security mask

Top 15 Ethical Hacking tools

by

Top 15 Ethical Hacking Tools

Excerpt: Every day, new tools and techniques are introduced into the market, allowing industries and business sectors to grow at a rapid pace. However, while there are many benefits to these advancements, they also bring with them some threats and vulnerabilities. Therefore which many hacking tools are available to test such things?

Introduction: 

With the introduction of automated tools, the world of ethical hacking and penetration testing has changed dramatically. The Internet is now dominated by automated tools; users can discover a few to help their social networks grow. Moreover, hacking has progressed as well.

Hacking tools are software programs that are used to find and exploit flaws in computer networks, web services, servers, and networks. One particular in comparison to times when hacking tools were not available, hacking tools can make the job of hackers much easier. Many tools are presently being developed to help speed up the testing process. Ethical hacking aids businesses in better safeguarding their data and systems.

A few of the tools are open-source, whereas others are used by large corporations for business reasons. Today, we’ll look at the most effective ethical hacking tools used by today’s security experts.

You can get this course Ethical Hacking Training available online to gain expertise in Cyber Security and SIEM Courses to advance your career in the direction of Ethical Hacking.

 

What do we understand by Ethical Hacking?

An authorized attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer system, utilization, or data is referred to as ethical hacking data. A part of having to carry out an ethical hack is replicating the policies and tactics of malicious actors. This practice aids in the detection of security flaws, which can then be addressed before a malicious attacker has a chance to exploit them.

Ethical hackers look for weaknesses in a system or network that cybercriminals can manipulate or destroy. They gather and analyze data in order to determine how to improve the system’s, network’s, and application’s security. They could indeed increase the security footprint in this way, allowing it to better endure or divert attacks.

 

Top 15 Ethical Hacking Tools-

  • NMAP( Network Mapper):

Nmap stands for Network Mapper and is an open-source tool. It’s primarily used for network discovery and security auditing. Nmap was designed to search network systems, but it can also be used to scan single hosts. The best hacking tool ever is used in port scanning and is one of the phases of ethical hacking. Nmap was originally developed as a command-line tool, but it was later ported to Linux and Unix-based operating systems, and a Windows version is now available.

 

It’s great for keeping track of service update routines, network inventory, and monitoring hosts. Nmap examines raw IP packets to discover available hosts on a network, the services they provide, their operating systems, and firewalls they employ, among other things. Because the script is extensible, this can discern advanced vulnerabilities and make adjustments to network conditions like overcrowding and delay while scanning.

 

  • Acunetix:

One such fully automated ethical hacking tool detects and reports on over 4500 web vulnerabilities, including all XSS and SQL Injection variants. Acunetix can audit complex authenticated applications using JavaScript, HTML5, and single-page applications. Acunetix is an automatic tool used by ethical hackers to block malicious intruders from gaining unauthorized access. It performs the function of a security scanner. One amongst acunetix’s features would be that-

 

  • It can detect cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and over 4000 other vulnerabilities.
  • It can also detect vulnerabilities in the WordPress core, themes, and plugins.
  • It is both quick and scalable.
  • It is available both on-premises and in the cloud.
  • To resolve issues in the SDLC, can incorporate issue trackers.

 

  • Metasploit:

Metasploit seems to be an open-source cyber-security initiative that allows information security professionals to use a variety of penetration testing tools to find remote software flaws. It also serves as a development platform for exploit modules. Rapid7’s Metasploit is among the most potent exploit tools on the market. It is available in both a commercial and a free version, with resources available at www.metasploit.com. Metasploit can be accessed via a web interface or a command prompt. Metasploit Framework is a Ruby-based framework that makes it simple to create, test, and execute exploits. Its Features include-

 

  • Basic penetration tests on subnetworks should be carried out.
  • Import scanned data and determine the network’s location.
  • Execute on-the-spot checks to see if vulnerabilities can be exploited.
  • Individual exploits can be run on hosts, and exploit modules can be browsed.

 

  • Wireshark:

Wireshark is a free open-source network traffic analyzer that can be used in real-time. Wireshark is well-known for its ability to detect security issues in any network, including its effectiveness in resolving general networking issues, thanks to its sniffing innovation. Wireshark is a powerful tool for analyzing data packets and performing in-depth inspections of a wide range of protocols. You can save the results of your analysis in a variety of file formats, including CSV, PostScript, Plaintext, and XML. Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that runs on all major platforms, such as Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.

 

  • Rich VoIP analysis with a powerful GUI
  • Gzip files are inspected and decompressed.
  • Sniffer Pro, tcpdump (libpcap), Microsoft network monitor, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, and other capture file formats are supported.
  • Networking, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, and FDDI are all supported ports and network devices.

 

  • SaferVPN:

SaferVPN is a beneficial, ethical hacking tool that checks targets across different geographies, simulates unauthorized browser access, and allows for anonymous file transfers, among other things. SaferVPN has a lot of features, for example.

 

  • With over 2000 servers worldwide, you can expect lightning-fast service.
  • VPN is highly secure and anonymous, and there is no need to log in.
  • Allow for up to 5 simultaneous logins and split tunneling.
  • It doesn’t keep any information.
  • Customer service is available around the clock.
  • Windows, Android, Linux, Mac, iPhone, and other operating systems are all supported.
  • There are over 300,000 IP addresses in the world.
  • P2P protection, devoted IO, and port transmitting are all features available.

 

  • Maltego:

Maltego is a connection analysis and data mining software. Maltego CE, the free Community version; Maltego Classic, which costs $999; Maltego XL, which costs $1999; and server products such as Comms, CTAS, and ITDS, which also start at $40000. Maltego excels at working with extremely large graphs.

 

It has the following features:

 

  • Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X are all supported.
  • Performs real-time data mining and information gathering.
  • Displays produce graphics that are simple to read.

 

  • NetSparker:

Netsparker is just an ethical hacking tool that resembles a hacker’s movements to find vulnerabilities in web applications and web APIs such as SQL Injection and Cross-site Scripting.

 

Netsparker validates the identified vulnerabilities in a unique way, ensuring that they are genuine and not false positives, so you don’t have to waste hours manually verifying the vulnerabilities after a scan is completed. It’s available as both a desktop application and an online service.

 

The following are some of the features:

 

  • It’s available as a web-based service or as a piece of Windows software.
  • Verifies identified vulnerabilities in a unique way, demonstrating that they are genuine and not false positives.
  • Eliminates the need for manual verification, saving time.

 

  • Cain and Abel:

Cain and Abel is a tool for recovering Microsoft Operating System passwords. It uses brute-force, dictionary, and cryptanalysis attacks to reveal password fields, sniff networks, recover MS Access passwords, and break encrypted passwords. Professional penetration testers and security experts will find it extremely useful. It recovers passwords using a variety of methods, including-

 

  • Sniffing the internet.
  • Encrypted passwords are encoded using Brute-force, Dictionary, and other similar techniques, and wireless network keys are regenerated.
  • Passwords that have been scrambled,
  • revealing password boxes by identifying passwords stored in cache memory.

 

  • Aircrack- Ng:

As the popularity of wireless networks grows, it’s more important than ever to keep Wi-Fi secure. Aircrack-Ng provides a set of command-line tools for checking and evaluating Wi-Fi network security to ethical hackers. Assault, tracking, testing, and cracking are all activities that Aircrack-Ng is dedicated to. Windows, OS X, Linux, eComStation, 2Free BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris are all supported by the tool.

 

It has the following features:

 

  • Text files can be created from the data. It can crack WEP and WPA2-PSK keys, as well as check Wi-Fi cards.
  • Multiple platforms are supported.

 

  • GFI Languard:

GFI LanGuard is very much an ethical hacking tool that is primarily used to find network flaws. When necessary, it also serves as a virtual security consultant. GFI LanGuard has a number of features, including:

 

  • Keeping a secure network and analyzing network changes are two important tasks.
  • Before an attack, patch management can fix the vulnerabilities.
  • Threats to security are detected early.
  • With centralized vulnerability scanning, you can save money.
  • Keeping a network secure and compliant.

 

  • OpenVAS:

OpenVAS (also known as “Nessus”) is an open-source network detection system that can be used to find remote vulnerabilities in any host. It is one of the most well-known network vulnerability scanners, and it is widely used by system administrators, DevOps, and information security professionals. Whereas its web-based functionality allows it to be used on any operating system, it also has a command-line interface (CLI) that works well on Linux, Unix, and Windows.

 

The free version could be downloaded from the OpenVAS website; however, the Greenbone Security (parent company) website also offers a commercial enterprise license. Its features include-

 

  • Scanning tons of options at the same time
  • Ability to pause, resume, and stop scanning tasks
  • Favorable management that isn’t true
  • Scans on a regular basis
  • Generation of graphs and statistics
  • +50,000 security vulnerabilities tests +powerful web-based interface.

 

  • SQLMap:

That’s an open-source program with a robust detection engine MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and a wide range of other databases that are all fully supported. It fully supports Boolean-based blind, time-based blind, error-based, UNION query-based, stacked queries, and out-of-band SQL injection techniques. . SQLMap allows users to connect back to specific databases. It also allows you to run arbitrary commands and retrieve their standard output, download and upload any file and look for relevant database names, among other things. It will make it possible to connect to the database directly. The following are some of SQLMap’s features:

 

  • A powerful detection engine is available.
  • Allows you to run any command you want.
  • MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and other databases are supported.

 

  • Nikto:

Nikto is really an open-source web server scanning tool. It looks for threatening files, obsolete versions, and specific version-related issues on the web server. The report can be saved as a text file, XML, HTML, NBE, or CSV file. Nikto can run on any computer which has a Perl installation. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and UNIX platforms. Besides capturing the received cookies, it is able to perform server-specific as well as generic checks and prints. It’s a program that scans 270 servers for version-specific issues and identifies default programs and files. Here are a few of Nikto’s most notable features:

 

  • Open-source software
  • Checks web servers for potentially dangerous CGIs or files and finds over 6400 of them.
  • Checks for outdated versions as well as version-specific issues on servers.
  • Checks for plug-ins and files that have been misconfigured.
  • Detects and removes insecure programs and files.

 

  • QualysGuard:

Qualys Guard is an ethical hacking tool that helps companies optimize their compliance and security solutions as part of their digital transformation efforts. It’s also used to assess the performance of online cloud systems. The following are some of QualysGuard’s features:

 

  • It’s and used trusted all over the world.
  • It is scalable and offers an end-to-end enterprise security solution.
  • Its sensor ensures that visibility is maintained at all times.
  • On an n-tiered architecture of load-balanced servers, sensitive data is securely stored and processed.
  • Real-time data analysis and threat response are carried out.

 

  • John the Ripper:

One of the most well-known password crackers of all time is John the Ripper. It was also one of the best security tools for remote location testing or auditing password power in your operating system. One such password cracker can automatically detect the type of encryption used in almost any password and adjust its password test algorithm correspondingly, making it one of the smartest password cracking tools ever. The above ethical hacking tool decrypts passwords and algorithms using brute force technology.

 

MD4, LDAP, MySQL, DES, MD5, Blowfish Kerberos AFS Hash LM (Lan Manager), the system used in Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 MD4, MD5, Blowfish Kerberos AFS Hash.

Its Features include-

 

  • In one package, you get a customizable cracker as well as several different password crackers.
  • Attacks with a dictionary
  • Different encrypted passwords are put to the test.

Conclusion:

Many businesses now employ the hacking tools mentioned above. There are more tools available that you can go through because it is only the 15 tools. Because of the rise of automated ethical hacking tools, data within the organization is more secure and reliable. In cybercriminals’ attempts to break through even the most sophisticated defences, end-users were always the weakest link. Several major corporations have recently disclosed significant data security breaches. Businesses can use ethical hacking tools to identify potential internet security flaws and prevent data breaches. Because of hacking tools, business owners can quickly prevent vulnerabilities from spreading across the Internet.

 

Author Bio:

I am Korra Shailaja, Working as a Digital Marketing professional & Content writer in MindMajix Online Training. I Have good experience in handling technical content writing and aspire to learn new things to grow professionally. I am an expert in delivering content on the market demanding technologies like Mulesoft Training, Dell Boomi Tutorial, Elasticsearch Course, Fortinet Course, PostgreSQL Training, Splunk, Success Factor, Denodo, etc.