If you live and breathe packet captures, speak fluent TCP/IP, or just love catching strange traffic in the act then the Wireshark Certified Analyst (WCA-101) exam might be your next big move.

Let’s break down what this exam covers, what skills it proves, and why passing it earns you serious street cred in the world of network analysis and cybersecurity.

📘 Exam Overview#

  • Exam Code: WCA-101
  • Number of Questions: 61
  • Formats: Multiple Choice, Matching, Fill-in-the-Blank
  • Time Allotted: 120 minutes

This isn’t your average checkbox quiz. You’ll need hands-on knowledge and a detective’s mindset.

🧠 What You’ll Be Certified To Do#

By the time you ace this exam, you’ll be able to:

  • Map how packets flow through networks like a digital cartographer.
  • Recognize the purpose of protocols from ARP to DNS to TCP like they’re old friends.
  • Break down packet headers and pinpoint crucial fields.
  • Use Wireshark like a precision tool to isolate and analyze issues.
  • Troubleshoot real-world network problems—from dropped connections to weird app behavior.
  • Flex advanced Wireshark features that most users never even touch.

🛠️ Deep Dive Into the Exam Objectives#

1. Wireshark Power-User Skills#

  • Open/save/export captures, use the “Follow TCP/UDP stream,” decode as, mark packets, and more.
  • Work with .pcap and .pcapng formats like a boss.
  • Build and read I/O graphs, analyze conversations, endpoints, and protocol hierarchies.
  • Understand the difference between captured data and Wireshark’s dissection.

2. Traffic Capture Techniques#

  • Choose the right capture method: TAPs, port mirroring, endpoint captures, or even multi-point.
  • Limit captures by size, duration, or packet count. Use ring buffers.
  • Capture via CLI tools and know when to use promiscuous vs monitor mode.

3. Filters: The Real Magic#

  • Know when to use Capture Filters vs Display Filters.
  • Use logical operators, create filter buttons, and work with filters built from endpoints/conversations.
  • Avoid common pitfalls, like expecting full conversations when your filters are incomplete.

4. Customizing the Wireshark Interface#

  • Tweak layouts, build custom profiles, add columns for troubleshooting efficiency.
  • Use coloring rules and conversation colorization to highlight what matters.
  • Understand protocol preferences and UI features that speed up your analysis game.

5. Protocol Dissection Mastery#

You’ll need to recognize, filter, and troubleshoot across:

  • Ethernet: MAC addresses, VLAN tags, Ethertypes
  • ARP: Broadcast vs unicast, request types
  • IPv4/IPv6: TTL, fragmentation, NAT considerations
  • ICMPv4/v6: Echo requests, neighbor discovery
  • UDP: Use in multicast/broadcast, stream IDs
  • DHCP: The DORA process, options, and APIPA
  • DNS: Records, requests, and filtering by domain
  • TCP: Three-way handshakes, flags, retransmissions, window scaling, and more

6. Troubleshooting Like a Pro#

  • Infer topology from captures.
  • Analyze TCP sequence numbers, handshake issues, retransmissions.
  • Identify latency, RTT problems, and poor performance in HTTP/SMB/SQL.
  • Detect network problems with just ARP/DHCP/ICMP behavior.

🧑‍💻 Built By Experts, For Experts#

The exam isn’t theoretical fluff. Its content is crafted by the developers behind Wireshark and industry veterans people who use the tool daily to solve real problems. This means everything you study directly maps to real-world skills.

💡 Final Thoughts#

If you’re the go-to person when something “weird” happens on the network or want to be that’s your sign to take the plunge. The Wireshark Certified Analyst badge isn’t just a trophy; it’s proof you know your packets, protocols, and performance metrics better than most.

Now grab that capture filter, fire up the interface, and start training.

🔗 Learn More#

Ready to dive deeper? Visit the official certification page for more details: https://www.wireshark.org/certifications

📡 The packets are waiting.