Snarfing

Snarfing is information theft or data manipulation in wireless, local networks (→ WLAN). The word "snarf" probably is a portmanteau from "snort" and "scarf" and derived as a rather malicious form of sniffing. It is also an extremely likely that the term was coined from cartoon characters in American pop-culture.

In the US-American animated television series Thundercats (1980's) and Trollz (2000's) there are animated characters named "Snarf". In Thundercats lore, "Snarf", an intelligent cat-like creature of the Snarf race, served as a loyal sidekick (mascot) to Lion-O and the other ThunderCats. While a snarf is incapable of evil, their virtuous attributes were outweighed by their penchant for being nosey and annoying (hence, one who "snarfs" is nosey and annoying). In Trollz lore, The Snarf usually is a neat, small dog with a very sensitive tracking nose, but it can turn into a cureless hungry monster, which is able to overcome large obstacles for foraging. I.e. a dog-like creature that is a "malicious sniffer".

Transferred to information technology, snarfing means that wireless devices are detected and then will be attacked by using vulnerabilities.

The "Snarfer" can simulate an internet exchange point by a man-in-the-middle attack for example and gather information or data. Snarfing occurred firstly at Bluetooth devices where the term bluesnarfing is in use. Snarfing can be made difficult drastically with appropriate security measures at hard- and software.

See also

* Bluejacking
* Podslurping

External links

* [http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/wifi-manager/help/alarms/intrusion-airsnarf-attack.html Airsnarf Attack]
* [http://airsnarf.shmoo.com/ Demonstration: A rogue access point setup utility]
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