When dealing with short-range wireless protocols utilized by many IoT devices, passive eavesdropping is a common initial attack vector. This technique allows the penetration tester to acquire a deep understanding of the communication patterns and encryption keys in use without alerting the system to their presence. By learning about the security mechanisms in play discreetly, more advanced and targeted attacks can be designed. Attempting to brute-force the key may be ineffective and alert administrators due to multiple failed attempts. Similarly, sniffing may only capture information while active transmission is taking place and could potentially be logged or noticed. Replay attacks require specific transaction conditions and timing, and modern devices often have measures in place such as timestamps and unique transaction identifiers to mitigate such threats.