Ping sweep explained

In computing, a ping sweep is a method that can establish a range of IP addresses which map to live hosts.

The classic tool used for ping sweeps is,^{[1] [2]} which traditionally was accompanied by to generate the list of hosts for large subnets, although more recent versions of include that functionality.^[3] Well-known tools with ping sweep capability include nmap for Unix and Windows systems, and the Pinger software from Rhino9 for Windows NT.^{[4] [5]} There are many other tools with this capability, including:^{[1] [5]} Hping, IEA's aping, Simple Nomad's ICMPEnum, SolarWind's Ping Sweep, and Foundstone's SuperScan. There is also a ping sweep tool for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS called Fing made by Overlook Soft.

Pings can be detected by protocol loggers like .^[2]

Notes and References

1. Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray, George Kurtz, Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, Edition 6, McGraw Hill Professional, 2009,, pp. 44 - 51
2. Teo, Lawrence (December, 2000). Network Probes Explained: Understanding Port Scans and Ping Sweeps, Linux Journal
3. Mike Shema, Chris Davis, Anti-hacker tool kit, Edition 3, McGraw Hill Professional, 2006,, pp. 403 - 406
4. Stuart McClure and Joel Scambray, An arsenal of attack tools is an essential part of any strong security defense, InfoWorld, Jul 24, 2000, Vol. 22, No. 30, ISSN 0199-6649, p. 59
5. Susan Elizabeth Young, Dave Aitel, The hacker's handbook: the strategy behind breaking into and defending Networks, CRC Press, 2004,, p. 75