Network Forensics: Detecting Indicators of Compromise in PCAPs
Every packet that crosses your network is a piece of evidence. Every TCP handshake, every DNS query, every HTTP request, every authentication attempt — all of it is recorded in the packet stream, waiting to be read by someone who knows how to look. Wireshark is that reader. It turns raw network traffic into something legible, layered, and investigable — and it is the single most important tool for understanding what is actually happening on a network rather than what you assume is happening.
In this Zero Trust Lab episode, we cover packet analysis from first principles through advanced attack detection. We explain how packets work at the OSI model level, how Wireshark captures and displays them, how display filters and BPF capture filters narrow the analysis to exactly the traffic you need, and how tcpdump and NetworkMiner complement Wireshark for command-line capture and passive forensics respectively. Most importantly, we cover what actual attack traffic looks like in a packet capture — port scan signatures, ARP poisoning, cleartext credential transmission, C2 beacon patterns, and DNS anomalies — so that SOC analysts and security engineers can identify indicators of compromise in real network captures.
Topics covered:
— How packets work: OSI model layers and encapsulation
— Wireshark interface: capture pane, packet list, packet details, byte view
— Capture filters (BPF syntax) vs. display filters — when to use each
— Essential Wireshark display filters reference for security analysis
— Follow TCP Stream and Follow UDP Stream for protocol reconstruction
— Protocol statistics and conversation analysis
— tcpdump: command-line packet capture and BPF filter syntax
— NetworkMiner: passive network forensics and credential extraction
— What attack traffic looks like: port scans, ARP poisoning, cleartext credentials, C2 beacons
— Working with PCAP files: capture analysis for incident response
— Zero Trust encrypted traffic analysis and the TLS inspection consideration
— CEH exam alignment for network sniffing domain
— Legal and ethical framework for packet capture
All packet capture on networks you own and are authorized to monitor. Practice with public PCAP repositories for authorized analysis training.
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#Wireshark
#PacketAnalysis
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#tcpdump
#CEH
#ZeroTrust
#NetworkForensics
#PCAP
#SOCAnalyst
#ZeroTrustLab
#ProtocolAnalysis
#EthicalHacking
#NetworkMiner
#ThreatHunting
#InfoSec