Driftnet

Driftnet: Network Traffic Capture Program

Driftnet is an open source program that captures network traffic images from Ethernet networks, detects and extracts images from network traffic, and displays them in a window on your screen.

What is Driftnet?

Driftnet is an open source software program that captures and extracts images from traffic on local Ethernet networks. It works by monitoring network traffic and reconstructing images transmitted over the network. To do this, it captures TCP traffic and looks for JPEG, GIF, and PNG data streams within the packets.

When Driftnet detects an image being transmitted, it reconstructs the image data and displays the image in a window on your screen in real-time. This allows you to view any images being transmitted over your local area network or Ethernet segment.

Driftnet does not decode encrypted network traffic so it mainly captures images from unencrypted HTTP web traffic. It works on Linux and relies on the libpcap packet capture library to capture network packets from network interfaces in promiscuous mode.

While Driftnet can be used legitimately by network administrators to troubleshoot and monitor unencrypted image traffic, its ability to surreptitiously view private network images also raises ethical issues regarding consent and privacy. Most security experts recommend encrypting all sensitive network traffic to prevent unauthorized viewing.

Driftnet Features

Official Links