112-52 · Question #8
What is the primary purpose of packet sniffing in a network security context?
The correct answer is B. To monitor and analyze network traffic. Packet sniffing is a technique used to capture and inspect data packets as they travel across a network, making B the correct answer - it is fundamentally a monitoring and analysis tool used for troubleshooting, security auditing, and detecting malicious traffic. Options A, C, an
Question
What is the primary purpose of packet sniffing in a network security context?
Options
- ATo increase the bandwidth of the network
- BTo monitor and analyze network traffic
- CTo enhance the speed of network packet transmission
- DTo distribute network traffic evenly across the network
How the community answered
(27 responses)- A4% (1)
- B89% (24)
- C7% (2)
Explanation
Packet sniffing is a technique used to capture and inspect data packets as they travel across a network, making B the correct answer - it is fundamentally a monitoring and analysis tool used for troubleshooting, security auditing, and detecting malicious traffic. Options A, C, and D describe network performance functions (bandwidth expansion, speed optimization, and load balancing respectively) - none of which involve examining packet content, which is the defining characteristic of sniffing. Tools like Wireshark are classic examples: they passively observe traffic without altering how it flows or how fast it moves.
Memory tip: Think of a "sniffer" like a wiretap - it listens and records, it doesn't control or speed up anything. If the answer choices mention performance or distribution, those belong to routers and load balancers, not sniffers.
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