CyberSecurity Tools By Category

Here is a CyberSecurity Tools By Category or ethical hacking tools by category to gain your knowledge and improve your skills in these tools to achieve your goals and advance your career in cybersecurity industry.

Here is a 70 CyberSecurity or Ethical hacking tools. these tools or categories aims to enhance your understanding and proficiency in this field of cybersecurity Use these tools to gain knowledge and improve your skills in the field of cybersecurity. so here is a list by categorized with every phase of hacking:

• Information Gathering Tools •

What is Information Gathering?
Information Gathering means gathering different kinds of information about the target. It is basically, the first step or the beginning stage of Ethical Hacking, where the penetration testers or hackers (both black hat or white hat) tries to gather all the information about the target, to use it for Hacking. To obtain more relevant results, we have to gather more information about the target to increase the probability of a successful attack.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

Nmap: Nmap is an open-source utility for network discovery. Network Mapper is a security auditing and network scanning independent tool developed by Gordon Lyon. It is used by network administrators to detect the devices currently running on the system and the port number by which the devices are connected.

Shodan: Shodan is a search engine that scans IP addresses for connected devices like routers, webcams, servers, and industrial control systems, identifying open ports, unsecured devices, and services running on systems. It helps identify potential entry points and vulnerabilities in these devices.

Osint Framework: OSINT is a methodology for gathering intelligence from open sources, which are publicly accessible sources of information. These sources can include traditional media (newspapers, magazines, TV, radio), publicly available data (government reports, commercial databases, social media), and the internet (websites, forums, blogs).

Maltego: Maltego is an open source intelligence and forensics application. It will offer you timous mining and gathering of information as well as the representation of this information in a easy to understand format.

Censys: Censys is a platform that helps information security practitioners discover, monitor, and analyze devices that are accessible from the Internet. It’s similar to Shodan. It’s a useful resource for OSINT and CTI.

Recon-NG: Recon-ng is a full-featured Web Reconnaissance framework written in Python. Recon-ng has a look and feel similar to the Metasploit Framework, reducing the learning curve for leveraging the framework. However, it is quite different. Recon-ng is not intended to compete with existing frameworks, as it is designed exclusively for web-based open source reconnaissance.

TheHavester: The Harvester is a tool that was developed in python. This tool is used for gathering subdomain names, e-mail addresses, virtual hosts, open ports/ banners, and employee names from different public sources.

Gobuster: Gobuster tool is used for Brute Force scanner. this tool brute force URIs (directories and files) in web sites. DNS subdomains (with wildcard support). this tool is written in Go Language.

Amass: The OWASP Amass Tool performs network mapping of attack surfaces and external asset discovery using open source information gathering and active reconnaissance techniques.

Whois: Whois is a simple, yet powerful, tool that allows you to see information about a specific domain name or IP address. You can use it to see things like contact information, nameservers, and domain registration information.

• Password Cracking Tools •

What is Password Cracking?
Password cracking (also called password hacking) is an attack vector that involves hackers attempting to crack or determine a password for unauthorized authentication. Password hacking uses a variety of programmatic techniques, manual steps, and automation using specialized tools to compromise a password. These password cracking tools are referred to as ‘password crackers’.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

Hydra: Hydra is a best tool for performing password cracking attack on login panel. This tool will makes it possible for security researchers to show how is was easy to gain unauthorized access to a system remotely.

Hashcat: Hashcat is an advanced CPU/GPU-based password recovery tool and it is the world’s fastest and most advanced password recovery tool. it’s supports 5 unique modes of attacks. for 300 highly optimized hashing algorithms.

John The Ripper: John the Ripper is advanced offline password cracker tool. it’s a Open Source password recovery and auditing tool. this tool is available for many operating systems. Jphn The Ripper supports hundreds of hash and cipher types.

Medusa: Medusa is a speedy, parallel, and modular, login brute-forcer. Brute-force testing can be performed against multiple hosts, users or passwords concurrently. * Flexible user input. Target information (host/user/password) can be specified in a variety of ways.

OphCrack: Ophcrack is a Windows password cracker based on rainbow table. Ophcrack is a free open-source (GPL licensed) program that cracks Windows log-in passwords by using LM hashes through rainbow tables.

Brutus: Brutus is a brute-force and password cracker tool that currently supports .zip .pdf .txt files. Brutus simply generates a sequence of words following the predefined character combination, and attempts to decrypt the file with each password until the correct one is found.

Wfuzz: Wfuzz is a tool designed for bruteforcing Web Applications. Wfuzz provides a framework to automate web applications security assessments and could help you to secure your web applications by finding and exploiting web application vulnerabilities.

Aircrack-ng: Aircrack-ng is a WI-FI password cracker. Aircrack-ng is one of the penetration tester “tools of choice”. Aircrack-ng is a complete suite of tools to assess WiFi network security. It focuses on different areas of WiFi security.

RainbowCrack: RainbowCrack tool is a password cracking tool that uses a time-memory trade off technique. Free and open-source software to generate and use rainbow tables.

L0phtCrack: L0phtCrack is used to audit and recover passwords used on networks to make sure they are hard to crack, frequently changed, and never recycled. L0phtCrack is a password auditing and recovery application originally produced by Mudge from L0pht Heavy Industries.

• Wireless Hacking Tools •

What is Wireless Hacking?
Wireless hacking refers to the act of exploiting vulnerabilities in wireless networks such like Wi-Fi to gain unauthorized access to data, disrupt communications, or control devices. It involves methods that target the weaknesses in wireless protocols or encryption standards used to secure connections between devices and networks. This is the technique used to gain unauthorized access to a WiFi network.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

Aircrack-NG: Aircrack-ng is a wireless security framework with a suite of tools used to capture wireless traffic. It is used to crack and recover WEP/WPA/WPA2 keys.

Wifite: Wifite is a tool to audit WEP or WPA encrypted wireless networks. It uses aircrack-ng, pyrit, reaver, tshark tools to perform the audit.

Kismet: Kismet is a sniffer, WIDS, and wardriving tool for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RF, and more, which runs on Linux and macOS. Kismet works with Wi-Fi interfaces, Bluetooth interfaces, some SDR (software defined radio) hardware like the RTLSDR, and other specialized capture hardware.

TCPDump: tcpdump is a data-network packet analyzer computer program that runs under a command line interface. tcpdump is able to examine IPv4, ICMPv4, IPv6, ICMPv6, UDP, TCP, SNMP, AFS BGP, RIP, PIM, DVMRP, IGMP, SMB, OSPF, NFS and many other packet types.

BlueMaho: BlueMaho is GUI-shell (interface) for suite of tools for testing security of bluetooth devices. It is freeware, opensource, written on python, uses wxPyhon.

NetStumbler: NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses: Verify that your network is set up the way you intended. Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.

Reaver: Reaver performs a brute force attack against an access point’s Wi-Fi Protected Setup pin number. Once the WPS pin is found, the WPA PSK can be recovered and alternately the AP’s wireless settings can be reconfigured.

Fern Wi-fi Cracker: The Fern WI-FI cracker used for WPA/WPA2 Cracking with Dictionary or WPS based attacks. The Fern Wifi-Cracker is a GU- based tool written in Python for testing the security of wireless networks.

PixieWPS: Pixiewps is a tool written in C used to bruteforce offline the WPS pin exploiting the low or non-existing entropy of some APs (pixie dust attack). It is meant for educational purposes only.

Spooftooph: Spooftooph is designed to automate spoofing or cloning Bluetooth device Name, Class, and Address. Cloning this information effectively allows Bluetooth device to hide in plain site.

• Vulnerability scanning Tools •

What is Vulnerability scanning?
Vulnerability scanning, also called “vulnerability assessment”. Vulnerability scanning is a process within any comprehensive cybersecurity program. It involves the automated detection of security weaknesses in software, systems, and networks, allowing organizations to identify and address potential threats before attackers can exploit them. Vulnerability scanning is vital in managing cyber risks, helping businesses safeguard sensitive data and maintaining regulatory compliance.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

OpenVAS: OpenVAS is a full-featured vulnerability scanner. Its capabilities include unauthenticated and authenticated testing, various high-level and low-level internet and industrial protocols, performance tuning for large-scale scans and a powerful internal programming language to implement any type of vulnerability test.

Nessus: Nessus is a remote security scanning tool, which scans a computer and raises an alert if it discovers any vulnerabilities that malicious hackers could use to gain access to any computer you have connected to a network.

AppScan: HCL AppScan is a Static application security testing (SAST) technology that helps you to identify and remediate application vulnerabilities effectively.

Lynis: Lynis is a security auditing tool for systems based on UNIX like Linux, macOS, BSD, and others. It performs an in-depth security scan and runs on the system itself. The primary goal is to test security defenses and provide tips for further system hardening.

Retina: Retina is a vulnerability/penetration scanner made by BeyondTrust (formerly eEye Digital Security). designed to identify system, application, database, OS and web application vulnerabilities via agent-based and/or agentless scanning.

Nexpose: Nexpose is a powerful vulnerability management solution, providing comprehensive asset visibility across your environment. You can use Nexpose to scan a network for vulnerabilities. Nexpose identifies the active services, open ports, and running applications on each machine.

QualysGuard: QualysGuard is a cloud-based vulnerability scanner renowned for its scalability. It provides comprehensive scanning, reporting, and patch management, making it ideal for large enterprises.

Acunetix: Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner crawls your web site, automatically analyzes your web applications and finds perilous SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities that expose your on line business. Concise reports identify where web applications need to be fixed, thus enabling you to protect your business from impending hacker attacks!.

Rapid7 InsightVM: Rapid7 InsightVM delivers live monitoring and real-time insight into vulnerabilities. Its integration with the Rapid7 Insight platform enables detailed analytics and vulnerability management. The tool’s automation features and in-depth reporting help security teams prioritize critical risks and streamline remediation efforts.

OpenSCAP: OpenSCAP is ideal for security teams who adhere strictly to regulatory frameworks like HIPAA and PCI-DSS. is a free and open-source vulnerability and compliance scanner.

• Digital Forensics Tools •

What is Digital Forensics?
Digital forensics is a field of forensic science. It is used to investigate cybercrimes but can also help with criminal and civil investigations. For instance, cybersecurity teams may use digital forensics to identify the cybercriminals behind a malware attack, while law enforcement agencies may use it to analyze data from the devices of a murder suspect.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

Digital Forensics Framework: DFF is an Open Source computer forensics platform built on top of a dedicated Application Programming Interface (API). DFF proposes an alternative to the aging digital forensics solutions used today.

SluethKit: The Sleuth Kit® (TSK) is a library and collection of command line tools that allow you to investigate disk images. The core functionality of TSK allows you to analyze volume and file system data. The library can be incorporated into larger digital forensics tools and the command line tools can be directly used to find evidence.

AutoSpy: Autopsy is the premier end-to-end open source digital forensics platform. Autopsy® is a digital forensics platform and graphical interface to The Sleuth Kit® and other digital forensics tools.

Volatility: The Volatility Framework is a completely open collection of tools, implemented in Python under the GNU General Public License, for the extraction of digital artifacts from volatile memory (RAM) samples.

GuyMager: The forensic imager contained in this package, guymager, was designed to support different image file formats, to be most user-friendly and to run really fast. It has a high speed multi-threaded engine using parallel compression for best performance on multi-processor and hyper-threading machines.

ForeMost: Foremost is a forensic program to recover lost files based on their headers, footers, and internal data structures. Foremost can work on image files, such as those generated by dd, Safeback, Encase, etc, or directly on a drive. The headers and footers can be specified by a configuration file or you can use command line switches to specify built-in file types.

BinWalk: Binwalk is a tool for searching a given binary image for embedded files and executable code. Specifically, it is designed for identifying files and code embedded inside of firmware images. Binwalk uses the libmagic library, so it is compatible with magic signatures created for the Unix file utility.

Wireshark: Wireshark is a network tool that you can use to find problems. It helps you with troubleshooting and capturing packets on the network. Wireshark has many features, such as filtering and formatting data in different ways, that will help you search for what you need. You can also see the data in hexadecimal.

Xplico: Xplico is a free and open-source network forensics analysis tool that allows for the packet capture, reconstruction, filtering and inspection of captured data. It is not a network protocol analyzer. It has a GUI interface as well as CLI access to allow users without programming knowledge to be able to use it too.

Bulk Extractor: Bulk Extractor is an information extraction solution that scans files, directories, or disk images and extracts data without parsing file systems or file system structures. This allows parallel access to various parts of the disk, which is faster than regular tools.

• Phishing Tools •

What is Phishing?
Phishing is a common type of cyber attack that targets individuals through email, text messages, phone calls, and other forms of communication. Phishing refers to an attempt to steal sensitive information, typically in the form of usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information or other important data in order to utilize or sell the stolen information.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

GoPhish: Gophish is an open source e-fishing tool kit designed for businesses for the purpose of penetration testers. It enables quick and easy setup and execution of phishing engagements and security training.

HiddenEye: Modern Phishing Tool With Advanced Functionality And Multiple Tunnelling Services [ Android-Support-Available ] .

SocialFish: The most complete Phishing Tool, with 32 templates +1 customizable. This is a Phishing Tool & Information Collector.

EvilURL: Generate unicode domains for IDN Homograph Attack and detect them.

EvilGinx2: evilginx2 is a man-in-the-middle attack program used for phishing and cookie stealing, which in turn allows bypassing 2-factor authentication and gives us access in victims’ accounts.

SEToolkit: The Social-Engineer Toolkit is an open source penetration testing framework designed for social engineering. SET has a number of custom attack vectors that allow you to make a credible attack easily and quickly.

Wifiphisher: Using Wifiphisher, penetration testers can easily achieve man-in-the-middle against wireless clients by performing targeted Wi-Fi connection attacks.

BlackEye: BLACKEYE is an upgrade from original ShellPhish Tool (https://shellphish.net) by thelinuxchoice under GNU LICENSE. It is the most complete Phishing Tool, with 32 templates +1 customizable.

Zphisher: Zphisher is a powerful open-source tool Phishing Tool. It became very popular nowadays and is used to do phishing attacks on Target. Zphisher is easier than Social Engineering Toolkit.

Shellphish: Phishing Tool for Facebook, Instagram, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, Steam, Twitter, PlayStation, GitHub, Twitch, Pinterest, Snapchat, Linkedin, Ebay, Dropbox, Protonmail, Spotify, Reddit, Adobe, DeviantArt, Badoo, Origin, CryptoCoin, Yahoo, WordPress, Yandex, StachoverFlow & VK. This is a modified version of ShellFish, ShellPhish & Zphisher.

• Exploitation Tools •

What is Exploitation?
exploit is a piece of software, data or sequence of commands that takes advantage of a vulnerability to cause unintended behavior or to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. typically for malicious purposes such as installing malware. An exploit is not malware itself, but rather it is a method used by cybercriminals to deliver malware.
So Here is a List of Top 10 Tools:

Burp Suite: This is a web proxy that is found in Kali Linux. It allows you to intercept traffic between your computer and the web server. Using this proxy, you can change the values that are submitted to the web server, sending anything from malicious characters to unexpected entries, to break the web application.

Metasploit-Framework: Metasploit Framework is basically a penetration testing tool that exploits the website and validates vulnerabilities. This tool contains the basic infrastructure, specific content, and tools necessary for penetration testing and vast security assessment.

SQLMap: SQLMap is an open-source tool that is used to automate the process of manual SQL injection over a parameter on a website. It detects and exploits the SQL injection parameters itself all we have to do is to provide it with an appropriate request or URL.

OWASP ZAP: Another web proxy tool is OWASP ZAP. This is an alternative to BurpSuite and is also found in Kali Linux. It can perform well in environments where BurpSuite cannot. When it comes to choosing a proxy tool, it is a matter of preference.

ExploitDB: This is one of the most popular free exploit databases around, known as ‘Exploit DB.’ This project from Offensive Security aims to be a collection of public exploits and vulnerable software available for vulnerability research and penetration testing purposes.

Core Impact: Core Impact is designed to enable security teams to conduct advanced penetration tests with ease. With guided automation and certified exploits, this powerful penetration testing software enables you to safely test your environment using the same techniques as today’s attackers.

Cobalt Strike: Cobalt Strike is an adversary simulation software designed to test IT infrastructure for resilience against advanced cyberattacks. The technology emulates realistic threats in live attacks, enabling organizations to assess their vulnerabilities and better protect themselves.

BeEF: BeEF or Browser Exploitation Framework is basically a penetration testing tool that runs and gets executed on the web browser. It also allows professional penetration testers to use client-side attack vectors to assess the actual security posture of a target environment.

Armitage: Armitage is a tool that is used to visualize targets, recommend exploits, and expose exploitation features in the framework. Armitage is basically a scriptable red team collaboration tool for the Metasploit framework in other words it is a GUI version of the Metasploit framework.

Frida: Frida is a dynamic instrumentation toolkit that you can install in Kali Linux. It allows you to perform dynamic analysis of a mobile application as it runs. You can change components of the mobile application straight from memory and even alter input, allowing you to perform functions that were not otherwise possible. It allows you to write your scripts, is cross-platform and is free.

Disclaimer:

This tools list includes both free and paid tools. These tools are for learning and educational purposes only, Means help you get hands-on experience in cybersecurity. They should never be used for anything illegal or unethical. Our goal is to help you to build your skills and knowledge in cybersecurity. Also it’s useful for preparing for certifications (OSCP, CEH, etc.). So always make sure you’re using these tools responsibly and within the law. Our mission is to make cybersecurity a top priority.

References:

Share the Post:

CyberXsociety