Hacking Tools are programs designed to find and exploit weaknesses in computer systems, web applications, servers, and networks. Hacking tools have made the task of the hackers much simpler when compared to the times they did not exist.

But it does not mean that if the Hacker is equipped with good Hacking Tools, his entire job is smoothly done. The hacker still requires the skills of all the aspects of hacking equally well.

In past decades, ethical hacking and penetration testing were performed by only a few security experts. Now almost anyone can report security incidents. Ethical hacking and online security involve a lot of efforts. Many hacking tools are used to test and keep the software secure. The same hacking tools can also be used by hackers for exploitation.

Top 15 Best Hacking Tools For Ethical Hackers

Nmap stands for Network Mapper. This Hacking Tool is open-source software that is used widely for network discovery and security auditing. Nmap was originally designed to scan large networks, but it can work equally well for single hosts. Network administrators also find it useful for tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime.

Features:

what hosts are available on the network,

what services those hosts are offering,

what operating systems they are running on,

what type of firewalls are in use and other such characteristics.

Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Netsparker Hacking Tool is an easy to use web application security scanner software that can automatically find SQL Injection, XSS and other vulnerabilities in your web applications and web services. The Hacking Tool is available as an on-premises and SAAS solution.

Features:

Dead accurate vulnerability detection with the unique Proof-Based Scanning Technology.

The minimal configuration required. The scanner automatically detects URL rewrite rules, custom 404 error pages.

REST API for seamless integration with the SDLC, bug tracking systems.

Fully scalable solution. Scan 1,000 web applications in just 24 hours.

Metasploit is one of the most powerful hacking tools. Metasploit Hacking Tool is an open-source cyber-security project that allows infosec professionals to use different penetration testing tools to discover remote software vulnerabilities. It comes in two versions − commercial and free edition. Metasploit Hacking Tool can be used with the command prompt or with Web UI.

Features:

Conduct basic penetration tests on small networks

Run spot checks on the exploitability of vulnerabilities

Discover the network or import scan data

Browse exploit modules and run individual exploits on hosts

Aircrack-ng provides different hacking tools for evaluating Wi-Fi network security. All are command-line tools. For Wi-Fi security.

The Hacking Tool focuses on monitoring, attacking, testing, and cracking. It supports Linux, Windows, OS X, Free BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and eComStation 2.

Features:

Aircrack-ng can focus on Replay attacks, de-authentication, fake access points, and others.

It supports exporting data to text files.

It can check Wi-Fi cards and driver capabilities.

It can crack WEP keys and for that, it makes use of FMS attack, PTW attack, and dictionary attacks.

It can crack WPA2-PSK and for that, it makes use of dictionary attacks.

Cain & Abel is a password recovery hacking tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. This hacking tool has the capability to recover various kinds of passwords using techniques such as cracking the password hashes by using brute-forcing, dictionary attacks, cryptanalysis attacks and packet sniffing in the network. Cain & Abel is a useful hacking tool for security consultants, professional penetration testers and everyone else who plans to use it for ethical reasons.

Features:

sniffing the network,

racking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks,

recording VoIP conversations,

decoding scrambled passwords,

recovering wireless network keys,

revealing password boxes,

uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols.

Nikto is another favorite, well-known hacking tools as part of the Kali Linux Distribution. Other popular Linux distributions such as Fedora already come with Nikto available in their software repositories as well. This security tool is used to scan web servers and perform different types of tests against the specified remote host. The Hacking Tool is a clean and simple command-line interface that makes it really easy to launch any vulnerability testing against your target.

Features:

Detects default installation files on any OS

Detects outdated software applications.

Runs XSS vulnerability tests

Launches dictionary-based brute force attacks

Exports results in plain text, CSV or HTML files

Intrusion detection system evasion with LibWhisker

Integration with Metasploit Framework

Ettercap is a Hacking Tool that supports cross-platform. Using Ettercap’s API, you can create custom plugins. Even with the proxy connection, this hacking software can do sniffing of HTTP SSL secured data. Ettercap Hacking Tool is a free and open-source network security hacking tool for man-in-the-middle attacks on LAN.

This hacking tool can be used for computer network protocol analysis and security auditing. It runs on various Unix-like operating systems including Linux, Mac OS X, BSD and Solaris, and on Microsoft Windows.

Features:

Sniffing of live connections.

Content filtering.

Active and passive dissection of many protocols.

Network and host analysis.

SuperScan Hacking Tool is a powerful hacking software for network administrators to scan TCP ports and resolve hostnames.SuperScan is a free connect-based port scanning software designed to detect open TCP and UDP ports on a target computer, determine which services are running on those ports, and run queries such as whois, ping, ICMP traceroute, and Hostname lookups.

Perform ping scans and port scans using any IP range.

Features:

Perform ping scans and port scans using any IP range.

can any port range from a built-in list or any given range.

View responses from connected hosts.

Modify the port list and port descriptions using the built-in editor.

Merge port lists to build new ones.

Connect to any discovered open port.

Assign a custom helper application to any port.

Maltego is a hacking tool for link analysis and data mining. This hacking tool is an open-source forensic and intelligence software used for gathering information in all phases of security-related work. This Hacking Tool saves your time and money by performing the task on time in a smarter way.

For the discovery of data from open sources and visualizing the information in graphical format, This hacking tool provides the library of transforms.

The Hacking Tool performs real-time data-mining and information gathering. this hacking tool can work with very large graphs. The Hacking Tool also supports Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.

Features:

Represents the data on node-based graph patterns.

Maltego XL can work with large graphs.

It will provide you the graphical picture, thereby telling you about the weak points and abnormalities of the network.

Wireshark Hacking Tool is a free and open-source packet analyzer software. This hacking tool is used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. This Hacking tool lets you see what’s happening on your network at a microscopic level and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many commercial and non-profit enterprises, government agencies, and educational institutions.

Features:

Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time

Live capture and offline analysis

Standard three-pane packet browser

Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others

Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility

The most powerful display filters in the industry

Rich VoIP analysis

Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly

Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platform)

Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2

Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis

Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text

John the Ripper is a hacking tool for password cracking. This hacking tool can be used on Windows, DOS, and Open VMS. The Hacking Tool is an open-source hacking tool. This Hacking Tool is created for detecting weak UNIX passwords.

This Hacking Tool has the capability to combine several password crackers into a single package which has made it one of the most popular cracking tools for hackers.

Features:

Features: John the Ripper can be used to test various encrypted passwords.

It performs dictionary attacks.

It provides various password crackers in one package.

It provides a customizable cracker.

Best For: It is fast in password cracking.

Angry IP Scanner hacking software is a fast port and IP address scanner. This Hacking Tool is a lightweight and cross-platform application that has the capacity to scan the IP addresses in any range and also in their ports. The Hacking Tool simply pings each IP address.

Features:

Scans local networks as well as the Internet

Free and open-source tool

Random or file in any format

Exports results in many formats

Extensible with many data fetchers

Provides command-line interface

Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux

No need for Installation

SQLMAP is a cool cyber-security hacking tool written in Python that helps security researchers to launch SQL code injection tests against remote hosts. With SQLMap hacking tool you can detect and test different types of SQL-based vulnerabilities to harden your apps and servers, or to report vulnerabilities to different companies.

Features:

Multiple database server support: Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MSSQL, MS Access, DB2 or Informix.

Automatic code injection capabilities

Password hash recognition

Dictionary-based password cracking

User enumeration

Get password hashes

View user privileges and databases

Database user privilege escalation

Dump table information

Executes remote SQL SELECTS

OpenVAS Hacking Tool (also known as the old classic “Nessus”) is an open-source network scanner used to detect remote vulnerabilities in any hosts. One of the best-known network vulnerability scanners. This Hacking Tool is very popular among system administrators and DevOps and infosec professionals.

Features:

Powerful web-based interface

+50,000 network vulnerability tests

Simultaneous multiple host scanning

Able to stop, pause and resume scan tasks

False-positive management

Scheduled scans

Graphics and statistics generation

Exports results to plain text, XML, HTML or LateX

Powerful CLI available

Fully integrated with Nagios monitoring software

While its web-based interface allows it to be run from any operating system, a CLI is also available and works well for Linux, Unix, and Windows operating systems.

Medusa is one of the best online brute-force hacking tool speedy, parallel password crackers that are available on the Internet. This Hacking Tool has been designed by the members of the website foofus.net.

Features: