
Ethical hacking entails a legitimate attempt to access a computer system, application, or data without authorization.
Ethical hacking tools play a significant role in testing weaknesses in the computer network and applications.
It involves copying the tactics and behaviors of malicious attackers to carry out ethical hacking.
This procedure aids in locating security flaws that can be fixed before a malicious attacker can take advantage of them.
To test the system’s defenses, the company that owns the system or network permits ethical hackers to carry out such activities.
This means that, in contrast to malicious hacking, the process is organized, approved, and, more importantly, ethical.
Investigating the system or network for vulnerabilities that malicious hackers can take advantage of or obliterate is the goal of ethical hackers.
By doing this, they can strengthen the security footprint and make it more resistant to attacks or able to deflect them.
What is the Most Common Form Used by Hackers?
The method of hacking that is used the most is phishing. Every day, phishing messages saturate every one of our inboxes and text messaging applications.
These messages pretend to be from a company (such as Amazon, Netflix, etc.) or a friend you trust. They usually tell a story to get you to open an attachment or click on a link.
An attack that tries to steal your money or your identity by tricking you into disclosing personal information, like credit card numbers, bank account information, or passwords, on websites that look legitimate but are fraudulent.
What Sites Get Hacked The Most?
30,000 new websites are compromised every day on average.
With an increase from 39.5% at the end of 2020, WordPress now powers 43.2% of websites online.
WordPress is most at risk from the extensive selection of third-party plugins that users use.
Many WordPress website owners and developers have experienced attacks because of plugin vulnerabilities.
Because of their enormous user base, WordPress websites are a prime target for hackers.
15 Best Ethical Hacking Tools
Best ethical hacking tools | Key Attributes |
1. Wireshark | 1. It is a standard three-pane packet browser. 2. It is a multi-platform software that runs on Linux, Windows, OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc. 3. Live traffic capture and offline analysis 4. Deep Inspection of hundreds of protocols. 5. Useful in VoIP analysis. 6. Raw USB traffic can also be captured by it. 7. It analyzes network traffic. |
2. NMAP | 1. OS Detection 2. Target specification 3. Port Scanning 4. Firewall/IDS Evasion and Spoofing 5. Host discovery 6. Scan techniques 7. Script scan 8. Service or version detection 9. Evasion and spoofing 10. Enumerating the open ports on the target hosts. 11. Identifying hosts on a network. 12. Utilizing the operating system, Nmap finds all active services on the host. 13. Examining network services on distant devices to learn the name and version number of the application. 14. With the aid of the Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE), interaction can be made with the target host. 15. Nmap can find any flaws or potential weaknesses in networked systems. |
3. Burp Suite | 1. Manual penetration testing features. Intercept everything your browser sees. 2. Advanced/custom automated attacks. Faster brute-forcing and fuzzing 4. Automated scanning for vulnerabilities. Harness pioneering AST technology. 5. Productivity tools. Deep-dive message analysis. 6. Extensions. Create custom extensions. |
4. Metasploit | 1. Intermediate Database Support 2. Evading Anti Virus 3. Exploit Ranking 4. Hashes and Password Cracking 5. Payload UUID 6. Pivoting in Metasploit 7. Running Private Modules 8. privilege escalation 9. packet sniffing 10. test security vulnerabilities |
5. Nikto | 1. Nikto can detect over 6700 potentially dangerous files/CGIs. 2. Scan items and plugins are kept on updating frequently, and can be automatically updated. 3. Nikto can also check for outdated version details of 1200 servers. 4. Scan multiple ports on a server, or multiple servers and take a Nmap file as input. 5. Full support for SSL ( Unix with open SSL ) 6. Guess credentials (username/password) for authorization realms. 7. Save full requests /responses for positive tests. 8. It also finds sub-domain for web servers |
6. Intruder | 1. A perimeter scanning tool included with Intruder enables users to filter information and produce context-based results. 2. The intruder scans your servers, cloud systems, websites, and endpoint devices that are accessible publicly and privately. 3. Intruder analyzes raw data from top scanning engines so you can concentrate on the issues that really matter. 4. Security teams can evaluate and manage new risks and respond to incidents by using the intruder’s emerging threat scanner. 5. Automated assessments are carried out by the continuous monitoring functionality, which also assists teams in resolving problems before an attack. |
7. Aircrack-Ng | 1. As opposed to attacking the Access Point itself, Aircrack-ng is a versatile tool that targets clients. 2. Aircrack-ng has the ability to crack WEP without any authenticated clients. 3. Airdrop-ng is a rule-based wireless deauthentication tool. 4. Wireless networks are graphed by Airgraph-ng. 5. Support for WEP dictionary attacks and replay attacks. |
8. Nessus | 1. Using a port scanner to check the security of a web server against services like DNS and SSH. 2. All of the main web technologies, including JavaScript, AJAX, ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, Ruby, JRun, and CGI, are supported. 3. Discovery of directories with weak permissions. 4. Utilizing a vulnerability editor, one can modify or create their own custom exploit attacks. 5. Dictionary attack to test HTTP authentication or password strength on login pages. 6. Identifies web vulnerabilities such as XSS and SQL injection. |
9. Acunetix | 1. AI/Machine Learning. 3. API. 4. Access Controls/Permissions. 5. Activity Dashboard. 6. Activity Monitoring. 7. Alerts/Notifications. 8. Application Security. 9. Assessment Management. |
10. SQLMap | 1. Users, password hashes, roles, hashes, databases, tables, and columns can be enumerated. 2. We can directly connect to the database without using SQL injection, by giving DBMS credentials, IP addresses, ports, and database names. 3. The user can dump only a portion of the entries in each column. 4. Granularity and flexibility regarding both users’ switches and features. 5. Stacking queries, error-based, boolean-based, time-based, and UNION query injection techniques are all fully supported. |
11. Angry IP Scanner | 1. Detect all devices 2. Apply filters to scanning results 3. very fast IP address and port scanner 4. cross-platform and lightweight 5. Detect the absence of privileges 6. host must send the ICMP packet |
12. QualysGuard | 1. Endpoint management regularly is something it excels at. 2. Find, evaluate, rank, and prioritize critical vulnerabilities while reducing the risk of a cyberattack in real time. 3. locating infrastructure security configuration bugs across a variety of OS types. 4. Analyze threats and misconfigurations in real-time, with six sigma accuracy. 5. Critical threads can be quickly patched, and assets can be quarantined with just one click. 6. The Qualys private cloud platform offers a full range of reporting capabilities for quick use of your data. |
13. Invicti | 1. Users, password hashes, roles, hashes, databases, tables, and columns can be enumerated. 2. We can directly connect to the database without using Sql injection, by giving DBMS credentials, IP addresses, ports, and database names. 3. The user can dump only a portion of the entries in each column. 4. Granularity and flexibility regarding both users’ switches and features. 5. Stacking queries, error-based, boolean-based, time-based, and UNION query injection techniques are all fully supported. |
14. OpenVAS | 1. OpenVAS is a framework that is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) 2. It enables an attacker to carry out unwanted actions or gain unauthorized access. 3. It monitors networks, systems, and applications for security vulnerabilities. 4. Focusing on known network vulnerabilities that need to be fixed stops and reduces attacks. 5. In order for management to better manage IT resources and procedures, OpenVas increases transparency. |
15. Ettercap | 1. It works with several Unix-like operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, and Windows. 2. Killing connections of choice from the connection list. 3. Using TCP/IP stack fingerprinting, identify the victim host’s network adapter and operating system. 4. It is the first piece of software to sniff a full-duplex SSH connection. 5. You can simulate man-in-the-middle attacks, credential capture, DNS spoofing, and DOS attacks using Ettercap. 6. IP source, destination, and MAC address are used to filter packets. |
15 Best Ethical Hacking Tools
- Wireshark
- NMAP
- Burp Suite
- Metasploit
- Nikto
- Intruder
- Aircrack-Ng
- Nessus
- Acunetix
- SQLMap
- Angry IP Scanner
- QualysGuard
- Invicti
- OpenVAS
- ettercap