Promiscuous Mode (Packet sniffing)
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Promiscuous Mode (Packet sniffing)

A networked computer that is 'listening' to all the traffic on the network rather than just the traffic intended for it, is said to be in 'promiscuous mode'. The act itself is often called 'packet sniffing'.

Hackers will attempt to compromise a weakly secured computer on a network in order to install a packet sniffer. This is a tool that puts the computer into promiscuous mode and then monitors and can record all the traffic on the network. From the information gathered from the computer in promiscuous mode, the hacker will then seek to compromise the rest of the network.

Note that packet sniffers also have a valuable and legitimate role computer security.

One of the problems for the security manager is that it is not always easy to tell if a remote computer has been put into promiscuous mode.