Ethical hacking is a certified qualification that involves a legitimate attempt to gain access to any computer system an organization, data, or application. The term ‘ethical’ describes that this process is not based on mischief or stealing. The candidates look the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems, using some tools and techniques. They are the legal and authorized team employed by organization to penetrate into computer systems to fix security issues and strengthen the security application. It is ANSI accredited and recognized as GCHQ Certified Training. Nowadays, hacking relates by skilled coders and programmers who can create algorithms to crack any password or disrupt network services. In this article, you will learn about the top 20 ethical hacking tools and techniques.
1. ToneLoc
ToneLoc is an abbreviation for Tone Locator, is a famous war dialing computer system. It is a technique used in scanning a list of telephone numbers automatically. Hackers use the results for guessing user accounts or to locate a modem which might provide an entry point into a computer system or any other electronic device.
2. Network Stumbler
The NetStumbler application is a tool for Windows which are used for detecting wireless LANs using 802.11b to 802.11a and 802.11g standards. It’s uses are for wardriving purposes which can see other networks that might cause interference in your network. It can also be used for non-authorized connections to monitor Windows.
3. LC4
LC4 is known as L0phtCrack, a password cracking and recovering application. It recovers Windows user account passwords to access those accounts whose passwords are lost or forgotten. LC4 is the best for recovery as it uses a dictionary, brute-force, and hybrid attacks.
4. LANgaurd Network Security Scanner
LANgaurd works by monitoring a network by scanning interconnected machines and detecting registry issues. It can provide information about every operating system, and its node and have a report setup in HTML format.
5. QualysGaurd
QualysGaurd uses a set of integrated tools and performs techniques for monitoring, detecting, and protecting your network. It delivers a security intelligence system and automates the full function of auditing, compliance, and protection of web applications, all at lower cost.
6. WebInspect
WebInspect is a specifically designed tool for assessing web applications that helps in checking whether a web browser is configured correctly. It helps in identifying unknown weaknesses inside the web application layer. It help avoid common attacks like cross-site scripting, directory transversal, parameter injection, and many more.
7. EtherPeek
EtherPeek is a multi-protocol tool that can be installed easily due to its small size. It is a fantastic tool as it penetrates small traffic packets on a network. It can support heterogeneous network environments like Appletalk, NBT packets, TCP, UDP, NetBEUI, and NetWare.
8. SuperScan
Superscan is a powerful, diverse tool, and user-friendly that can scan TCP ports and resolve hostnames. It can perform various functions, including connecting to any open port, modifying the list descriptions using a built-in editor, viewing responses from connected hosts, and performing ping scans using any IP range.
9. Ettercap
Ettercap is an abbreviation for Ethernet capture, which can run on more than one Operating System like Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Ettercap has in-built features of filtering content and for network and host analysis.
10. Angry IP Scanner
It is a multi-thread scanner that can scan in any IP range and simply pings each IP address to check if it’s working functionally. The gathered data can be saved in TXT, CSV, and XML list files. It can also collect any information about ports and addresses. Moreover, it is light in weight.
11. Cain & Abel
Cain & Abel is one of the fastest password recovery tools, especially for Microsoft Windows Operating System. It can feature multiple methods to recover any password, such as recording VoIP conversations, retrieving wireless networks using brute force or dictionary, analyzing the routing protocols, and decoding scrambled passwords.
12. Metasploit
Metasploit is one of the powerful tools and a product of Rapid7, which comes in two variants commercial and free editions. It is an exploit tool that can browse exploit modules to discover or import the data. It can also conduct basic tests on smaller networks and run on-the-spot checks to look for vulnerabilities.
13. Burp Suite
Burp Suite is widely used as a total control administration to configure and assist the entire testing process, from initial mapping to the exact attack surface. It is easy to use and provides manual techniques for performing security testing of web applications.
14. NMAP
NMAP stands for Network Mapper, is an open source tool that was designed to scan large data files but is used for security auditing and discovering security measures. It uses raw IP packets that can run on many Operating systems like Linux, Windows, and Mac OS x. It is also helpful in managing services upgrades, and monitoring hosts and network inventory.
15. Intruder
An Intruder is a hacking tool that helps find the possible vulnerabilities in our computer systems to avoid data breaches. It can scan the system for upcoming threats automatically and secure the whole IT environment. Moreover, it can alert you from time to time of the exposed ports.
16. Netsparker
It is a unique and potent hacking tool that mimics a hacker’s moves proving that such things are real and not false allegations. There are possible weaknesses like SQL injection, and cross-site scripting in web applications. It scans the application from beginning to end and identifies all vulnerabilities.
17. Nikto
Nikto is an open-source tool that can scan web servers for outdated data and version-related problems. It can be used on Mac, UNIX, and Linux and saves the data files in different formats like TXT, HTML, NBE, and CSV. It has additional features of full HTTP proxy support and can scan web servers for about 6700 potentially unsafe files.
18. Nessus
Nessus is used as a scanning tool that can raise an alert if it finds any vulnerability to any computer system. However, it is not a completely security solution but is extensible in providing an easy language so that you can be familiar with the tool.
19. Kismet
Kismet can be used for wireless scanning purposes and is proved as one of the powerful tools to sniff traffic. It is open-source which can run on multi-operating systems, including Windows and Mac. It can facilitate a user to monitor the traffic and identify wireless networks with great ease.
20. Wireshark
Wireshark is an all-in-one complete hacking tool that can perform on various protocols. It can decompose the zip files, decrypt IPsec, and SSL, and allows you to export the output to the cross-platform. It offers you the facility to browse the captured data network in coloring rules using GUI or TTY-mode.
