A packet princess is a cyber security engineer who talks a big game but hides their lack of any fundamental skills or knowledge through theatrics and hysterics. A tell-tale sign of a packet princess is having the free time to consistently be the first to "find" the latest cyber security related articles on Reddit or Twitter. Another sign of a packet princess is celebrating as significant the discovery of knowledge that is common. The term should not be lightly used, and reserved for those whose ego and delusions of grandeur surpass all other coworkers.
"Looks like packet princess discovered grep today, talked about it for 30 minutes"
"Does packet princess actually do anything other than refresh Krebs on Security all day?"
"Packet princess hasn't talked to me in a month. They are still angry I saw them reading a tutorial on exceptions after I told them they should add exception handling to that script."
A computer program designed to intercept and analyze network traffic, enabling users to capture and inspect data packets flowing across a network (i.e. internet). People use packet sniffers for troubleshooting, network analysis, but more often than not it is used for unauthorized purposes such as eavesdropping and gathering sensitive information on an unsecured network (think public WiFi hotspots). Popular packet sniffer programs include Wireshark, Tcpdump and Snort.
Concerned about his roommate's secretive behavior, Mark decided to employ a packet sniffer program on their shared Wi-Fi network, hoping to uncover any hidden online activities or personal information being intercepted without consent.
Pet name for packet sniffing software like Wireshark or TCPDump by network professionals. Because it allows them to view raw packet data; which can often yield a packet high.