Wireshark
Noun · Security & Infosec · Origin: 1998
Definitions
The world's most widely used network protocol analyzer, allowing users to capture and interactively inspect network traffic down to the individual packet level. Formerly known as Ethereal.
In plain English: A tool that lets you see every piece of data flowing through a network, like tapping a phone line but for internet traffic.
Etymology
- 1998
- Gerald Combs releases Ethereal, a free network protocol analyzer, while working at an ISP in Kansas City
- 2006
- Ethereal is renamed Wireshark after Combs changes employers and cannot keep the Ethereal trademark
- 2010s
- Wireshark becomes the world's most widely used network analysis tool, a standard in both education and incident response