Hacking Tools - Hacking Tools & Growth Marketing Tools

Debugging Tools & Software (Find Bugs)

Debugging Hacking Tools To Use In 2023

Understanding how to fix glaring coding problems makes you a better hacker because you’ll understand where the vulnerabilities are.

If you’re a coder or programmer of any description using any coding language or library then you’ll certainly be aware of the importance of bug testing and fixing.

Debugging tools are a must for anyone serious software developer, programmer and of course, nefarious hacker.

We’ve listed a bunch of debugging tools (that we hope) you will find useful in your perennial quest to seek bugs in software, code, and programs.

It’s also worth mentioning for those that are interested in bug bounty programs that ‘de-bugging tools’ are definitely very useful when it comes to finding vulnerabilities that might exist on platforms, networks or others.

Recommended Debugging Tools

GDB: “The GNU Project Debugger”

IDA Pro

Immunity Debugger

windbg

GDB: The GNU Project Debugger

GDB, or, the GNU Project debugger, is a cybersecurity pentesting/ hacker tool that allows the user to audit and discover what is being executed within a web app or program.

GDB is especially helpful for developers or programmers that are keen to understand why their application or program is crashing or whether their code has any vulnerabilities. GDB is a free hacking tool released under the GNU General Public License and was modeled after DBX Debugger which works on all Operating Systems including all Unix-like systems and works for many programming languages that includes C, C++, Ada, Free Pascal, Fortan, Java and many more.

What are the Typical Uses for GDB?

GDB has four major uses; these are: Seeing what happens when you start your program, detailing anything that might be affecting its’ behavior. Seeing what happens when you stop your program at specified actions or times of action. Investigate and try and understand why your program has stopped working the way it is meant to and alter things in your program to allow the developer to experiment with correcting the effects of a bug.

IDA PRO

IDA is a multi-platform (including Linux) multi-processor disassembler and debugger that programmers and developers can use to debug their applications. The ‘IDA Disassembler and Debugger’ have become a popular tool when evaluating code that is not working the way that it should be. Furthermore, IDA Pro allows the user to analyze possible vulnerabilities. According to the developer, the ‘IDA Disassembler works as close as is possible to the original source code’ hence why it is popular for those seeking a good debugger tool.

Is IDA Pro Free?

The latest full version of this tool is commercial but you can download a less capable and earlier version (version 5.0) for free.

Does IDA Pro Work on all Operating Systems?

This tool works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for IDA Pro?

Two of the key features of this tool are Multitarget Disassembler and Multitarget Debugger.

Multitarget Disassembler is a Disassembler module for a huge number of processors. It has full extendability and interactivity and closes as possible to high-level source code. While Multitargert Debugger is a debugger that adds dynamic analysis to the data gathered by the disassembler. It also offers complete features expected from a debugger.

Immunity Debugger

The Immunity CANVAS pentesting tool can be used to test how vulnerable your system really is. This hacking tool ships with purposely designed vulnerability exploitation modules. The modules that have been written to discover exploits. Immunity CANVAS provides a solution for any organization to have a concrete picture of their security profile.

Is Immunity Debugger Free?

Yes, Immunity Debugger is free to download.

Does Immunity Debugger Work on all Operating Systems?

Immunity Debugger works on Windows operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Immunity Debugger?

Immunity Debugger is used to analyze malware, write exploits and reverse engineer binary files. This tool builds on a solid user interface that includes function graphing, its the industry’s first analysis tool build only for heap creation and a huge and support Python API for easy extensibility.

WINDBG

WinDbg, like OllyDbg, is a multipurpose debugger for Microsoft Windows that is distributed by Microsoft. This hacker tool can be used to debug mode applications and drivers. The tool can also be used to find bugs within the operating system itself, i.e. within the kernel mode. WinDbg runs from a GUI application. Many users of this tool also tend to use the Visual Studio Debugger. WinDbg can be used for debugging kernel-mode memory dumps.

For those that don’t know, ‘kernel-mode memory dumps’ is the data that is accumulated from the ‘Blue Screen Of Death’. WinDbg can also be used for post-mortem debugging. WinDbg also has the ability to automatically load debugging symbol files (for example PDB files) from a server by matching various criteria (e.g., timestamp, CRC, single or even the multiprocessor version).

Is WinDbg Free?

All official versions are free.

Does WinDbg Work on all Operating Systems?

No, It only works on Windows operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for WinDbg?

The primary purpose of this tool is to debug memory dumps after Windows operating system encounters a crash or what others call the “Blue Screen of Death”. This tool can also let you debug in Kernel mode.

Popular Debugging FAQ

What Does “Debugging” Mean?

Debugging is the process that software programmers will execute to be able to detect and remove existing and potential errors (which are referred to as ‘bugs’) in software code. They do this to prevent unexpected crashes and future problems. The main reason why we perform debugging checks is to prevent the incorrect operation of a software or system and exercising this operation will find and resolve bugs or defects.

What Are Instruction-set Simulators?

A debugger is a computer tool (which can also be used by hackers to test and debug software. Debuggers may use instruction-set simulators as opposed to running a program directly on the processor to achieve a higher level of control over its operational execution.

Why Is Debugging Called That Way?

Credit for the terms “bug” and “debugging” are widely attributed to Admiral Grace Hopper in the mid-1940s. Whilst was working on a Mark II computer at Harvard University, her associates found that a moth has lodged itself in a relay and had short-circuited the system. Commenting on this she wrote in her diary: “First actual case of bug being found” and the term “debugging” came into existence.

How Important Is It To Debug?

Debugging is a vital step in being able to test and find errors or “bugs” in a program or application so that the problem (or “bugs”) can be fixed thereby making the program function in the way it was desired.

Typically this is done pre-commercial launch.

What Is Meant By Post Mortem Debugging?

The “Post Mortem Debugging Process” is a process in which, with the use of several tools (many listed in this resource) you’d examine a memory dump when an issue occurs and later analyze it offline. The intention being of discovering errors within the code and logs.

What Is The Debugging Process?

The software engineer would typically examine process ID’s and execute a bunch of commands through logic. Debugging tools then read and write on the targets’ virtual memory, and try to “fuzz it” by for example adjusting its register values through APIs provided by the OS.

Why Bother Debugging?

Debugging is the routine process of locating and removing computer program bugs, errors or abnormalities, which is methodically handled by software programmers via debugging tools. Debugging checks, detects and corrects errors or bugs to allow proper program operation according to set specifications.

What Is USB Debugging And Is It Safe?

USB Debugging allows an Android device to communicate in tandem with another computer running the Android SDK to use advanced operations such as bug-fixing. It’s a useful mobile tool.

Is It Possible To Turn Off “USB Debugging”?

You can turn off USB debugging on your Android by going to Settings, Developer Options, and then turn off USB debugging. After you turn off USB debugging you may want to reboot your mobile or Android device.

Encryption Tools & Software

Encryption Communication Tools To Use In 2023

Once upon a time, there was the Caesar Cipher.

And, even before then, there were encryption v.0.0.0.1 which was to shave the hair off a slave, write the ‘encrypted’ message, let the hair grow back and then the slave (messenger) would physically go and report to the recipient of the message.

Before the Diffie-Helman key exchange security agencies (GCHQ, NSA and 5 Eyes) were able, for the most part, to read secret messages. Codes could be broken prior to Diffie-Hellman and later RSA (Rivest, Adelman, and Shamir) pioneering work.

Before we go on any further, with respect to the history of encryption we should offer a brief mention to the genius that was James Ellis who is credited for being the real first person to create the two-key encryption method but who has largely been forgotten about.

Without digressing further, what we’ve done on this resource is to list a bunch of encryption tools and links to encryption software that we hope you will find useful.

Recommended Encryption Tools

Tor

This is one of the most popular and best-known encryption services you can get online. Notorious for also being able to access the “Dark Web” Widely accepted as a service that is both used by the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ of the Internet, the truth is that Tor is a great service and if you are even remotely interested in the cybersecurity space then this is a tool that you must become very familiar with.

In summary, Tor is essentially a network of virtual tunnels that allows users to communicate privately online.

Remember when using Tor that the exit nodes of Tor are sometimes run by malicious parties that can sniff your traffic so evade authenticating using an insecure network protocol.

Is Tor Free?

Yes, Tor is free.

How does Tor Work?

Tor makes the user anonymous because it relays data from one node to another. “Tor” is an abbreviation for “The Onion Router” (hence the logo) so imagine that multiple nodes are like the layers of an onion that are bounced around the world.

Does Tor Work on all Operating Systems?

Tor natively works on Linux, MAC OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

What are the Typical Uses for Tor?

End-users use Tor to keep websites (and in most uses, the authorities) from tracking their search queries, browsing history and messaging. One of Tor’s most popular uses is to hide the real IP address (location) of the user. Here are two excellent uses of Tor: firstly, rape and abuse victims can use private and secure chat rooms and web forums, and secondly, journalists can communicate more safely with one another.

Stunnel

This tool is designed to work as an SSL encryption wrapper between remote servers and remote clients. Stunnel can benefit from FIPS 140-2 validation of OpenSSL FIPS Object Modules. A scanned FIPS 140-2 Validation Certificate document is available for download on the NIST web page. The Windows binary installer is compiled with FIPS 140-2 support. The FIPS mode of operation is no longer enabled by default since stunnel 5.00.

Is Stunnel Free?

All official versions are free of charge.

Does Stunnel Work on all Operating Systems?

It works on Linux, Windows and MAC OS X.

What are the Typical Uses for Stunnel?

Stunnel can be used to add SSL functionality to commonly used functions such as POP2, POP3, and IMAP servers. The bonus is that if you use stunnel with one of the last-mentioned protocols, you will not have to make any changes in tools code. Stunnel uses the OpenSSL library for cryptography.

Open SSH

OpenSSH is a very popular SSH cybersecurity tool that is used by millions of web users. As any n00b can tell you, protocols like telnet, rlogin, and FTP are unsafe. OpenSSH gained immediate popularity by being able to transmit encrypted communication and connectivity. The main benefit that OpenSSH brings is that it encrypts all traffic (including passwords) to effectively prevent eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other attacks such as Man In The Middle cyberattacks. Additionally, OpenSSH provides secure tunneling capabilities and several authentication methods and supports all SSH protocol versions.

Is OpenSSH Free?

Yes, OpenSSH is free!

Does OpenSSH Work on all Operating Systems?

OpenSSH works on Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

What are the Typical Uses for OpenSSH?

The OpenSSH IT security tool and program help by replacing insecure clients and protocols with the SSH Program, for example, rcp with scp, and FTP with sftp. OpenSSH also ships with SSHD which is the server side version of this popular security tool. There are a bunch of other uses with OpenSSH including ssh-add, ssh-agent, ssh-keysign, ssh-keyscan, ssh-keygen and sftp-server.

Gnupg PGP

GnuPG is a well-known encryption system that’s originally written by Phil Zimmerman.

This tool (or library) helps users secure their data from risks. This tool is regarded as being a leading open-source solution to the implementation of the PGP standard.

Is GnuPG Free?

GnuPG is always free of charge.

Does GnuPG Work on all Operating Systems?

This tool works on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

What are the Typical Uses for GnuPG?

GnuPG is a free version of the OpenPGP (also known as RFC4880 or PGP). This tool (used by thousands of security professionals) allows the user to encrypt and sign data and communication. GnuPG also ships with a useful key management system that can be used for all types of public key directories. This tool, which is also referred to as ‘GPG’ can only be used from the command line. GnuPG can be used with many applications including S/MIME and Secure Shell (ssh).

Keepass

Keepass is a popular password manager available on the internet. It can store a lot of passwords that can be unlocked by one master password. It’s not a cracking tool, however.

The benefit of this tool is that you just need to remember one high-quality password and will still be able to use unique passwords for different accounts. It also includes a feature that automatically fills passwords in web forms.

Is Keepass Free?

Yes, official versions of this tool are free of charge.

Does Keepass Work on all Operating Systems?

Keepass works on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

What are the Typical Uses for Keepass?

Keepass has strong security and supports Advanced Encryption Standard and Twofish algorithm to encrypt its database of passwords. This portable hacking tool doesn’t require installation so you can carry it on a USB stick and runs on different operating systems. You can also use this tool to transfer databases from one computer to another. If you can’t think of a good master password, don’t worry because this tool can generate a strong password for you.

Keepassx

The complete database is designed to work by always being encrypted either with AES or a Twofish encryption algorithm using a 256 bit key.

KeepassX is a tool for users with very high demands when it regards to secure personal data management. KeePassX offers a utility for secure password creation and the password generator is highly customizable, fast and it’s very simple to use.

Is Keepassx Free?

Yes, KeepassX is free.

Does Keepassx Work on all Operating Systems?

Keepass works on Linux and Windows operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Keepassx?

KeepassX saves various data like usernames, passwords, attachments, URLs, and comments into one database. Users can also put user-defined icons and titles for each entry. These entries can be sorted into groups that are also customizable.

Openssl

This is not strictly speaking a ‘hacking tool’ rather it is a project (called the ‘OpenSSL Project’) which aims to combine a fully commercial solution This tool provides cybersecurity professionals with a way to install a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols. This project has a huge and very loyal following – so if you are looking for an SSL Solution then look no further.

Is OpenSSL Free?

Yes. OpenSSL is free.

Does OpenSSL Work on all Operating Systems?

OpenSSL works on Most Unix-like operating systems including Solaris, MAC OS X and the 4 open source BSD operating systems. It also works for OpenVMS and Microsft Windows.

What are the Typical Uses for OpenSSL?

OpenSSL is primarily used to create your own Certification Authority (CA) with which you can generate a certificate to be used in other programs. This tool also lets users connect to an https service, generate random strings or numbers, online verification of certificates using the command line, extract information from a certificate, benchmark with OpenSSL, generate an MD5 hash and benchmark remote connections.

Openvpn

OpenVPN is a popular and widely used hacker tool developed by OpenVPN Technologies. The purpose of this tool is to allow encrypted communication. This cybersecurity organization has a focus on creating virtual network software that allows users to communicate securely in a reliable and scalable fashion. OpenVPN is by definition secure and follows the principles of traditional virtual private networks (VPN) and is extremely popular having been downloaded more than 3 million times!

Is OpenVPN Free?

Yes, it’s free for use.

Does OpenVPN Work on all Operating Systems?

Linux, Windows and MAC OS X. This tool is also available for your mobile phones.

What are the Typical Uses for OpenVPN?

OpenVPN allows peers to validate each other using a shared secret key, username, password or certificates. If you used it in a multiclient server configuration, it will allow the server to release an authentication certificate for every client. This tool also gives users an extensible framework that is designed to ease site-specific customization.

Password Safe

Password Safe is an open-source password database utility. Users can keep their passwords encrypted and unlock it by using or entering a single “Master Key”.

Is Password Safe Free?

Yes! This tool is free and you can also donate to keep the project going.

Does Password Safe Work on all Operating Systems?

This tool works on Microsoft Windows and has a beta, command-line version for Ubuntu and Debian operating systems.

Password Safe enables users to create a secured and encrypted username and password safely and easily. Users only have to create a single master key/password in order to unlock and access the list of your usernames and passwords.

FAQ

Is It Safe And Legal To Volunteer As A Tor Exit Node?

Legal? Basically yes (in the United States) but a good idea? Definitely not.

Your ISP will be able to read all your exit traffic and my gosh, there will likely be a lot of nefarious and sinister stuff that you will be (could be) liable for.

How Safe Is It To Use Tor?

The answer is, basically, yes – it is safe.

However, there are certain measures that you need to take, for example, it is highly recommended that you don’t use Javascript and always make sure that you are using the correct Tor software.

The most notable episode in which Cybersecurity Professionals considered Tor “might” be unsafe is when Gizmodo reported in December 2014 that a group of hackers had been able to get acquire enough Tor Relays to decloak the actual users within the Tor network (through the relays they “controlled”). Whilst that might have been the case the hackers did not have control of enough relays which were subsequently scrambled to have caused any real damage.

An example of someone being caught using Tor is Eldo Kim.

Is It Possible To Encrypt SMS, Text Messages?

Yes, you will need to open your device and install the Secret Message app. You then need to enter a secret key into the “Secret Key Box” at the top of the android app’s screen. To use you then simply type the message you want to encrypt into the Message box, hit “Encrypt” and tap “Send via SMS” to send the encrypted message to the receiver.

Is It Possible To Encrypt Gmail In 2020?

Right-click anywhere in the email body and select the “Encrypt Communication” option. Enter the desired password with which to encrypt your Gmail and click “OK.” Open the message in the recipient’s inbox. Right-click anywhere in the email body and select “Decrypt Communication.”

Is Google Drive Completely Encrypted?

The Google Drive that works on the Google Cloud and as such it can loosely be considered as being secure. However, Google Drive’s server-side encryption is not as tough as other platforms out there so if you feel that you have highly sensitive data then we’d perhaps suggest another solution.

Is It Possible To Recover Encrypted Data?

It depends. Almost impossible to answer just like that!

How Is Data Encrypted?

Data encryption converts data into another form, or code so that only users with access to a secret key (formally called a decryption key) or password can read it. There are 2 types of data. First is Encrypted data which is commonly referred to as ciphertext. Second, the unencrypted data is known as plaintext.

How Do I Encrypt A Computer?

There are a lot of ways to do that. The easiest way is to use an operating system called Linux. There is plenty of Distro’s that ship with the ability to secure and encrypt the hard drive when the system is first initialized and installed. My favorite for this is POP_OS.

How Secure Is Encrypted Email?

I can be very secure. If the processes have been configured accurately then encrypted email is protected. Authentication is also included in Email Encryption. Most emails from the sender are sent using plaintext and are transmitted in the clear (i.e. not encrypted) form. Emails that are sent using a Gmail or Outlook are encrypted by default.

Is It Possible To Forward Email That’s Been Encrypted?

Typically the answer is said to be “no”.

It varies on the email client and your setup. Often times forwarding a ciphertext email will mean that the recipient will not be able to read the email unless they have their own key.

How Do I Open Encrypted Gmail?

Yes probably. Simply open the encrypted Gmail email, get the body of the email and copy it to your clipboard, use the secret key that the sender shared with you and past the string. Tap the “Decrypt” button and you’ll be able to read the contents.

Can I Encrypt My Emails Using Gmail?

Yes, you can encrypt your emails using Gmail but it does come with certain limits. To make your emails more secure you would need to add an additional layer of client-side encryption, via third-party chrome extensions and add-ons.

The default Gmail encryption client does protect your emails as much as it can, and indeed Google’s servers encrypt emails both when they’re stored (data at rest) and when they’re being sent (data in motion). If you are seeking an even more secure email encryption solution we’d recommend Protonmail.

Is Gmail “Confidential Mode” 100% Encrypted?

All Gmail communication is end-to-end encrypted and zero-access encrypted. “Zero Access” means that not even the admin can read the emails. Gmail has a bunch of add-ons and extra features like for example the ability to set expiring dates on emails, which are destroyed after a period of time chosen by the sender. The decision, of course, is yours as to whether you 100% trust and believe Google’s Privacy Policies.

Is Gmail Encryption Always On?

Previously, Gmail began as optional. Now, it is always on. Not only are Gmail messages encrypted between recipients they are also encrypted as they travel around Google’s global data centers.

Are Mobile Apps Safe To Send Encrypted Messages On?

The answer is that it depends. We actually have a resource on that here.

What Is Onion Routing?

“Onion Routing” made most famous by Tor, is a process best described as being opposite to “peer-to-peer”. If you jump on PirateBay, BitTorrent or any of those other old-school peer-to-peer (bit-torrent) sites then you’re IP is exposed to everyone within the share. “Onion Routing” technology uses a series of intermediary nodes that in transit encrypt the data as it travels through the network.

The exit node also decrypts your traffic and the route that it took.

Die to this anonymizing process you, as a user, are “anonymous” owing to the fact that your data has been transmitted through “onion layers” that hide your true and real IP address.

Firewall Software & Tools

Firewall Tools You Can Use

This is the most skinny of all resources I have on this site, but the two tools I have listed I believe will be still best suited for 2023, although admittedly I haven’t used them in a few years now.

Firewalls as a technical term, when applied to Cybersecurity, is possibly one of the greatest ever ‘marketing coups’ with regards to its’ perception. The term ‘Firewall’ conjures up an instant image of protection and security but alas nothing could be further from the truth.

Firewalls are only as good as the human being behind it. The IT Team (perhaps ‘Security Team’) that manages the Firewall(s) will need to set-up rules for ingress and egress traffic as well as ensuring that the ruleset is all configuring correctly.

The patching of Firewalls is also of vital importance so just simply stating that you “have a Firewall so I’m ok!” is a misnomer.

In this resource, we list a bunch of Firewall solutions that we’d recommend. There are many (read: hundreds) of different Firewall solutions, vendors and strategies so tread carefully with this list.

The pricing of Firewalls and indeed all affiliated software connected therein (such as SOC Software) for example varies tremendously from it being Open Source to it being extremely expensive.

OpenBSD PF

Netfilter

OpenBSD PF

Packet Filter is this hacking tool’s method for filtering TCP/ IP traffic and running Network Address Translation. PF is also capable of normalizing and conditioning TCP/IP traffic.

This tool also provides bandwidth control and packet prioritization. Packet Filtering has been a part of the “GENERIC OpenBSD kernel” since OpenBSD 3.0. Previous kernel versions of OpenBSD shipped with a different firewall/ NAT that is no longer supported.

Is OpenBSD PF Free?

Yes, this product is absolutely free.

Does OpenBSD PF Work on all Operating Systems?

Just like Netfilter, OpenBSD only works for Linux operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for OpenBSD PF?

A lot of users love OpenBSD due to the fact that it handles networks address translation, gives you a bandwidth control, packet prioritization and can normalize TCP/IP traffic. Users of this tool will have access to features such as passive OS detection.

Netfilter

Netfilter is a classic Firewall hacking tool used by many within the cybersecurity industry. The tool (framework) essentially filters packets inside Linux 2.4.x and later kernels.

Netfilter is a series of hooks inside the Linux kernel that allows kernel modules to perform callback functions within the network stack. A registered callback function is then called back for every packet that traverses the respective hook within the network stack. iptables is a generic table structure for the definition of rulesets.

Each rule within an IP table consists of a number of classifiers (iptables matches) and one connected action (iptables target). netfilter, ip_tables, connection tracking (ip_conntrack, nf_conntrack) and the NAT subsystem together build the major parts of the framework.

Is Netfilter Free?

Yes!

Does Netfilter Work on all Operating Systems?

It’s only for Linux operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Netfilter?

Netfilter allows the user to filter packets, network addresses along with ports, translations (within the NA[P]T protocols) and another packet auditing.

FAQ

What Are The 3 Main Types Of Firewall?

The three basic types of firewalls that help companies to protect their data & devices and keep destructive elements out of their networks are Packet Filtering, Stateful Inspecting, and Proxy Server Firewalls.

What Is A Network Firewall?

A firewall is a system that serves as prevention against unauthorized access to or from a private network. A firewall can be executed either hardware or software form or a combination of both. It avoids and blocks unauthorized internet users from accessing private networks connected to the internet, especially intranets.

Why Are Firewalls Called “Firewalls?”

A firewall is basically referred to as a wall intended to confine a fire or potential fire within a building. Later uses refer to similar structures, such as the metal sheet separating the engine compartment of a vehicle or aircraft from the passenger compartment.

What Is Meant By Proxy Firewall?

A proxy firewall is a network security system that secures a network resources by filtering messages at the application layer. It is also called as an application firewall or gateway firewall.

What Is Meant By A Layer 3 Firewall?

Typically, firewalls are used to secure internal/private LAN from the Internet. It works at layer 3 and 4 of the OSI model. Layer 3 is the Network Layer where IP works and Layer 4 is the Transport Layer, where TCP and UDP function

How Does A Firewall Work?

Hardware firewalls work by examining the data that is found in the Internet and checking whether that information is safe. Simple firewalls, known as packet filters, examine the data itself for information such as its location and its source.

What Is A Hybrid Firewall?

Hybrid Firewall effectively protects your servers and workstations from malicious probes and unauthorized access. Packet Filtering Firewall. Blocks or allows packets through the network depending on the source/destination IP, protocols and ports.

How Do You Define A Firewall Attack?

A firewall can defeat an attack if it discards all the packets that arrive at the incoming side of the firewall; as long as the source IP is equal to one of the internal IPs. Source Routing Attacks are different since the attacker specifies the route to be taken by the packet with a hope to fool the firewall.

Can You Consider A Firewall As A Device?

A firewall can be classified either as hardware or software. A hardware firewall is a unit that is linked between the network and the device for connecting to the Internet. A software firewall is a program that is installed on the computer with the presence of the Internet connection.

How Much Is It Cost To Install A Firewall?

Host-based firewalls usually cost around $100 or less. Enterprise firewalls can cost over $25,000. The most popular medium-range business firewalls cost from $1500 to around $5000; so, in other words, yes – the price totally varies.

Does Mcafee Function As A Firewall?

McAfee firewall creates a wall between your computer and the internet. Further, the McAfee firewall provides complete inbound and outbound firewall protection. It trusts known good programs and helps block spyware, trojans, and key loggers

Digital Forensic Tools & Software

Digital Forensic Hacking Tools For Use In 2023

Cybercrime keeps growing. My research shows that Pre-COVID, i.e. BCV, (Before Corona Virus) the estimates were that Cybercrime will cost as much as $6 trillion annually by 2021. However, owing to the “desperation” many unemployed now feel, this figure might be a lot higher.

Digital Cybersecurity Forensics is a booming niche that will likely remain so for a long time.

Digital Forensics is a massive subject and requires meticulous planning and execution for it to be deemed successful. When we say ‘successful’ we refer to there being a guilty conviction for am incriminating cybercrime that took place.

Typically InfoSec Digital Forensics is dictated by the “Chain Of Custody” principle and vital to that process is the procuring and storing of evidence which is achieved by some of the tools that we’ve gone ahead and listed below.

Within all the different IT security careers we’d say that Digital Forensics ought to be one of the fastest-growing sectors within Cybersecurity. The sheer escalating level and variations of hacks all require investigation, analysis, and legal processes to secure convictions.

Autopsy

Autopsy is a digital forensics platform that works in a GUI environment. Autopsy works within ‘The Sleuth Kit (TSK)’ library is a collection of command-line forensic tools.

This tool allows the user to investigate disk images. The Sleuth Kit is used law enforcement, military, and corporate examiners to investigate what happened on a computer – and therefore if you would like to start a career in as a digital forensic investigator then a thorough understanding of this tool would be a clever and smart investment.

Is Autopsy Free?

Yes, this tool is free to use.

Does Autopsy Work on all Operating Systems?

It works on Linux, Windows and MAC OS X.

What are the Typical Uses for Autopsy?

The main purpose of TSK is to execute volumes, drives and file system data. The plug-in framework allows additional modules to view file contents and build automated systems. The library can be incorporated into larger digital forensics tools and the command line tools can be directly used to find evidence.

Maltego

Very possibly one of the best-known forensics and social engineering hacking tools on the market. It’s a very popular tool amongst those that are familiar with it.

Maltego is developed by Paterva and is a tool used for open-source forensics and intelligence. Its focus is to provide a library of transforms for the discovery of data from different open sources and visualize that data into a graph format which is suitable for data mining and link analysis.

Maltego allows building custom entities, allowing it to produce any type of information in addition to the types of basic entity which are part of the tool. The primary focus of this tool is to analyze real-world relationships between people, websites, groups, internet infrastructure, networks, domains and affiliations with social media services such as Facebook and Twitter.

This hacking tool has two types of reconnaissance options, personal and infrastructural. Personal reconnaissance includes personal information such as phone numbers, email addresses, mutual friends, social networking profiles, etc. while Infrastructural reconnaissance deals with the domains, covering DNS information such as mail exchangers, name servers, DNS to IP mapping and zone transfer tables.

Maltego sends clients’ information in the XML format over a secure HTTPS connection by using seed servers. Once the information is processed at the server-side, the results are brought back to the Maltego client. Getting all publicly available data using manual techniques and search engines is time-consuming but with Maltego, it automates the data gathering process to a great extent, thus saving a lot of time for the user/attacker.

Is Maltego Free?

Maltego CE and Casefile are free to download wherein Maltego XL and Maltego Classic are paid tools. Maltego XL is the premiere edition of this tool. Features and capabilities of Maltego Classic are included here but this is the enhanced version that can work on large graphs. This will also allow you to map out a clear threat picture of the entire network making it easy in identifying abnormalities or weak points.

Maltego Classic, on the other hand, is the professional version of Maltego that gives extended compatibilities and functionalities with the community version of the tool. This can also be used in a commercial environment in which free versions cannot. This paid tool can create far larger graphs compared to the community version since this has no limitation on the entities that can be returned from a single transform. You can also export the results from a range of different formats.

Does Maltego Work on all Operating Systems?

Maltego currently works on Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Maltego?

The primary focus of this tool is to analyze real-world relationships between data that is accessible through the internet which includes footprinting internet infrastructure and gathering data about people and organizations owning it. The connection between these pieces of data is found by using OSINT techniques by querying searches such as whois records, social networks, DNS records, different online APIs, extracting metadata and search engines. A wide range graphical layout results will be provided by this tool that allows for the clustering of data which makes relationships accurate and instant.

Encase

Commonly used by law enforcement, EnCase is forensics software and its use has made it one of the de-facto standards in forensics.

EnCase is not a free tool but you can request a demo in case you’re interested in using this tool.

Does EnCase Work on all Operating Systems?

EnCase is a Windows-only tool.

What are the Typical Uses for EnCase?

EnCase is primarily used in collecting information from a computer system by employing checksums to aid in detect tampering to evidence. It can collect information from different types of devices and produce concise forensic reports.

Helix3 Pro

Just like the previous tools, Helix3 Pro is a unique tool customized for computer forensics. It has been created very carefully to avoid touching the host computer.

The good thing is that Helix will not automatically mount swap space nor auto mount any devices attached.

Is Helix3 Pro Free?

No, Helix3 Pro is a commercial tool. There’s a free version of this tool but it’s older and not anymore supported.

Does Helix3 Pro Work on all Operating Systems?

This tool works natively on Linux operating systems, MAC OS X and Windows.

What are the Typical Uses for Helix3 Pro?

Helix3 Pro focuses on forensics tools and incident response techniques. It is designed to be used by individuals who have an understanding of these techniques. With this tool, users can create forensic images of all internal devices, search for specific file types like document files, graphic files, etc.

FAQ

What Is The Definition Of Digital Forensic Technology?

Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science that is concerned with identifying, recovering, investigating, validating, and presentation of facts regarding digital evidence found on computers or similar digital storage media devices.

What Is The Function Of Digital Forensic?

The main role of computer forensics techniques is to searching, preserving and analyzing information on computer systems to seek potential evidence for a trial. In the early days of computers, it was possible for a single detective to sort through files because storage capacity was so low.

Is It Crucial To Have Digital Forensic Installed?

Computer forensics very essential because it can save your organization money.

From a technical standpoint, the main purpose of computer forensics is to identify, collect, preserve, and analyze data in a way that preserves the integrity of the evidence collected so it can be used effectively in a legal case.

What’s The Point Of Digital Forensics?

Computers are instruments for carrying out cybercrime, and with the help of the burgeoning science of digital evidence forensics, law enforcement now uses computers to fight crime. Digital evidence is commonly associated with electronic crime, or e-crime, such as child pornography or credit card fraud.

How High Is The Demand For Computer Forensic Experts?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) categorizes the work computer forensics examiners do under the information security analyst category. According to 2017 data, it is expected that the demand for this job will rise up to 28 percent from 2016 to 2026, which is extremely fast.

How Does Digital Forensic Differ From “Information Security”?

Cyber security serves as a protection and defends the information systems from threats such as the misuse of systems, attackers, data theft, malware outbreaks, and system outages. While cyber forensics is the collection, preservation, acquisition, and analysis of digital artifacts for use in legal proceedings.

What Bachelor’s Degree Does A Computer Analyst Need To Start A Career In Digital Forensics?

Striving forensic computer analysts basically needs to pursue bachelor’s degree in a field such as digital forensics, computer forensics, or computer security.

How Does Digital Forensics Relates Towards Cyber Security?

Generally, Digital forensics clearly referred to as the search for and detection, recovery, and preservation of evidence found on digital systems, often for criminal or civil legal purposes

When Did The Digital Forensics Begin?

Since 1990s, the name which was previously known as digital forensics was commonly termed ‘computer forensics’. The first computer forensic technicians were law enforcement officers who were also computer hobbyists. In the USA in 1984 work began in the FBI Computer Analysis and Response Team (CART).

How Much Does A Digital Forensic Specialist Earn Per Year?

A computer forensic investigator receives a total amount of $58,000 annually this is according to the job site. While many private investigator jobs do not require degrees, computer forensic technicians are usually required to have bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice, computer science or even accounting.

I’m not sure how this figure has changed as a result of the Coronavirus devastation but I suspect that it is still a decent salary.

What Is The Work Of A Digital Forensic Analyst?

Computer forensic analysts generate their ideas by combining their computer science background with their forensic skills to recover information from computers and storage devices. Analysts are responsible for assisting law enforcement officers with cyber crimes and to retrieve evidence.

Intrusion Detection Tools, Software & Systems

Instrusion Detecting Tools To Use In 2023

In this resource, we list a bunch of ‘Intrusion Detection Systems’ software solutions.

Intrusion Detection Systems or simply ‘IDS’ to those in the know, is a software application that is considered as being a vital component within the security “defensive in-depth” or “layered defense”– something which is very fashionable at the moment.

For those that are completely new to the world of IDS’s, an IDS is a device or software application that is typically embedded in standalone hardware that monitors a network or systems for malicious activity or policy violations. When a hacker tries to enter a controlled network the IDS is (meant to) kick-in and notify the IT Admin Staff/ Security Team or System Administrators.

Snort

Snort is an open-source network intrusion detection system (NIDS) and network intrusion prevention system (NIPS) that is created by Martin Roesch. Since 2013, Snort has been owned by Cisco. Snort entered as one of the greatest open-source software of all time in InfoWorld’s Open Source Hall of Fame in 2009.

Is Snort Free?

No, Snort is a commercial tool.

Does Snort Work on all Operating Systems?

Snort works on Windows, Linux and MAC OS X operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Snort?

This tool is used to detect attacks or probes, including, but not limited to, a common gateway interface, operating system fingerprinting, server message block probes, buffer overflows and stealth port scans. It also has the ability to perform packet logging on IP networks and real-time analysis.

HoneyD

Created by Niels Provos, Honeyd is an open-source program that enables users to create and run virtual hosts on various computer networks. Users can configure these virtual hosts to mimic different types of servers, enabling them to simulate a never-ending number of computer network configurations.

Is Honeyd Free?

Yes, Honeyd is free of charge.

Does Honeyd Work on all Operating Systems?

Honeyd works on Linux operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Honeyd?

Honeyd is used primarily in the field of computer security. By using the tool’s ability to mimic several network hosts at once, Honeyd can act as a distraction to threats. If for example, a network has 2 real servers and only one of it is running Honeyd, it will appear that the network is running hundreds of servers to an attacker giving more time for the user to catch the hacker.

OSSEC HIDS

OSSEC HIDS is a multi-platform, scalable and open-source host-based intrusion detection system that has a great and powerful correlation and analysis engine.

The downloading and use of this product is free of charge.

Does OSSEC HIDS Work on all Operating Systems?

It runs on most operating systems, including Linux, macOS, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and Windows.

What are the Typical Uses for OSSEC HIDS?

OSSEC HIDS performs integrity checking, log analysis, time-based alerting, log analysis and active response. It is commonly used as a solution to SEM/SIM and because of its great log analysis engine, a lot of universities, ISPs and companies are running this tool to monitor and analyze their IDS, firewalls, authentication logs, and web servers.

OSSIM

OSSIM provides all of the features that a security professional needs from a SIEM offering – event collection, normalization, and correlation. Established and launched by security engineers out of necessity, OSSIM was created with an understanding of the reality many security professionals face: a SIEM is useless without the basic security controls necessary for security visibility.

AlienVault provides ongoing development for OSSIM because we believe that everyone should have access to sophisticated security technologies; this includes the researchers who need a platform for experimentation and the unsung heroes who can’t convince their companies that security is a problem.

Is OSSIM Free?

Yes OSSIM is free to use.

Does OSSIM Work on all Operating Systems?

OSSIM only works for Linux operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for OSSIM?

The primary use of this tool gives a detailed compilation of tools which when united will grant security and network administrators with a detailed view over each aspect of hosts, physical access devices, networks, and servers. This tool incorporates several tools including OSSEC HIDS and Nagios.

SGUIL

Sguil which is written in tcl/tk, is built for network security analysts. The main component of this tool is the GUI that gives access to session data in realtime. The tool can also capture raw packets. It also facilitates the practice of event-driven analysis and network security monitoring.

Sguil is built by network security analysts for network security analysts. Sguil’s main component is an intuitive GUI that provides access to real-time events, session data, and raw packet captures. Sguil facilitates the practice of Network Security Monitoring and event-driven analysis. The Sguil client is written in tcl/tk.

Is Sguil Free?

Yes, the use of this product is free.

Does Sguil Work on all Operating Systems?

Sguil can be run on any operating system that supports tcl/tk (including Linux, *BSD, Solaris, MacOS, and Win32).

What are the Typical Uses for Sguil?

Sguil is used to tie your IDS alerts into a database of TCP/IP sessions, packet logs, full content, and other information. For most of its data, Sguil uses a backend that enables users to perform SQL queries against various types of security events.

FAQ

What Is The Main Function Of Intrusion Detection System?

Intrusion detection systems act as a detector to anomalies and aim to catch hackers before they do real damage to your network. They can be either network- or host-based.

Intrusion detection systems work by either looking for signatures of known attacks or deviations of normal activity.

How Do You Define Intrusion Prevention?

An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is a system security/threat prevention technology that scans network traffic flows to detect and prevent vulnerability exploits.

What Do You Meant By Perimeter Intrusion Detection System?

Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systems (PIDS) are systems that provide help in an external environment detecting the presence of intruder which attempts to breach a perimeter.

Can You Give Me The Two Types Of Intrusion Detection System?

The two types of intrusion detection systems are 1) HIDS and 2) NIDS. Intrusion detection. IDS/IDPS offerings are generally categorized into two types of solutions: host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) and network-based intrusion detection. Intrusion System.

What Is The Major Reason Why We Need To Install A Intrusion Detection System?

A network intrusion detection system (NIDS) is extremely necessary for network security because it allows you to detect and respond to malicious traffic. The fundamental purpose of an intrusion detection system is to ensure IT personnel is notified when an attack or network intrusion might be taking place.

What Are The Benefits Of Installing Intrusion Detection System?

A host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) is a supplementary software installed on a system such as a workstation or a server. It offers protection to the individual host and can spot potential attacks and protect critical operating system files. The primary goal of any IDS is to monitor traffic.

What Is The Best Attribute That An Intrusion Detection System Can Provide?

Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a process of tracking the events that occured in a computer system or network and inspecting them for signs of intrusion.

The main detection techniques can be classified as misuse detection and anomaly detection. Misuse detection attempts to model abnormal behavior.

Can You Give A Brief Description About Network Intrusion Detection System?

A network-based intrusion detection system (NIDS) is used for tracking and examine network traffic to secure a system from network-based threats. A NIDS reads all inbound packets and searches for any suspicious patterns.

How Do IDS Works?

An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a system which monitors a network traffic for suspicious activity and declares an alert when such activity is discovered. It is a software application that scans a network or a system for harmful activity or policy breaching.

What Is Meant By Passive IDS?

A passive IDS is a system that’s configured to only monitor and analyze network traffic activity and alert an operator to potential vulnerabilities and attacks. A passive IDS is not capable of performing any protective or corrective functions on its own.

How Does Intrusion Detection System Serves A User?

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is an instrument software application that monitors a network or systems for malicious activity or policy violations.

Does An IDS Capable Of Detecting Malware?

An IDS can be a hardware device or software application that applies known intrusion signatures to detect and inspect both inbound and outbound network traffic for abnormal activities. This is done through System file comparisons against malware signatures. Scanning processes that detect signs of harmful patterns.

Packet Sniffers & Crafting Tools

Here Are Some Of The Best Packet Sniffing Tools For 2023

Yes indeed, the brunt of many a joke. The first time I spoke about Packet Sniffing to my business partner he thought I was being a pervert…

No, alas, packet sniffing is all about being able to detect and in many cases manipulate the packets that are flowing in and out of a network.

The tools and software that we are listing on this page we hope will be of use to you in your quest to improve your Cybersecurity skills!

The tools that we list here vary with usage but what we’ve done is tried to list as many genuinely useful packer sniffer tools that we have used in the past.

It’s all about the packets stupid!

The HTTP protocol and heck, the entire Internet, is dependent and committed to using the TCP/ IP and UDP protocols (as well as a bunch of other variations).

Anyone reading this page should be aware of the importance of understanding how protocols work if you are to try to break the flow or attempt to ‘corrupt’ the transmission of ‘packets’.

To those that are completely unfamiliar with packet behavior then we strongly suggest that you learn about it.

Being able to spoof and ‘trick’ packets is a major weakness in network security and if you can master how to use the tools that we’ve listed below then you are in a great spot.

We’ve tried to list the ‘best packet crafting tools’ that we can find (and have used) but like most things, in IT the landscape is constantly evolving.

Wireshark

Wireshark is an absolute classic and probably the best-known network analyzer and password cracking tool. Of course, the password must be sent via an encrypted format for Wireshark.

This tool is a network packet analyzer and this kind of tool will try to capture network packets used for analysis, network troubleshooting, education, software, and communications protocol development and display the packet data obtained as detailed as possible.

Formerly named Ethereal, it was renamed to Wireshark in May of 2006 due to trademark issues. Wireshark is a cross-platform that now uses the Qt widget in current releases to implement its user interface. If you know tcpdump, Wireshark is very similar to it but has a graphical front-end and some integrated filtering and sorting options.

Wireshark supports promiscuous mode that lets the user put network interface controllers into that mode, for them to see all traffic visible on that interface, not only the traffic directed to one of the interface’s configured addresses and broadcast/multicast traffic. But, when in promiscuous mode capturing with a packet analyzer on a port on a network switch, not all traffic through the switch is sent to the port where the capture is made, so capturing in this mode is not necessarily enough to see all network traffic.

Various network taps such as Port Mirroring extend capture to any point on the network. Simple passive taps are greatly resistant to tampering. Wireshark 1.4 and later on GNU/Linux, BSD, and OS X, with libpcap 1.0.0 or later can also put wireless network interface controllers into monitor mode.

When a remote computer machine captures packets and transmits the captured packets to a machine running Wireshark using the protocol used by OmniPeek or the TZSP protocol, those packets are dissected by Wireshark, so it can analyze packets captured on a remote machine at the time that they are captured.

In Wireshark, there are color codes and the users see packets highlighted in black, blue and green. It helps users in identifying the types of traffic at one glance. Black color determines TCP packets with problems. Blue colors are the DNS traffic while Green is the TCP traffic.

Is Wireshark Free?

Wireshark is an open-source and free packet analyzer. You can go to its website (https://www.wireshark.org/download.htmlZ) and download the installer that is compatible with your system.

Does Wireshark Work on all Operating Systems?

Wireshark uses pcap to capture packets and runs on OSX, GNU/Linus, Solaris, Microsoft Windows and other operating systems that are Unix like.

What are the Typical Uses for Wireshark?

People use Wireshark to troubleshoot problems with their network, examine problems with security, protocol implementations debugging and learn more about the network protocol internals.

DSniff

dSniff is a network traffic analysis and password sniffing tool created by Dug Song to parse various application protocols and extract relevant data. dsniff, mailsnarf, filesnarf, msgsnarf, urlsnarf and webspy monitors a network for interesting information like emails, passwords and files while macof, dnsspoof and macof help in the interception of network traffic that is normally unavailable to the attacker.

Is dSniff Free?

Yes, use of this tool is free.

Does dSniff Work on all Operating Systems?

dSniff works on Linux, Windows and MAC OS X Operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for dSniff?

The use of this tool is to sniff usernames, passwords, email contents, and webpages visited. As the name implies, dsniff is a network sniffer but can also be used to disrupt the behavior of normal switched networks and can cause network traffic from other hosts on the same network. It handles protocols like FTP, Telnet, LDAP, IMAP, NNTP, POP, OSPF, NFS, VRRP, Citrix ICA, Rlogin and many more.

Scapy

Scapy is a very popular and useful packet crafting tool that works by manipulating packets. Scapy can decode packets from within a wide range of protocols.

Scapy is able to capture packets, correlate send requests and replies, and more. Scapy can also be used to scan, traceroute, probe or discover networks. Our understanding is that Scapy can be used as a replacement for other tools like Nmap, arpspoof, tcpdump, p0f, and others).

Is Scapy Free?

Yes, Scapy is free.

Does Scapy Work on all Operating Systems?

Scapy is compatible with Linux, Windows and MAC OS X operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Scapy?

Scapy can execute certain attacks that other tools are unable to, for example, being able to send invalid frames, inject 802.11 frames, combining technics (VLAN hopping+ARP cache poisoning, VOIP decoding on WEP encrypted channel and more). In summary, this is a pretty damn cool tool. framework and we’d really value your feedback and comments regarding your experience in using Scapy.

Cain & Abel

Cain and Abel are one of the most popular tools used for password recovery. If you’re unsure which tool to use for password cracking then we’d suggest this one to start with.

It can recover various kinds of passwords by using methods such as brute force attacks, cryptanalysis attacks and one of the most used which is the dictionary attack. This tool is maintained by Sean Babcock and Massimiliano Montor.

Is Cain and Abel Hacking Tool Free?

Yes! It is one of the most used and popular free hacking tool found on the internet.

Does Cain and Abel Hacking Tool Work on all Operating Systems?

Unfortunately, Cain and Abel is only available for Windows Operating Systems (oddly if you ask me…)

What are the Typical Uses for Cain and Abel Hacking Tool?

There are a lot of uses for Cain and Abel and this includes cracking of WEP and ability to crack LM & NTLM hashes, NTLMv2 hashes, Microsoft Cache hashes, Microsoft Windows PWL files Cisco IOS – MD5 hashes and many more, speeding up packet capture speed via wireless packet injection, record VoIP conversations, decoding of scramble passwords, traceroute, hashes Calculation, dumping of Protected storage passwords, ARP spoofing, Network Password Sniffer, LSA secret dumper and IP to Mac Address resolver.

Etherape

Etherape is a Graphical Network Monitor that is modeled after etherman. It features an IP, TCP and link-layer modes that display network activity graphically.

The tool is also able to link host changes with regards to size and traffic. It also has a color-coded protocols displays. This tool supports Hardware and Protocols such as FDDI, Ethernet, ISDN, Token Ring, SLIP, PPP and WLAN devices plus a lot of encapsulation formats. EtherApe can filter traffic to be shown and can read packets coming from a file as well as life from the network. Node statistics can also be exported.

Is Etherape Free?

Yes, Etherape is free to use.

Does Etherape Work on all Operating Systems?

Etherape works on Linux and MAC OS X operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Etherape?

Etherape is primarily used to track several types of network traffic.

Ettercap

Ettercap is an open-source network security tool made for man in the middle attacks on local area networks. This tool is also classic for ARP poisoning. It works by ARP poisoning the computer systems and putting a network interface into promiscuous mode. Thereby it can unleash several attacks on its victims. It also has plugin support so features can be extended by putting new plugins.

Is Ettercap Free?

Ethercap is free and can be downloaded through their website.

Does Ettercap Work on all Operating Systems?

It works on several operating systems including Windows, MAC OS X and Linux.

What are the Typical Uses for Ettercap?

Ettercap is used to content filtering on the fly, sniff live connection and many more. It is also used for security auditing and computer network protocol analysis. It has the capability to intercept traffic on a network segment, conduct active eavesdropping against common protocols and also used to capture passwords.

INSSIDER

Inssider is a wireless network scanner and was designed to overcome the limitation of another tool which is NetStumbler.

Inssider can track signal strength over time, open wireless access points and save logs with GPS records.

Is Inssider Free?

This is now a pay to use application.

Does Inssider Work on all Operating Systems?

It can be used on both Windows and Apple operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Inssider?

There are several uses for Inssider. It can collect data from wireless card and software. Assist with selecting the best wireless channel available. Render useful Wi-Fi network information such as SSID, MAC, vendor, data rate, signal strength, and security. Show graphs that signal strength over time. Shows which Wi-Fi network channels overlap. It also offers GPS support and data can be exported as Netstumbler (.ns1) files.

KisMAC

KisMac is another classic tool that can be used for Packet Sniffing.

We’ve covered this tool a ton – it’s worth checking out our Wireless Hacking sub-directory of tools here.

KisMET

Kismet is also used for packet sniffing and crafting packets to hack into networks and brute force passwords.

We’ve covered this tool a ton – it’s worth checking out our Wireless Hacking sub-directory of tools here.

Netstumbler

We’ve covered a lot on Netstumbler, it’s worth checking out our Wireless Hacking sub-directory of tools here.

Network Miner

Network Miner is created by Netresec – a cybersecurity software vendor. Netresec specializes in software and programs for network forensics and analysis of network traffic.

Obviously, as a security professional, understanding what is happening on your network is half of the battle. NetworkMiner ships in a free and paid version, which we highly recommend since it is always beneficial to start with a ‘free’ version before migrating to the supported commercial version if you are happy with this network security tool.

Is NetworkMiner Free?

NetworkMiner ships in a free and paid version, which we highly recommend since it is always beneficial to start with a ‘free’ version before migrating to the supported commercial version if you are happy with this network security tool.

Does NetworkMiner Work on all Operating Systems?

NetworkMiner is a Network Forensic Analysis tool designed for Microsoft Windows.

What are the Typical Uses for NetworkMiner?

NetworkMiner is used as a passive network sniffer or packet capturing tool in order to detect various sessions, hostnames, open ports, operating systems, and vice versa without putting any traffic on the network. It is also used to parse pcap files for analysis offline and be able to reassemble transmitted data files and certificated from pcap files. The display on NetworkMiner focuses on the hosts and attributes rather than raw packets.

NGrep

This tool – ngrep – (which is a concatenation of ‘Network Grep’) is a network packet analyzer using the command line and is reliant on the pcap library and the GNU regex library.

Ngrep is similar to tcpdump, but it offers more in that it will show the ‘regular expression’ in the payload of a packet, and also demonstrate the matching packets on a screen or console. The end result is that the user (typically a penetration tester or network security engineer) will see all unencrypted traffic being passed over the network. You need to put the network interface into promiscuous mode in order for this to work.

Is Ngrep Free?

Downloading and using of Ngrep is free.

Does Ngrep Work on all Operating Systems?

It works on operating systems running Linux, Windows and MAC OS X.

What are the Typical Uses for Ngrep?

Ngrep is used to store traffic on the wire and store pcap dump files and read files generated by tools like tcpdump or wireshark.

Socat

Socat is a command-line utility that creates two bidirectional byte streams and transfers the data between them.

Since the streams can be constructed from a huge set of different types of data sources and sinks, and because of many address options that may be applied to these streams, Socat can be used for various purposes.

Is Socat Free?

Yes, Socat is free.

Does Socat Work on all Operating Systems?

It works on Linux, Windows and MAC OSX operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Socat?

One of the uses of Socat is that it works similarly to Netcat wherein it functions over a number of protocols and through pipes, devices files, sockets, a client for SOCKS4, proxy Connect, etc. It gives logging, forking and dumping different modes for interprocess communication and a lot more options. It can also be used to attack weak firewalls or even as a TCP fort forwarder.

Hping

Hping is a popular packet crafting tool used by penetration testers and IT Security auditors. Hping is essentially a command-line oriented TCP/ IP packet assembler and analyzer.

This tool supports a wide variety of protocols such as TCP, UDP, ICMP and RAW-IP protocols. Hping also has a traceroute mode, the ability to send files between a covered channel, and various other features. Hping is a great tool to use when learning about TCP/ IP.

Is Hping Free?

Yes, Hping is free.

Does Hping Work on all Operating Systems?

This hacking tool works on Linux, MAC OSX and Windows operating systems.

What are the Typical Uses for Hping?

According to the developers, whilst hping was primarily used as a security tool in the past, it has many other uses including an In-depth port scanning, testing Firewall, manual path MTU discovery, testing networks using different protocols, TOS, fragmentation, remote OS fingerprinting, advanced traceroute, under all the supported protocols, TCP/ IP stacks auditing and remote uptime guessing.

FAQ

How Do I Use A Packet Sniffing Tool?

A packet sniffer, also referred to as a packet, protocol or network analyzer — is typically a piece of hardware or software used to detect and monitor network traffic. Sniffer tools work by examining streams of data packets that flow within the veins of a network, i.e. between computers on a network as well as between networked computers. This typically exists within an Intranet environment.

What Is The Definition Of Packet Sniffing?

When we refer to “packet sniffing” what we mean is the ability in using “packet sniffing tools” to capture packets of data that are moving through a computer network. The software tools that do this task are referred to as “packet sniffers”.

How Do I Execute A Packet Sniffing Tool?

In packet-switched networks, the data is sent and received by being broken into several individual packets. These individual packets are reassembled after all the data packets reach their final destination. When a packet sniffer is installed in the network, the sniffing tool will be able to intercept the network traffic and captures the raw data packets. A good example of a sniffing tool that can do this is Wireshark.

Is Packet Sniffing Authorized By Law?

You’re absolutely allowed to monitor your computers and network but you cannot install packet-sniffing tools and software a network without explicit permission for obvious reasons. Doing so would, without doubt, label your actions as a rogue operator and “hacker”.

Can I Block Packet Sniffing Through VPN?

An effective method of being able to protect data from packet sniffing tools is to (encrypt) or “tunnel” your connectivity through a virtual private network, or a VPN. A VPN encrypts the traffic being sent between your computer and the destination. A packet sniffing tool would still see the data but it would be seen as ciphertext. i.e. encrypted.

What OIS Layer Does Packet Sniffing Work On?

Packet sniffing tools work at the data link layer of the OSI model, i.e. where MAC addresses work; which is “Layer 2”. IP addresses and packets are layer 3, whilst MAC addresses are Layer 2. Your installation of Wireshark would, therefore, be at Layer 2 (for example should you decide to use that specific packet sniffing tool).

Is Wireshark “The Best” Software For Packet Sniffing?

Wireshark is by far the most popular (free) open-source packet analyzer. The tool is used for network troubleshooting, data analysis, packet analyzing software and communications protocol development. The folks behind this popular tool also deploy a bunch of useful certifications.

How Do Packet Sniffing Tools Work?

Packet sniffing tools works by intercepting and logging HTTP/HTTPS traffic that passes over a digital network or part of a network. These tools essentially act as a MITM (Man In The Middle) piece of software. Typically these tools can be tweaked to your specifications.

How Should We Define “Packet Capture?”

Packet Capture is a networking term for being able to intercept data packet information that is in transit. Once a data packet is captured in real-time, it is stored for a period of time so that it can be further analyzed, and then an action can be taken.

How Would You Define Packet Modification?

Packet Editing or Packet Modification is the art (and science of course!) of being able to modify data packets that are either in transit or initiated in transit There are a bunch of tools that can be used for data modification (‘packet crafting’) such as Scapy, Netdude, and Ostinato all of which allow the “hacker” or Security Professional to modify packets.