WAN sniffing
In the complicated world of computers there are a lot of things that simple users are probably unaware of. Lost between multitudes of specialty terms, the basic computer users find it hard to understand a lot of the language and many terms remain mysteries for long periods of time. LAN, WAN, router, browser, packet, bandwidth are just some that we hear about every day and we become accustomed to them easily; however, the list does not stop there.
Have you ever heard of sniffing in terms of computer slang? The word is mostly used to describe a technique that involves internet browsers. Browser sniffing is what it is called and it is used to determine which browser a visitor of a web site is using. The technique helps in creating statistics that are used for marketing purposes or improvements to user interaction.
There is also a technique for network sniffing that involves WAN sniffing. Is WAN sniffing even possible (some of the more tech savvy would ask) and what is it exactly? The technique involves sniffing of data packets that are sent from a computer to a network and vice-versa; usually done to internet connections over cable WAN sniffing allows access to data packets or wide area networks.
The existence of this technique is somewhat controversial because the likeliness of someone sniffing out data packets over large networks is slim, involves a lot of work. Not only that but WAN sniffing is actually illegal because it involves a breach in security for a large network of interconnected computers.
When talking about this method it is more of a theoretical discussion since the implications of really doing sniffing on a WAN are not good. There are a lot of brilliant minds in computing that can and could access data packets over large WAN networks that would involve sniffing out data, but actually doing it is not permitted unless it is an urgent police matter.