Network Traffic Analysis utilizing Wireshark

In this CYSE 301 Lab #2, I used Wireshark to capture and analyze network traffic between my virtual machines in a controlled lab environment. I worked with several types of traffic, including ICMP, DNS, and FTP, and used packet filters to isolate specific communications, identify source and destination IP addresses, and examine how different protocols behaved on the network.

One of the more useful parts of the lab involved analyzing FTP traffic. I connected to an FTP server, captured the packets during the login process, and used Wireshark to view the plain text information being transmitted. Since FTP does not encrypt its traffic, I was able to see how information sent between systems could be captured and read in plain text. This gave me a practical example of why insecure protocols can create security risks on a network. Through experience I knew this already but the course instructor opened my eyes to different filters within Wireshark to achieve the same goal.

The lab also gave me more practice using Wireshark filters to narrow down traffic based on protocol, source, and destination, which made it easier to understand what was happening between individual systems rather than looking at an entire packet capture at once.

View the full CYSE 301 Wireshark Lab below.

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