Using a pre-master secret key to decrypt SSL and TLS See also: Wireshark Alternatives for packet sniffing When Wireshark is set up properly, it can decrypt SSL and restore your ability to view the raw data. SSL encryption makes using Wireshark more challenging because it prevents administrators from viewing the data that each relevant packet carries. Note: In this guide, I’ll mostly be referring to SSL as a catchall term for SSL and TLS, its successor. It uses various encryption methods to secure data as it moves across networks. SSL is an encryption protocol that operates on the Transport layer of the OSI model.

Using Wireshark, you can look at the traffic flowing across your network and dissect it, getting a peek inside of frames at the raw data. Specifically, it captures frames – the building blocks of packets – and lets you sort through and analyze them. Wireshark is a network traffic analyzer it’s a core utility that many administrators use to troubleshoot problems on their networks.

How Wireshark makes decrypting SSL traffic easy.

Using a pre-master secret key to decrypt SSL and TLS.

Ubiquitous encryption is a good thing if you’re shopping on Amazon, but it’s a real pain when you’re trying to administer a network.

In fact, most sites are using SSL or Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption to keep their users safe. If you’ve ever tried using Wireshark to monitor web traffic, you’ve probably run into a problem – a lot of it is encrypted transmissions.

Wireshark decrypt ssl data tab