what does ethreal do?

I am just wondering what data does the ethreal captures? Is it just the amount of data that flows in the internal networks or it does capture the data on internet as well. Does it keep the trace of amazon or ebay passorwd ? hotmail yahoo and other chattings?

What is ethreal for? Well I have installed one and I do analyse the traffic and data but I don't know anyhing beside that, I don't know the purpose and why I am doing I just know I am network student.

Any help , so that i could spend more time on that.

Maybe you should ask what an AO Search Engine does or a gander at a Google Search on Packet Sniffing

To answer your questions:

1. ethereal captures whatever packets it sees
2. yes and no. if you are connected to a lan then you'll see whatever your network card sees on the lan. if you are conncted directly to the internet then you'll see whatever passes by the NIC there. Note: look up promicuous for more info.
3. trace? what do you mean "trace"?
4. encrypted versions
5. From ethereal's website: Ethereal is used by network professionals around the world for troubleshooting, analysis, software and protocol development, and education

Start learning how to do research.

Ethereal captures every packet available to it on the network. It then decodes every packet it can, (it can't do encrypted packets), and presents them to you in a human readable form. It can apply filters at capture or at display so you can zero in on specific traffic you are interested in. Used properly is can be an extrememly powerful tool for network analysis etc.

[Edit]

Ms. M:

Ya know, sometimes I think you do that on purpose.... Just to peeve me.... ;)

[/Edit]

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Tiger Shark

Ms. M:
Ya know, sometimes I think you do that on purpose.... Just to peeve me.... ;)

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Of course she does :D