What is the purpose of SYN packet?

The SYN packet is part of the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) three-way handshake used to establish a reliable connection between a client and server. It signals the initiation of a connection by requesting a session and includes the initial sequence number for the connection. Upon receiving a SYN packet, the server responds with a SYN-ACK packet to acknowledge the request, followed by the client sending an ACK packet to complete the handshake. This process ensures that both parties are synchronized and ready for data transmission.