hping: More network novelty

Once again I clamber into vague territory with hping, a tool whose web page describes it as a packet assembler and analyzer, with the ability to send files, traceroute and handle a lot of different protocols.

Most of which is Greek to me. I got a little traction with the help of a few obscure howto pages tacked up to the Internet, but network security is not my strong point.

I can see what hping is doing and I understand that in some cases, no response means the target is there and listening, but I’m not an expert by any stretch.

There are three versions of hping, as I understand it: the original, a rewrite and a third that offers some scripting support.

Which one you use will depend on your distro and your level of expertise, I imagine. This is quite a bit more complex than just the old fashioned ping tool. Be prepared.

And that’s all I’ll say for now. A person’s got to know their limitations. 😐