Network Investigations: Forensic Analysis of Security Tools

This document provides an overview of NetSurveyor and NetStumbler, two tools used in network investigation. NetSurveyor is a network detection tool used for gathering information about nearby wireless access points and verifying network configurations, offering advantages such as powerful recording and informative data presentation through charts and graphs. Its disadvantages include the expense associated with data retrieval and the risk of accidental disclosure of important documents. NetStumbler, on the other hand, is a hacking tool used for searching open access points and actively probing wireless networks to collect vital information. While it can verify network configurations and detect locations with low coverage, it is easily identifiable by intrusion detection systems. The document concludes that understanding the advantages and disadvantages of both tools is crucial for network analysts and security professionals.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Tool used for Network Forensic Investigations...............................................................................2
NetSurveyor.................................................................................................................................2
Tool used by the hackers.................................................................................................................3
NetStumbler.................................................................................................................................3
Advantages of NetSurveyor.............................................................................................................3
Disadvantages of NetSurveyor........................................................................................................4
Advantages of NetStumbler.............................................................................................................4
Disadvantages of NetStumbler........................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The main aim of the study is to clearly understand about the tool NetSurveyor which is
used for Network Forensic Investigations and includes NetStumbler which is one of the hacking
tools specially used by the hackers. The study involves detailed study about both the tools
comprising its advantages and disadvantages.
Tool used for Network Forensic Investigations
NetSurveyor
Net Surveyor is a network detection tool which is responsible for gathering information
about the nearer access points within the wireless network and clearly shows various way which
are very much useful (Kalegele et al.,2015).While installing a wireless network NetSurveyor acts
as a support for the verification of network which is needed to be properly configured and
antennas placed at the places for achieving efficient and enhanced transfer.
This tool has the capability of informing the end users about the nearer network which
are mainly wireless in the real time. It is used for trouble shooting a network which pre-existed
within the wireless network which used to perform badly and it is also used as a tool for properly
detecting the rogue points of access presence.

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Tool used by the hackers
NetStumbler
NetStumbler is considered to be one of the popular tools of Windows capable of
searching open access points within the wireless networks. This tool is kept free of cost and
made available for Windows (Chandrika,2014). There is also an availability of another version
of this specific tool named MiniStumbler.
This tool is used for performing proper verification of several configurations within the
network, searching and detecting locations within a bad network. It is capable of actively probing
a wireless network for collection vital and very much usable information which is usually
performed by the hackers.
Advantages of NetSurveyor
NetSurveyor is considered to be one of the most trustworthy tool for detecting any
wireless network which has the capability of powerful and unique recording as well as logging. It
is responsible for producing very much useful information about the wireless points of access
which are available most nearly and displaying these information in a number of ways (Basu et
al.,2016). Apart from the capability of detecting the wireless networks, this investigation tool is
also responsible for allowing its end users for taking advantages of charts or graphs, thus
presenting data which are quite informative about the speed of the network.

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Disadvantages of NetSurveyor
The main disadvantage is the expense associated with the retrieval of data. Another
disadvantage may include the disclosure of important documents which may be done by the
analyst accidentally.
Advantages of NetStumbler
NetStumbler is responsible for verifying several configurations within the network,
detecting specific locations which has a low quality coverage in a wide local area network,
identifying the reasons for the interference within the network and identifying the access points
within the network which are unauthorized.
Disadvantages of NetStumbler
One of the major disadvantages of this forensic investigation tool is that it can easily be
identified by most of the intrusion system for detection within the wireless network as it collects
useful data and information by actively probing a network (Patil & Mahalle,2013).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that NetSurveyor is one of the major forensic investigation tool used
by the analyst for properly verifying the network and NetStumbler is a tool used by the hackers
to get access to much important personal information and data within a network. Both the tools
have advantages and disadvantages associated with them which are to be clearly understood.

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References
Basu, D., Gupta, G. S., Moretti, G., & Gui, X. (2016). Performance comparison of a new non-
RSSI based wireless transmission power control protocol with RSSI based methods:
experimentation with real world data. International Journal of Engineering and
Technology Innovation, 6(1), 30-54.
Chandrika, V. (2014). Ethical hacking: Types of ethical hackers. International Journal of
Emerging Technology in Computer Science & Electronics (IJETCSE), 11(1).
Kalegele, K., Sasai, K., Takahashi, H., Kitagata, G., & Kinoshita, T. (2015). Four decades of
data mining in network and systems management. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge &
Data Engineering, (1), 1-1.
Patil, D. S., & Mahalle, P. N. (2013). Using Multi-agent Sourcing Method for Detection and
Elimination of Rogue Access Points in WLAN-802. 11. International Journal of
Computer Applications, 67(25).

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