Kali Linux is a Debian-based Linux distribution maintained by Defence security. Kali Linux is developed by Mati Aharoni and Devon Kearns. It is an operating system specially designed for network analysts, penetration testers, and others working in the field of network security and analytics. It is for those people working in the field of cybersecurity and analytics. We may need to automate our operations as there can be hundreds of conditions and payloads to test, and it’s tedious to test them manually. To save time, we can use tools that come pre-installed with Kali Linux. Here is a list of the top 10 Kali Linux hacking tools:
1. Lynis
Lynis is a powerful tool for security testing, compliance testing, and system reinforcement. You can use it for vulnerability detection and penetration testing. It will scan the computer based on the components it detects. For example, if it detects Apache, it will run Apache-related tests to get the correct information.
2. Nmap
Nmap is an open-source network scanner used for network rescan/scan. It is used to discover hosts, ports & services and their instances on the network. It sends packets to the host & then parses the responses to produce the desired result. It can even be used to discover servers, detect operating systems, or find open ports. It is one of the most popular identification tools.
3. Burp Suite
Burp Suite is one of the most widely used web application security testing tools. It is used as a proxy, which means that all requests by the proxy browser go through it. And, because the query then goes through burp, we can make changes to it if needed, which is useful for checking for vulnerabilities like XSS and SQLi as well as related issues on another web.
4. WPScan
WordPress is one of the best open source CMS and this will be the best free WordPress security checker. It’s free but not open source. If you want to know if a WordPress blog is vulnerable in some way, then WPScan is your friend. In addition, it also gives you detailed information about active plugins. Sure, a well-secured blog might not give you much insight, but it’s still the best tool for scanning WordPress security for potential vulnerabilities.
5. Wireshark
Wireshark is a network security tool used to analyze the data sent over a network. It is used to analyze packets transmitted over the network. These packets may contain information such as source and destination IP addresses, protocols used, data, and some headers. Packets usually with the “. pcap” extension can be read with the Wireshark tool.
6. Metasploit Framework
Metasploit is an open-source tool developed by Rapid7 technology. It is one of the most widely used penetration testing frameworks in the world. It includes a large number of exploits to exploit vulnerabilities on a network or an operating system. Metasploit is commonly used on local networks; however, we can use Metasploit for servers on the Internet using “port forwarding”. Metasploit is primarily a command line tool, but it also includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) package called “Armitage” that makes using Metasploit more convenient and possible.
7. Aircrack-ng
Aircrack-ng is a collection of tools for evaluating WiFi network security. It is not limited to monitoring and information gathering but also includes the ability to compromise network systems. If you forget the password for your own WiFi network, you can try using that password to regain access. It also includes a series of wireless attacks with which you can target/monitor a WiFi network to improve its security.
8. Netcat
Netcat is a network tool used to work with ports and perform actions such as port scanning, port listening, or port forwarding. This command can even be used for network debugging or even testing the network daemon. This tool is considered the Swiss army knife in network tools. It can even be used to perform operations related to TCP, UDP, UNIX domain sockets or open remote connections, and more.
9. John The Ripper
John the Ripper is a great tool to crack passwords using well-known brute force attacks like dictionary attacks or custom word list attacks etc. It can also be used to decrypt hashes or passwords for compressed or compressed files and locked files. It includes many options to crack hashes and passwords.
10. Skipfish
Similar to WPScan, but not just focused on WordPress. Skipfish is a web application scraper that gives you information about almost any type of web application. It’s quick and easy to use. Moreover, its recursive crawling method makes it even better.
