TOP 10 Ethical hacking tools for Windows and Linux
TOP 10 Ethical hacking tools for Windows and Linux
written by Nishmi Amin on 05/07/21
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TOP 10 Ethical hacking tools for Windows and Linux
Hacking Tools are computer programs and scripts that help you find and exploit weaknesses/vulnerabilities in computer systems, web applications, servers, and networks. There are a variety of such tools available. Some of them are open source while others are for commercial use. In this article, we will see some of the famous hacking tools that are widely used by ethical hackers.
1. Nmap (Network Mapper)
PLATFORM-Windows, Linux
Nmap is a network mapper, used for scanning the network. A network mapper is a tool that can analyze and study networks. It is used by hackers to gather information about the target network before trying to attack it. It is a free and open-source network scanner used to discover hosts and services on a computer network by sending packets and analyzing the responses. Nmap is also used for computer security and network management.
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2. Netsparker
PLATFORM-Windows, Linux
Netsparker is a web application security scanner that enables you to scan websites, web applications, and web services, and identify security faults. Also, it automatically detects URL rewrite rules and custom 404 error pages. It can automatically find SQL Injection, XSS, and other vulnerabilities in your web applications & web services.
3. Traceroute NG
PLATFORM-Windows
Traceroute NG performs accurate network path analysis through the command-line interface to detect path changes and thus allows probing of a network. It offers both TCP and ICMP network path analysis and supports IPv4 ( Internet Protocol version 4) and IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6). Traceroute NG is an application that enables you to analyze network paths and creates a txt logfile.
4. Burp Suite
PLATFORM-Windows, Linux
Burp Suite is a web application security testing tool. It is used to test a web application and find out vulnerabilities that exist in the web application. It helps white hat hackers to secure the web.
5. Metasploit
PLATFORM-Windows, Linux
Metasploit is one of the famous ethical hacking tools. It is useful for penetration testing and for finding out security vulnerabilities. The Metasploit framework creates exploits and payloads for different environments. It also goes well with tools like Nmap and is best for building anti-forensic and evasion tools.
6. Aircrack-ng
PLATFORM-Windows, Linux
Aircrack-ng is a tool for WIFI hacking and is free of cost. It’s a free packet sniffer & injector. You can exploit WEP, WPA, and WPA2 networks with aircrack-ng. It functions in different ways based on the security protocol used by the target network. Also, it supports any wireless network interface controller.
7. Maltego
PLATFORM-Windows, Linux
Maltego is a great tool for forensics and is based on Java. It’s an open-source forensics platform that performs rigorous mining and gathering and connecting information for investigative tasks. It also shows the complexity and severity of points of faults in your infrastructure and the surrounding environment. It runs in an easy-to-use graphical interface to provide you a graphical picture, thereby telling you about the weak points and abnormalities of the network. Maltego is broadly used by security professionals, pentesters, forensic investigators, investigative journalists, and market researchers.
8. John the Ripper
PLATFORM-Linux
John The Ripper is a free and open-source password cracking tool for hackers. It is written mostly in the C programming language. Different modules of it allow you to crack passwords using different encryption or hashing techniques. It works using the dictionary method as it is the easiest way to guess a password. It takes text string samples from a word list using common dictionary words.
9. Nikto
PLATFORM-Linux
Nikto(free, open-source tool) is a web scanner that scans, checks, and tests several web servers for identifying outdated software, dangerous CGIs (Common Gateway Interface) or files, version-specific problems, and other potentially dangerous problems. It checks for misconfigured files and also identifies insecure programs. Some other functions are- captures/prints any cookies received and scans multiple ports on a target to find web servers.
10. Social Engineering Toolkit
Social engineering is about manipulating people so that they give up confidential information. Criminals use social engineering tactics because it is usually easier to exploit your natural tendency to trust than it is to discover ways to hack your software and get confidential information.
SET(Social Engineering Toolkit) created and written by the founder of Trusted Sec. SET is an open-source tool and python driven. It aims at penetration testing around social engineering.
SET is a collection of tools that can be used to perform social engineering attacks. They say that social engineering is one of the hardest attacks to be protected by. These tools use and manipulate human behavior for information gathering and phish websites.
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CONCLUSION
As the internet security threats are increasing day by day, employers are seeking skilled ethical hackers who possess CEH(Certified Ethical Hacker) qualifications, to prevent fraudulent crimes and identity thefts for their IT infrastructure. The recent past has witnessed several large businesses announcing major security violations. These ethical hacking tools have played a major role for many ethical hackers to prevent huge losses to businesses thereby preventing further security breaches.
