Ethical hacking is a skill that many possess and others want to learn. It’s a fascinating activity, and most people who’ve learnt ethical hacking have steady jobs in this field. There are courses available for the same and unless you’re quick with all the technical terms and the software, you’d hardly be able to follow it. But if you’re a curious being who wants to become an ethical hacker, we’ve compiled a list of few of the many tools that you can use for ethical hacking. Let’s have a look.
Photo by Sebastiaan ter Burg, CC BY-SA 2.0
- John the Ripper
This is a Linux based tool, which is a password whiz. You can use this tool to crack passwords available easily on Dos, Unix, Win32, OpenVms, and BeOs. John the Ripper is skilled in detecting Unix passwords at best, and is widely popular among ethical hackers worldwide. A free software tool available for a Linux platform, this software has a Pro version that is paid and provides support to hashes more than the free version. There are various attack modes that John the Ripper uses, but the most commonly used one is the Brute-force attack. Through the use of character frequency, the brute-force attack takes more time to crack passwords than its counterparts, but is quite efficient anyway.
- Nmap
Network mapper, or as it is popular, Nmap scans large networks rapidly, using raw IP packets with unique methods to find out available hosts, services, operating systems, firewalls etc. that are being used by the host network. Nmap is also Linux based, and is capable of running, for the most part, on the common types of computers, with graphic and console versions available. This software allows you to probe into computer networks, host discovery, and detecting operating systems. The features are open to extend using scripts and other updates.
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- Cain & Abel
This Windows based program is a tool for password recovery mostly used for operating systems of Microsoft. Through network packet sniffing, it can sniff around various networks and obtain passwords easily. Dictionary attacks are the commonly used methods of Cain & Abel. It has features such as the ability of recording VOIP conversations, WEP cracking, revelation of password boxes, calculation of hashes along with the ability to crack Windows PWL files, ARP spoofing, cached passwords, LSA secret dumper etc. among many other features.
- GFI LanGuard Network Vulnerability Scanner
This award-winning Windows based software is a favorite among ethical hackers, allowing one to multitask rapidly while it does its work. With features such as patch management, vulnerability scanning, network security all in one, giving one the time to manage everything else easily, without demanding much attention from the user. Best for its vulnerability scanning abilities, GFI Languard is equipped enough to provide the most security while it is running all on its own.
- SolarWinds
SolarWinds is a Windows based software tool, and is great for network monitoring, attack and discovery. It is equipped to monitor servers and track login attempts in administrative accounts, it can respond to network breaches sooner than other software, and takes instant actions against brute-force attacks and hacking attempts of other sorts. It can also perform forensic analysis on a large array of data, and shuts down breached systems. Port scanner, displaying active sessions, and password detection are just a few of its best features as a hacking tool.
If you want to learn how to be a hacker, it is necessary to know all of the tools that a hacker uses when performing ethical hacking. There are various ways you can learn to become a hacker, and the above software tools are most useful while doing so. Practicing ethical hacking, however, is important noting the fact that it shouldn’t be misused.
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