Penetration Testing mailing list archives

Re: Small hardware network sniffer - does it exist?


From: Rogan Dawes <discard () dawes za net>
Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:56:48 -0600

Petr.Kazil () eap nl wrote:
I have ordered a few hardware keyloggers to play with
(http://www.keelog.com/) and I was wondering if the same idea exists for
networks?
A device that you could tape under a desk, and that would act as a
transparant bridge, sniffing all traffic.

I know that you can use arp-spoofing to get a similar result (easier,
better?), and I know about hardware network taps.
But I'm still interested in the theoretical possibilities of this idea.

I have a few old laptops, but these have just one PCMCIA network card, so
bridging is not possible (well, with the right kind of network cards you
can get two in that  slot - I'll see if you can still buy them). But
laptops are too big and heavy.

I've looked at microcontrollers with ethernet adapters, but here I find
webserver appliances with just one network interface. They're small but I'm
not sure if you could run an OS and a sniffer on them. I've looked at
miniboards but they are very expensive, too expensive for "just a toy".

But, considering that you can get a 2-cigarette-pack sized Pix-firewall,
such hardware must exist. But I haven't found the right keywords yet. Any
ideas?

Greetings, Petr Kazil

This looks like the answer to your question - I can't really imagine anything smaller!

http://www.arxceo.com/

And

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS2860172381.html

The Yoggie will supposedly also support an SDIO wireless card, so you can bridge and snoop AND get remote access at the same time.

Regards,

Rogan

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