Top 10 Ethical Hacking Tools Every Penetration Tester Should Know About 19/04/2023 – Posted in: Penetration Testing – Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time to read: 5-6 minutes

In the world of cybersecurity, ethical hacking plays an essential role in identifying vulnerabilities in networks and applications. Penetration testers or ethical hackers need to have the right set of tools to perform their job effectively. In this blog post, we will be discussing the top 10 ethical hacking tools that every penetration tester should know about.

  1. Metasploit Framework

Metasploit Framework is a widely used penetration testing tool that allows ethical hackers to discover and exploit vulnerabilities in networks, systems, and applications. It comes with an extensive database of exploits and payloads that can be used to launch attacks against target systems.

URL: https://www.metasploit.com/

  1. Nmap

Nmap is a network exploration and security auditing tool that is used by ethical hackers to discover hosts and services on a network. It can also be used to identify potential vulnerabilities in systems and applications.

URL: https://nmap.org/

  1. Wireshark

Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that is used to capture and analyze network traffic in real-time. Ethical hackers can use it to identify security vulnerabilities and troubleshoot network issues.

URL: https://www.wireshark.org/

  1. Aircrack-ng

Aircrack-ng is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks. It includes tools for packet capture, network reconnaissance, and cracking WEP and WPA/WPA2-PSK encryption.

URL: https://www.aircrack-ng.org/

  1. John the Ripper

John the Ripper is a password cracking tool that can be used to test the strength of passwords. It can crack a wide range of password hashes, including DES, MD5, and SHA-1.

URL: https://www.openwall.com/john/

  1. Burp Suite

Burp Suite is a web application security testing tool that allows ethical hackers to discover and exploit vulnerabilities in web applications. It includes a proxy server, web scanner, and intruder tool.

URL: https://portswigger.net/burp

  1. Hashcat

Hashcat is a password recovery tool that is used to crack encrypted passwords. It can crack a wide range of password hashes, including NTLM, SHA-1, and SHA-256.

URL: https://hashcat.net/hashcat/

  1. Hydra

Hydra is a network login cracker that supports numerous protocols, including HTTP, FTP, and Telnet. It is commonly used to perform brute-force attacks against login pages and services.

URL: https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra

  1. SQLMap

SQLMap is an open-source penetration testing tool that is used to identify and exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities in web applications. It automates the process of detecting and exploiting SQL injection flaws.

URL: http://sqlmap.org/

  1. Social-Engineer Toolkit (SET)

The Social-Engineer Toolkit is an open-source penetration testing framework that allows ethical hackers to simulate social engineering attacks. It includes a wide range of attack vectors, including spear-phishing, USB drops, and malicious websites.

URL: https://github.com/trustedsec/social-engineer-toolkit

Conclusion In conclusion, ethical hacking is an important part of cybersecurity, and penetration testers need to have the right set of tools to do their job effectively. The above-listed ethical hacking tools are some of the most widely used tools in the industry and can help penetration testers identify and exploit vulnerabilities in networks and applications.