Zeek
Zeek is a network analysis framework that turns raw traffic into rich, structured logs (connections, DNS, HTTP, TLS and more) for hunting and forensics.
Legal & ethical use. Use this tool only on systems, networks and data that you own or have explicit written permission to test. Unauthorised access or scanning can break computer-misuse laws (for example Pakistan's Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and equivalents elsewhere). Practise in your own lab or in authorised environments such as CTFs.
What it is used for
- Create searchable logs of all connections on a monitored network segment
- Run a pcap through Zeek to summarise an incident
Key features
- Protocol-aware logs
- Scriptable analysis language
- Works on live traffic or pcap files
Installation
See the Zeek documentation (Getting Started / Installing Zeek) for packages and build instructions.
Beginner usage guide
Run Zeek on a pcap in an empty directory; it writes logs such as conn.log and dns.log which you can read with zeek-cut or load into a SIEM.
Example commands
Run these only against your own lab or authorised targets. Placeholder addresses such as 192.0.2.x are documentation ranges.
Analyse a capture file
zeek -r capture.pcapReads the pcap offline and writes log files (conn.log, dns.log, http.log…) in the current directory.
References
Source verification
Last reviewed: 2026-10-27
Links checked over HTTP: 2026-10-27 07:51 UTC — official: 200, docs: 200, repo: 200
Commands were written from the official documentation and have not been executed on this site; test them in your lab.