Top Penetration Tester Tools You Need in 2024

Best Penetration Testing Tools  

Here is the list of some of the top penetration testing tools:

Metasploit

Metasploit is a versatile and robust modular penetration testing tool. It is a complete Ruby-based framework that provides a secure environment for security testing. Developers can confidently write, test, and execute exploit code. Metasploit's adaptability is evident in the numerous tools it offers for security testing. It currently has three editions: Metasploit Pro, Metasploit Community, and Metasploit Framework. 

Burp Suite

Burp Suite is a collection of security testing tools developed by Portswigger. It provides the following tools: spider, proxy, intruder, repeater, sequencer, decoder, extender, and scanner. Some of the critical features of all these tools are listed below:

• When desired results are not achieved or if we want more from the security tests, a client can perform manual testing for out-of-band vulnerabilities
• Test and confirm click-jacking attacks with the help of  specialist tooling
• Checking the quality of token data items to know their strength and quality of randomness
• Deep manual testing is done to check for stored inputs and test for  XSS and similar vulnerabilities
• Keeps the record of automated attacks so that the testers can fine-tune them in subsequent attacks
• These tools help perform faster brute forcing and fuzzing and resolve custom sequences of HTTP requests containing multiple payload sets
• It constructs CSRF exploits, which help generate exploit HTML that demonstrates a CSRF attack for any suitable request

Nmap 

Nmap is a free tool for security testing and investigation. Penetration testers can use it to determine which hosts can access a network, what services they expose, what frameworks they are running, and what types of bundled tunnels or firewalls are in use. Some everyday tasks that can be provided via Nmap are Discovering network assets, checking for open ports, overseeing network administration tasks, and observing host uptime.  

Wireshark

Wireshark is a network monitoring platform that captures and analyzes traffic across various communication channels. Therefore, the penetration testers can automatically read real-time data from multiple networks such as Ethernet, token ring, loopback, and ATM connections. 

Live networks carry data packets across them so IT professionals can capture and analyze them through a graphical user interface(GUI). Wireshark allows editing captured data packets using command-line switches, applying complex filters, and creating plugins to investigate new protocols. It also enables the creation of model lines to edit configuration files in real-time. 

Wireshark helps penetration testers investigate security issues on the network and identify malfunctioning elements that could be exploited in an attack. After that, configuration errors or protocol implementation can be detected. Wireshark offers additional features such as data encryption, compliance management capabilities, data import/export, server monitoring, and altering. 

Kali Linux   

Kali Linux is an open-source operating system, another version of Linux. This facilitates penetration testing, security forensics, and other cybersecurity-related operations. It provides a set of tools for the professionals, which are mentioned below:

• Armitage -  it is a graphical network management tool
• John the Ripper- for cracking passwords
• Sqlmap- automated SQL injection and data import
• Aircracj-ng - software suite for wireless LAN penetration testing
• OWASP-ZAP - web application security scanner

Aircrack

Aircrack by Linux is used to assess WiFi network security. Some of the functions that can be performed with the help of this tool are briefed below:

• Monitoring: Monitoring involves capturing data packets from the network and converting them to text files so that third-party tools can analyze them further. 
• Attacking: Replay attacks, de-authentication of fake access points, and others with the help of packet injection. 
• Testing: WiFi cards and Drivers are tested for their capabilities. 
• Cracking: WPA and WPA PSK(WPA1 and 2).

Nessus 

Nessus is a platform developed by Tenable that checks security vulnerabilities in devices, operating systems, applications, cloud systems, and other network resources. It can identify software flaws, malware, missing patches, password defaults, misconfiguration errors, denial-of-service vulnerabilities, and more. 

SQLMap

An open-source tool, SQLMap, is a favorite among pen testers for performing database security testing. It automatically finds and exploits SQL Injection vulnerabilities. Security testers can use it to find injection vulnerabilities inside web application databases. SQLMap is written in Python and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. 

SQLMap can perform attacks such as data extraction, database fingerprinting, and taking over an entire database. It can also bypass login forms and execute commands on the operating system. 

John the Ripper

Openwall's John the Ripper is a free password-cracking tool. It supports over 15 operating systems, including Unix Family, DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Some of the features and functions that this tool can perform are:

• Auto-detection of password hash types.
• Support is also available for the encrypted password format, which includes Unix Crypt hashes, Windows LAN manager hashes, and Kerberos AFS Tokens. 
• Ability to crack encrypted passwords based on Blowfish, DES, MD4, and MD5. 
• Support is also available for the passwords stored in databases such as LDAP and MySQL. 

Hashcat 

Hashcat is a popular tool for cracking passwords, including complex ones. It performs security testing using multiple advanced password-cracking methods. Readable data is converted into hashed states, and attempts are made to use various methods to identify a hash that matches a discovered password hash. This way, passwords are cracked using multiple methods, such as dictionaries, rainbow tables, and brute force techniques.    

Invicti

Invicti is a popular pen-testing tool for performing security testing on websites. It is available as both a cloud service and an enterprise solution. It runs a Chrome-based crawler that scans the website and finds vulnerabilities. Various web assets, dynamic web applications, HTML5 Websites, and single-page applications can be tested through Invicti. Invicti can even scan authenticated websites without conquering the black box scanner. Some of the key features of the tool are:

• Discovering and detecting web assets
• Vulnerability tests that can be scheduled
• Detection of vulnerabilities that are related to OWASP top 10 attacks
• Database security auditing
• Identification of vulnerable versions of languages and web frameworks
• Creation of a detailed report that can become a part of the penetration testing report

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Summing Up

Each tool, whether open source or paid, has its importance. Depending upon its key features, each tool has significance in its respective areas of penetration testing. Pen testers should know each tool's strengths and use them wisely. Staying updated with today’s technological trends is always advised so that the latest methods can be adopted. And if you wish to become a penetration tester, or grow in the field of cybersecurity, enroll in the latest Post Graduate Program in Cyber Security to take your career to the next level. 

FAQs

1. What are the three types of penetration tests?

The three types of penetration testers are, Black-box penetration testers, Grey-box penetration testers,and White-box penetration testers.

2. What are 7 seven stages of penetration testing?

Penetration testing comprises seven stages: Information Gathering, Reconnaissance, Discovering and Scanning, Vulnerability Assessment, Exploitation, Final Analysis and Review, and Utilizing the Testing results.