Student Creates Lightweight Wireshark Alternative "Vanta" as Response to Academic Freedom Challenges

An undergraduate student has released Vanta, a lightweight network packet analyzer built in Go, positioning it as both a learning project and a personal response to global academic freedom challenges. The tool aims to provide a simpler alternative to Wireshark for basic network analysis tasks.

Project Statistics:

• Language: Go (100%)
• License: Apache 2.0
• GitHub Stars: 120
• Forks: 3
• Development Environment: macOS 15.5 (Apple Silicon)
• Go Version: 1.23.0 with toolchain go1.24.3

Community Debates Project Naming Choice

The most heated discussion in the community centers around the project's name. Many users quickly pointed out that Vanta is already the name of a well-known cybersecurity company that provides compliance management services. This has led to concerns about potential trademark conflicts and user confusion.

I just assumed Vanta (the company) was doing a Show HN today and was confused at first glance.

Some community members have suggested playful alternatives like babyshark - a reference to both the smaller scale of the project compared to Wireshark and the popular children's song. Others have proposed more practical solutions, such as adding a prefix to differentiate the project.

Technical Implementation Draws Mixed Reactions

The project's technical approach has sparked interesting discussions among developers. Built entirely in Go, Vanta focuses on protocol-level parsing for HTTP, DNS, and TLS, with automatic connection tracking and JSON output formatting. The tool is designed to be portable with no external dependencies.

Several experienced developers have shared their own experiences building similar tools. Some praised Go as an excellent choice for network analysis tools due to its cross-compilation capabilities and ability to produce static binaries. Others suggested that implementing custom protocol parsers from scratch, rather than using existing libraries, would provide better learning value for understanding low-level networking concepts.

Supported Protocols:

• HTTP parsing and analysis
• DNS query/response tracking
• TLS with partial fingerprinting
• Bidirectional flow reconstruction
• JSON-formatted output export

Educational Value Recognized Despite Concerns

Despite the naming controversy, many community members have acknowledged the educational merit of the project. The author's motivation - creating something meaningful as a response to academic pressures - has resonated with some users, though others found the writing style somewhat artificial.

The project structure includes modules for packet capture, protocol decoding, and behavior exporting, making it a comprehensive example for students learning network programming. However, one commenter humorously noted the challenge of avoiding the security vulnerabilities that have historically plagued Wireshark's parsers.

Project Structure:

• main.go - Main entry point
• capture.json - Example input file
• internal/core/ - Packet capture and flow reassembly
• internal/decoder/ - Protocol decoders
• internal/fuzz/ - Fuzzing module (experimental)
• internal/export/ - Behavior exporting logic
• usage/ - Usage documentation (Chinese)

Conclusion

While Vanta faces immediate challenges around its naming choice, the project represents a solid educational exercise in network programming. The community's mixed reaction highlights both the technical merit of creating specialized tools and the practical considerations of naming and positioning open-source projects. Whether the author will address the naming concerns remains to be seen, but the project has already served its purpose as a learning vehicle and personal statement.

Reference: lixiasky/vanta