Does the “Stealth” method mean that WebHogs is “up to no good?
Quite to the contrary. First, some background. “Stealth” refers to methods of port scanning which may be less likely to be detected by the “target” computer systems. WebHogs, which uses the RandScan engine was designed to use stealth-type methods because they were created to be research tools which should not be intrusive or disruptive. What kind of research? Most people are familiar with survey research which is used in serious academic work and in opinion polls often reported in the media. The key concept here is “random sampling” so that an estimation of the population parameter can be reliably stated (please see a statistics book). Now. What is the “good?” The random sampling was implemented for research purposes. It has the added result that use of the programs will almost certainly not be intrusive since the odds of any one host being “interviewed” twice are extremely low. The wonderful internet infrastructure was created in great part through research and development. Now that i
