Network tap

Imagine you have a lemonade stand that sells lemonade to your neighbors. Your mom wants to make sure that you are doing a good job and not wasting any of the money she loaned you. So, she sets up two cups with a straw in between them. Every time you pour a cup of lemonade, it goes through the straw and into the cup on the other side. That cup is like a network tap.

In a computer network, there are lots of different devices and information that travel from one place to another. A network tap works like the straw in the cups, watching and recording all the information that goes through the network.

It is used by people who want to monitor what's happening on their network, like IT professionals and cybersecurity experts. They can use a network tap to see all the data that's being sent and received, to identify any problems, and to improve the performance of the network.

Network taps can also be used for security purposes. Someone who wants to access the network without permission would have to get around the network tap first to do so. This makes it harder for them to spy on the data that's being sent through the network.

Overall, a network tap is like a helpful tool that helps watch and control the flow of data in a computer network.