USBTrace 3.0.1.82

Overview

USBTrace is software to capture traffic that is traveling over USB ports, host controllers, hubs and USB devices. The software will sniff out traffic that is flowing over various USB transport methods whether it is USB 1.x, 2.0 or the latest 3.0 USB standard.

The software allows for capturing data and exporting the captured data to select file types. The capturing can be always running in the background of the target terminal or standalone PC. The capture can handle high-speed USB communications supported by the latest 3.0 USB standard without an issues.

USB devices can be successfully identified in order to use device enumeration to capture data from specific devices like a USB hub, USB hard drive or USB flash drive specifically.

The software supports USB hubs, Bluetooth USB dongles, mass storage options, audio and video. Images can be captured that are being transferred from memory cards, digital cameras, smartphones or tablets.

Installation

The software requires 24.3 MB of available space. Installation went smoothly.

No malicious toolbar, adware or malware was included with the setup package.

USBTrace requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit supported).

Interface

The user interface is clean and clear.

There is a menu at the top with menu options for File, Capture, Log, View and Help. Below this are small, difficult to identify, toolbar buttons for quick access to key commands without needing to hunt through the menus each time to find them.

The USB Viewing pane sits to the left side with two interior navigation tabs for Device View and Driver View. Highly specific USB, device and descriptor information is displayed to the right of this pane.

An Additional Information pane sits below the USB Viewing pane. This has its own interior navigation tabs for Info, IRP, Stack and USB with a detailed viewer to the right which displays what is in the buffer for a selected item.

Pros

• Captures many types of USB communications successfully that are travelling across USB host controllers and hubs, and USB devices.
• Works with USB 1.x, 2.0 and 3.0 standards
• Capture data traffic by USB device stack and unique identifier
• Save analysis to HTML, XML, CSV or text file
• Decodes class-specific USB requests/descriptors (hub, Bluetooth, storage, video, audio, digital camera, smart card, etc.)
• Background continuous filtering and monitoring

Cons

• None.

Conclusion

USBTrace is an efficient way to monitor what information, files and other data is traveling across USB controllers and USB devices. There is enough detail here for investigators to drill down to the nitty-gritty and export data reports for subsequent detailed review.