Promiscuous Mode

The promiscuous mode (English as " permissive mode " ) refers to a specific receive mode for network technical devices.

In this mode, the device reads all incoming traffic to the connected in this mode network interface and returns the data for processing to the operating system on.

Devices that use this mode can be combinations of switch and router, network tester or even normal computer with a connection to a network.

In wireless LANs in promiscuous mode only the packets of the network ( access points) are forwarded to which the client is currently connected. Since making a connection to the network usually goes hand in hand with an authentication, the promiscuous mode is not suitable to capture packets from a network to which you have no direct access.

The opposite of this mode, the non- promiscuous mode dar. In this mode, the unit processed only addressed to himself packets, which happens for example in Ethernet networks via the evaluation of the MAC address plus broadcast packets.

Promiscuous mode in switched networks

In networks that are formed by switches, the promiscuous mode for espionage is useless, since normally only the designated packets are routed to each device.