traffic and releasing raw packet data to the network.

WinPcap is different than personal firewalls, Quality of Service Schedulers, and traffic shapers because its goal is to find packets that move along the network. Because of this, it cannot control or block generated traffic on the same system brought there by other applications.

The tool is necessary for advanced network analysis and monitoring tools which sniff out packets in a network. If you spend a lot of time working within this category of software, then you’ll need Win Pcap right away.