NetCap: A Packet Sniffer in Java
Rajan Parmar, Hetal P. Patel · 2011
A packet sniffer is a wiretap device that plugs into computer networks; unlike telephone circuits, computer networks are shared communication channels. Sharing means that computers can receive information that was intended for other machines (HUB). NetCap is a type of packet sniffer software that captures the network data as well as provides sufficient means for decision making process of administrator. This paper illustrates NetCap and its benefits over existing packet sniffers. NetCap is developed in Java totally as well as it consumes very less memory on the hard disk. It encompasses many functionalities like 3D pie chart statistics, possible malicious IP address detection, TCP flow graph, various coloring rules and filters that may be applied to the captured tabulated network data. It can be used for offline capture also for reading “pcap” file format. NetCap is developed in Java so it inherently contains the platform independence, but some functionalities may be applied in Windows only. The software contains a rich and easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI) as well as a help file to guide the novice user and help the expert user to exploit its functionalities fully