About the device
The Hardware Packet Sniffer (HPS) is a small, low-cost DIY packet sniffer meant to be used for penetration testing. When this device is plugged into an Ethernet port it will sniff packets and send them all to an IP address of your choosing. It is built from only two integrated circuits, an RJ45 socket, and a AA battery. It is very small, so it might easily be overlooked while performing its task.
About the authors
Ian G. Harris is currently an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California Irvine. He received his BS degree in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990. He received his MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of California San Diego in 1992 and 1997 respectively. He was a member of the faculty in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1997 until June 2003. His field of interest includes validation of hardware systems to ensure that the behavior of the system matches the intentions of the designer. He also investigates the application of testing for computer security. His group's security work includes testing software applications for security vulnerabilities and designing special-purpose hardware to detect intrusions on-line.
Veronica Swanson is an Undergraduate Student at the University of California at Irvine going into her junior year studying Mechanical Engineering. She is interested in the marriage of hardware and software systems and hopes to use her knowledge of mechanical systems and programming to work in the field of robotics. Already she has been involved in several projects requiring a functioning knowledge of embedded systems and mechanical and electronic fabrication skills.
Randy Harper is a third year Computer Science and Engineering Undergraduate student at the University of California Irvine. His interests include software development for computer networking, computer vision, and embedded computer systems. He has participated in and developed software for computer vision and embedded systems projects.