Aimwatch 0.9.1 beta review

Aimwatch is a packet sniffer designed to reconstruct AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ information by passively collecting packets from t

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 32K Developer: Bryan Schneiders

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Aimwatch is a packet sniffer designed to reconstruct AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ information by passively collecting packets from the network.

Here are some key features of "Aimwatch":
Messages and Chats
Buddylists
AIM Client details
Login information
Multiple connections sorted by IP or screenname
Full interpretted packet dissections of protocol data
Raw hex views of packets

Packets can be read live from the network or from a file saved in libpcap/tcpdump format. To be able to collect packets from connections between remote machines, you either have to be on a hub (non-switched) network, physically located between the IM client and server, or use other tools to redirect packets through your machine.

Currently this project requires a Linux operating system (or compatible), with the libpcap, libxml2 and GTK+ 2 libraries installed. I'll try to make a binary available with the next version. A text-only interface will be created in the future. A Windows port may also be made, but not this month.

The new design uses an XML file to describe the protocol. The file is read when the program is started and packets are dissected with a dynamic tree created in memory. This allows new packet dissection information to be added to the program without having to recompile or understand the source code.

Requirements:
GTK+2 libraries
libpcap library
libxml2 (for aimwatch 0.9 and later)

What's New in This Release:
Most features are functional now.
Nick coloring was just recently added.
The "Clear" feature was fixed.
Many dissections have been added to the OSCAR protocol data.