As we know, penetration testing or pen testing is a simulated cyber-attack where professional ethical hackers break into corporate networks to find weaknesses before the attackers. It is a simulated cyber-attack where the pen-tester uses the tools and techniques available to malicious hackers. Earlier, hacking was difficult and required a lot of manual bit fiddling, however, now a variety of automated tools and techniques are available for the same. Some of these tools are-
- Netsparker Security Scanner- It can handle large scale operations, uses automation to check for false positives.
- Acunetix Scanner Slick tool with plenty of automation can detect and fix issues before they arise.
- Network Mapper (NMAP) Free and open-source utility for network discovery and security auditing.
- Metasploit Lightweight command-line tool, trusty for assessing and keeping you on top of threats.
- BeEF Solid command-line tool, great for monitoring the network’s ‘open door’ – the browser – for any unusual behaviour.
- Wireshark A trusty network protocol analyser with a well-known user interface packs a lot of power.
- w3af Python-based network protocol analyser with similar features to Wireshark, yet very extendable.
- Acunetix Scanner Slick tool with plenty of automation can detect and fix issues before they arise.
- John the Ripper Great command-line password cracker to test how secure the user passwords on your network are.
- Aircrack mainly focuses on Wi-Fi security and known vulnerabilities.
- Burp Suite Pen Tester Comprehensive set of tools, great for analysing and tracking traffic between servers and client browsers.
Pen testing is extremely important for the integrity of system security and choosing the right kind of tool is essential. As ThoughtStorm, we help our client identify the most suitable tool and perform pen-tests as well.
