Npcap Celebrates its 10th Anniversary In Space!

[Gordon Fyodor Lyon <fyodor () nmap org>]

Dear Nmap community,

Last month we celebrated Nmap's 26th birthday and today I'm happy to share
another big milestone: Our Npcap driver for capturing and sending raw
packets on Windows turned 10 this year! From humble beginnings as a
security and modernization patch for the discontinued WinPcap project,
Npcap has become an indispensable component for both Nmap and Wireshark.
And it's used by hundreds of other software products and companies as part
of our Npcap OEM program (https://npcap.com/oem). That program sustains
Npcap and bolsters Nmap as well.

The applications of Npcap continue to surprise and inspire us. One standout
moment was receiving a note from NASA detailing how they utilize Npcap in
space! In brief, NASA operates two pivotal instruments on the ISS for
monitoring X-ray transmissions: MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image)
performs broad sky surveys, whereas NICER (Neutron star Interior
Composition ExploreR) can focus on individual neutron stars. Previously,
when MAXI detected transient cosmic events, the data would make a
time-consuming round trip to Earth, often causing NICER to miss the event's
peak moments. Enter the aptly named OHMAN project (On-orbit Hookup of MAXI
And NICER), which integrates the two telescopes. By employing Npcap to
facilitate communication and by automating certain analyses, NICER can
promptly investigate these cosmic anomalies.

The new system was connected last year and it's working!  NASA reports that
last October 9, "Astronomers around the world [were] captivated by an
unusually bright and long-lasting pulse of high-energy radiation that swept
over Earth...The emission came from a gamma-ray burst (GRB) – the most
powerful class of explosions in the universe."  OHMAN provided an automated
alert which allowed NICER to quickly focus in.  According to NASA "The
signal, originating from the direction of the constellation Sagitta, had
traveled an estimated 1.9 billion years to reach Earth. Astronomers think
it represents the birth cry of a new black hole, one that formed in the
heart of a massive star collapsing under its own weight."

NASA posted more great photos and details here:
https://www.nasa.gov/universe/nasas-swift-fermi-missions-detect-exceptional-cosmic-blast/

My inner geek is almost as excited as when Trinity used Nmap in The Matrix
:).

So with that navel gazing out of the way, let's get to the release
announcement!

Though the last Npcap update shared here was Version 1.71 in September,
we've been busy with six subsequent releases. They include many performance
improvements, feature enhancements, and bug fixes that you can read about
at https://npcap.com/changelog.  As always, you can download the free
version at https://npcap.com.  Npcap is compatible with all
Microsoft-supported Windows versions and architectures. Software developers
can also access the latest Npcap SDK Version 1.13 there.  Organizations
wishing to redistribute Npcap or automate internal deployments with a
silent installer can learn about Npcap OEM at https://npcap.com/oem.

While Npcap has become hugely successful in its own right, we created it
for Nmap and that is still our top focus.  We are the Nmap Project, after
all!  And the next big Nmap announcement is coming soon.

Sincerely,
Gordon "Fyodor" Lyon
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