Penetration Testing Tools
Penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking, involves simulating cyberattacks on computer systems, networks, or applications to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses that malicious actors could exploit. There are various tools available to conduct penetration testing, each specializing in different aspects of security testing.
Here are compilations of some of the top penetration testing tools you can use:
1. Nmap
Nmap (Network Mapper) is a powerful open-source network scanning tool used for network exploration and security auditing. It helps in discovering hosts, services, open ports, and associated vulnerabilities. Nmap sends packets and examines the replies to find addresses and services on a computer network. The inventor of Nmap is Gordon Lyon. (Also known by his pseudonym Fyodor Vaskovich). Nmap documentation can be found at www.nmap.org.
2. Metasploit
The Metasploit Framework (MSF) is a solid foundation that can build on for penetration testing. You can also customize it according to your needs. It is considered by the community of ethical hackers as one of the most complete collections of exploits, and the kali Linux makers believe that Metasploit is one of the most useful security auditing tools freely available to security professionals. It was first developed by H.D Moore in 2001 using the Perl language, later, it was rewritten entirely in Ruby, and the company Rapid 7 acquired it. The Metasploit Framework makes discovering, exploiting, and sharing vulnerabilities quick and relatively painless. You can learn about Metasploit at the official documentation https://docs.metasploit.com/.
3. Wireshark
Wireshark is a free and open-source packet analyzer. It is used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. Originally named Ethereal, the project was renamed Wireshark in May 2006 due to trademark issues. Wireshark is cross-platform, using the Qt widget toolkit in current releases to implement its user interface, and using pcap to capture packets, it runs on Linux, macOS, BSD, Solaris, and some other Linux-like operating systems. There is also a terminal-based (non-GUI) version called TShark.
Wireshark is very similar but has a graphical front-end and integrated sorting and filtering options. Wireshark lets users put network interface controllers into promiscuous mode, so they can see all the traffic visible on that interface including unicast traffic not sent to that network interface controller's MAC address. Developed by Wireshark Foundation. Here is the link to the Wireshark official documentation https://www.wireshark.org/docs/.
4. Burp Suite
Burp Suite is an integrated platform/graphical tool for performing security testing of web applications. Its various tools work seamlessly together to support the entire testing process, from initial mapping and analysis of an application attack surface to finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities. Burp Suite is installed by default in kali Linux.
This tool is written in java and developed by PortSwigger web security. This tool has three editions: a community edition that can be downloaded free of charge, a professional edition, and an enterprise edition that can be purchased after the trial period. It intends to provide a comprehensive solution for web application security checks. In addition to basic functionality, such as a proxy server, scanner, and intruder, the tool also contains more advanced options such as a spider, a repeater, a decoder, a comparer, an extender, and a sequencer.
Here is the link to Burp Suite's official documentation https://portswigger.net/burp/documentation/contents.
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5. Hashcat
Hashcat is the world’s fastest and most advanced password recovery utility, supporting five unique modes of attack for over 300 highly-optimized hashing algorithms. Hashcat currently supports CPUs, GPUs, and other hardware accelerators on Linux, Windows, and macOS, and has facilities to help enable distributed password cracking. It was developed by Jens ‘atom’ Steube and Gabriele ‘matrix’ Gristina.
Hashcat offers multiple attacks such as: Brute force attack, Combinator attack, and Dictionary attack.
Hashcat documentation can be found here https://hashcat.net/hashcat/.
6. Nessus
Nessus is an open-source network vulnerability scanner that uses the common vulnerabilities and exposes architecture for easy cross-linking between compliant security tools. Nessus was created in 1998 by Renauld Duraison, then developed by Tenable Inc. Nessus employs the Nessus Attack Scripting Language (NASC), a simple language that describes individual threats and potential attacks. Nessus has a modular architecture consisting of centralizing servers that conduct scanning, and remote clients that allow administrator interaction. Administrators can include NASC descriptions of all suspected vulnerabilities to develop customized scans.
Significant capabilities of Nessus include:
The official documentation can be found at this link https://docs.tenable.com/Nessus.htm.
7. Hydra
Hydra is a parallelized network login cracker built into various operating systems like Kali Linux, Parrot, and other major penetration testing environments. Hydra works by using different approaches to perform brute force attacks, in order to guess the right username and password combination. Hydra is commonly used by penetration testers together with a set of programmer's link crunch. Hydra was developed by THC.
Hydra documentation can be found at https://www.kali.org/tools/hydra/.
8. DirBuster
DirBuster is a multi-threaded java application designed to brute force directories and file names on web-application servers. It was developed by OWASP, is currently an inactive project, and is provided now as a ZAP attack tool rather that a standalone tool.
DirBuster official documentation can be found at https://www.kali.org/tools/dirbuster/.
9. PowerShell Empire
PowerShell Empire is a post-exploitation agent. Empire implements the ability to run PowerShell agents without needing powershell.exe, modules ranging from keyloggers to Mimikatz, and adaptable communications to evade network detection. This is all bundled into a framework that is publicly available on GitHub. As such, these tools are easy to use and available, making them likely to be used in exploitation involving PowerShell. PowerShell Empire was created by Veris Group Security practitioners will Schroeder, Justin-warner, Matt Nelson, and others in 2015.
PowerShell Empire documentation can be found at https://bc-security.gitbook.io/empire-wiki/.
