Top 10 Ethical Hacking Tools You Will Need

One of the most widely recognized advantages of working in cybersecurity over other professions is that it is an ever-evolving field where the skills you learn and the tools you use today may not be relevant in 10 years’ time.

New applications and devices are being developed, security breaches are constantly happening, and potential threats are changing faster than ever before.

To help you stay on top of your game and maximize your knowledge, we have compiled this list of the top 10 ethical hacking tools you will need in 2024.

What Are Ethical Hacking Tools?

Ethical hacking is the process of finding vulnerabilities in a computer system, network, or application. It is a profession that has been growing and evolving over time, as new technologies are released.

The tools that are used for ethical hacking also need to be updated frequently to keep up with these evolving technologies.

A recent study by Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that the demand for cybersecurity jobs will increase by more than 300% in the next ten years, meaning there will be plenty of opportunities for people entering this field.

Also Check: Best Workforce Management Tools

Top 10 Ethical Hacking Tools

Here we have chosen the top 10 best ethical hacking tools that will be useful in 2024 and beyond. This isn’t a list of every tool you could use, but it does include some of the best, according to both our own experience and input from industry experts.

Aircrack-ng

Aircrack-ng is a well-known, open-source wireless security auditing software that can be used to assess the security of WEP and WPA/WPA2-PSK. It is mainly used to recover encrypted Wi-Fi passwords by capturing data packets and calculating the key.

Its features include support for all standard encryption types (WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK) as well as use on all Unix-based platforms (Linux and Mac).

Cain & Abel

Cain & Abel is a powerful password recovery tool for microsoft operating systems. It captures the passwords that are transmitted on the network by hiding them as a fake service and harvesting the passwords from the Windows operating system memory.

The program allows easy recovery of various kinds of password hashes, including LM, NT LAN Manager (NTLM), SHA-512, and MD5(Blowfish). All versions from Vista to Windows 10/8/7/2008 or later are supported.

It works best with Kali Linux, which has all the required tools pre-installed to use this utility.

Nmap

Nmap is one of the best ethical hacking tools you will Need in 2024. It is a network exploration and security auditing tool developed by Nmap. It is a free and open-source tool for ethical hacking. The Nmap can be used to find hosts on a network and to identify their operating system or software as well as running services.

Nmap has been around for more than 25 years, but it is still one of the most powerful ethical hacking software available for ethical hacking in 2024.

All that you have to do is launch Nmap with no arguments and the program will take care of everything else.  

Wireshark

Wireshark is a world-leading network protocol analyzer. It is the de facto tool for network troubleshooting, monitoring, security analysis, and education.

Wireshark captures data packets from a live network or from a capture file on disk and displays them in a human-readable format.

The display can be customized to show only packets of interest. Capture filters are used to specify which packets should be captured.

To simplify capturing different protocols across an entire network, unidirectional filters (for example Ethernet frames) can be used as well.

Captured content may also be searched using text strings or regular expressions with literal search mode enabled by pressing Ctrl+L and then entering the search term followed by Enter key at any time to see matches highlighted within captured content as they are found.

Also Check: Accounting Software for Small Business

Metasploit Framework

Metasploit is an open-source framework for developing and executing exploit code against a remote target machine. It provides the ability to perform rapid development of exploits through its library of over 1,000+ modules.

The Metasploit Framework supports a variety of techniques including: client-side attacks, server-side attacks, and brute force.

1. Client-Side Attacks: Website vulnerabilities can be exploited through client-side attacks. Popular tools for these types of attacks include XSS, SQL Injection, and Cross-Site Request Forgery. Client-side attacks are often overlooked but they’re not too difficult to execute and can lead to serious consequences if not detected early on.
2. Server-Side Attacks: In a server-side attack, the attacker will exploit one or more vulnerabilities in your web application to gain access to its back end. This type of attack is often used by hackers because it is less detectable and easier to perform.
3. Brute Force: A brute force attack is a type of password cracking method that tries many passwords or passphrases with the hope of eventually guessing correctly. A modern computer can usually try millions of possible combinations per second.

Metasploit also has three interfaces that include: msfcli, msfrpcd, and msfweb.

John The Ripper

John the Ripper is the most widely used password cracker and the best ethical hacking software. It provides a number of options, including wordlist attacks, brute-force attacks, and dictionary attacks.

It is also capable of running in multiple modes such as terminal mode and graphical mode.

Hydra

Hydra is a network logon cracker that can perform brute force attacks to discover the password.

It can be using against different protocols and supports a variety of authentication methods such as PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAPv2, SPAP, EAP-TLS, and others.

Hydra has been around for a long time but it still remains one of the best hacking tools out there. It is worth noting that this is not only useful for penetration testing but also for general security assessments.

It is easy to install and it comes with an excellent tutorial on how to use the tool properly.

Acunetix

While Acunetix is no longer a free tool, it offers users the ability to scan for vulnerabilities across multiple websites and applications with the help of a graphical user interface.

Acunetix performs vulnerability checks on parameters such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting flaws. Acunetix is one of the top ten ethical hacking tools you will need in 2024.

It scans for vulnerabilities and attacks from malicious code injection. These features make it an attractive option among other cybersecurity companies that offer similar services at a lower price point.

Also Check: Best Open Source Learning Management System

SQLmap

Open-source penetration testing tool SQLmap automates the process of detecting and exploiting SQL injection flaws, as well as taking control of database servers.

It comes with a powerful detection engine, many unique exploits, and customizable payloads. This makes it one of the best ethical hacking tools on the market today.

That being said, We still recommend you learn how to manually identify vulnerabilities and execute queries in your favorite language.

HackerOne

HackerOne is a company that offers an ethical hacking service where hackers can help companies find vulnerabilities and get rewarded for their work.

It has been around since 2015 and has helped companies like Uber, Twitter, Google, and GitHub identify bugs. HackerOne also offers a bug bounty program for users to report security issues.

You don’t need any technical knowledge or skills to participate. Just enough to install the browser extension or use the web interface. And as long as you report your findings responsibly, there are no consequences if it turns out that your submission was not a vulnerability at all.

Conclusion

With so many ethical hacking software out there, it can be tough to know which one is right for the job. To help you make the right choice, we have compiled a list of the top 10 best ethical hacking tools that will get the job done.

Also Check: Best Machine Learning App Ideas

FAQs

Q: What are some of the best ethical hacking tools to use?

Ans: Some of the top ethical hacking tools include: Hackerone, Hydra, and SQLmap.

Q: How do I know if my company is a good target for hackers?

Ans: If your company has valuable data or sensitive information on its servers, then it is a potential target for hackers.

Q: What can I do to protect my company from being hacked?

Ans: There are a number of things you can do to better secure your company’s servers, including making sure that all software patches have been installed.