Advance Cyber Secuirty Tools
These are the numerous tools in Cyber Security that allow professionals to protect their systems and organizations from any attacks.
Cyber Security tools can largely be divided into a number of categories. The categories in which these tools can be classified are listed below:
Now, it is time to read in detail about some of the most popular tools in the field of Cyber Security. Let’s begin.
Kali Linux is among the most common tools used in Cyber Security. This operating system consists of a range of tools that are useful in security auditing, network and system scanning for vulnerabilities, etc.
One of the main advantages of this platform is that Cyber Security experts with different
levels of understanding can use it, making it an ideal choice even for entry-level
professionals.
Besides, a lot of the tools offered by Kali Linux are easily executable,
allowing users to monitor the company’s network security systems using a single click.
Cain and Abel are one the oldest and best Cyber Security tools that help in identifying the weaknesses in Windows and password recovery. It allows Cyber Security experts to find vulnerabilities in the password security of various systems that run on Windows. Among its numerous functionalities, the significant ones include its ability to keep a record of VoIP communications and analyze routing protocols to figure out if the routed data packets can get compromised. This free tool for Cyber Security can disclose password boxes and cached passwords, etc., while also being capable of using force attacks that help in cracking encrypted passwords. Further, it helps in decoding passwords that are scrambled.
Metasploit has an excellent collection of tools that are perfect for penetration testing. Professionals often use it to meet a range of security objectives, such as discovering vulnerabilities of systems and networks, designing strategies to improve the company’s Cyber Security defenses, and more.
Metasploit enables experts to test system security of online and web-based applications,
servers, networks, etc. One of the advantages of this software is that it can uncover even
emerging weaknesses and provide top-notch security round the clock.
Security experts use John the Ripper to test the strength of passwords. Its design helps in exposing weak passwords that pose security threats to a particular system. In the beginning, it was only designed for the UNIX platform, but the new versions allow it to work on other operating systems as well, such as DOS, Windows, OpenVMS systems, etc.
John the Ripper searches for complex ciphers, encrypted login credentials, and hash-like passwords to find any weak password. This tool is developed and updated regularly to make sure that it offers accurate results during penetration testing. It is among the most ideal choices of Cyber Security experts to enhance password security.
Wireshark was earlier called Ethereal. It is among the best tools for Cyber Security, based on the console. It is a packet sniffer tool that allows professionals to analyze network protocols and sniff real-time networks in search of any vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Moreover, it collects necessary information related to the levels of network traffic.
Nikto is an open-source software tool used in Cyber Security to determine vulnerabilities in the web and take necessary actions. Professionals use this tool to scan for identifying and managing web vulnerabilities. Nikto’s database consists of approximately 6,400 distinct types of security threats. The database offers the threat data that can be used to compare with the web vulnerability scan result. This scan covers both web servers and networks.
This tool is updated continuously, allowing users to recognize new web vulnerabilities
easily. Besides, various plugins are created regularly to make them compatible with
different systems.
Tcpdump is a useful packet sniffing tool for networks. It helps in monitoring and logging TCP/IP traffic that is shared over a network. This command-based software tool analyzes the traffic of the systems, along with the network that the traffic goes through. Besides, this tool tests the network security by segregating TCP/IP data traffic received via the Internet. Tcpdump also defines the contents of the network traffic packets.
KisMAC is specifically created for providing wireless network security in MAC operating systems. This network-defined tool has numerous high-end features that are geared to be used by experts in the field, so it may not be the best choice of tool for freshers and entry-level security professionals.
KisMAC scans wireless networks that are supported on Wi-Fi cards, like Airport. It uses brute
force attacks, weak scheduling, exploiting flaws, and many similar techniques to get into
the security of WEP and WPA keys. If experts are able to crack them, it suggests that the
keys are not secure enough, making the network vulnerable to possible cyberattacks.
NetStumbler is a popular Cyber Security tool created for systems that run on the Windows operating system. It enables IT and Cyber Security experts to recognize open network ports and is extremely useful for the purpose of wardriving. Since it is specifically designed to run on Windows, it has no allocation for source codes. While looking for open-source network ports, it uses WAP-seeking methods unlike other tools in Cyber Security, which has made it popular among organizations for network defense.
Splunk is a system security tool known due to its versatility and speed. It is one of the best tools to monitor network security. Splunk is used to conduct real-time network analysis and perform historical searches to look for threat data. This user-friendly tool is equipped with a unified user interface, along with numerous functionalities and techniques that help in the process of searching for required information.
It is an all-rounded system security tool that is also used to gather, store, and index data
in repositories to generate real-time alerts, reports, visualizations, graphs, and
dashboards.
This tool helps Network Admins to detect malicious acts in a network easily, giving them enough time to take necessary actions to prevent them. This is one of the significant benefits of Forcepoint over other tools as they are designed to track the problems so that users can apply the required techniques to fix them later. One of its significant functionalities in the cloud is that it warns or blocks cloud servers that pose security risks to the systems. Further, it offers a high level of security in other applications with significant data.
This tool consists of numerous methods that help in analyzing the vulnerabilities of Wi-Fi security. Experts use Aircrack-ng to gather data packets connected through a network for the process of continuous monitoring. Moreover, it enables Cyber Security professionals to use its functions to export these data packets to understandable text files that can go through various security assessments.
Aircrack-ng also supports capture and injection that are crucial in terms of assessing
network cards’ performance. Moreover, it tests how reliable the WEP and WPA-PSK keys are by
cracking them and helps an organization understand the strength of the network. This is the
perfect tool to enhance and improve the network security of an organization.
Nexpose offers real-time functionalities to security professionals to scan and manage weaknesses in on-premises systems. It allows experts to find weaknesses in the systems and use that knowledge to identify and minimize the possible attacks.
Moreover, Nexpose offers a live view of various network activities to the security team. It
refreshes its database regularly so that it can adapt to various types of threat
environments in software and data, ensuring that the tool has the latest threat data. Also,
professionals in Cyber Security can use Nexpose to assign risk scores to the weaknesses it
finds, creating a priority list based on security levels.
Nagios allows security professionals to efficiently monitor various networks, such as NNTP, POP3, SMTP, HTTP, ICMP, and more. Moreover, it monitors the connected systems and hosts in real time. As soon as it detects a security issue or intrusion in the network, it sends out an alert to users to warn them of the same. Here, the users have the option to choose the notification alerts that they wish to get and the ones they do not.
Professionals in IT Security often use KeePass for the purpose of identity management. It allows users to use a master password to access all of their accounts they use for work. It combines security and convenience, which gives it an edge over the other Cyber Security tools for identity management.
There are numerous network and system breaches that are caused due to inaccurate password
management, but this possibility is also eliminated by KeePass. This Application Software is
used in companies and offices as it can help security experts to find possible risks that
are caused due to human elements.
Burp Suite is a robust tool used in the field of Cyber Security that allows organizations to enhance their network security. Security experts use Burp Suite to perform real-time scans on systems focusing on identifying vital vulnerabilities that can have a large impact on the company’s security. Moreover, it simulates attacks to find the different ways in which these threats can weaken and compromise the security of the network.
Burp Suite has three versions, namely, Community, Professional, and Enterprise. The Community
version of Burp Suite is available for free, but a lot of features are restricted and cannot
be used in this version. It only offers the essential manual tools. The Professional and
Enterprise versions of Burp Suite are for commercial use, and hence, they are not available
for free use. Though it can be a little expensive for small companies, Burp Suite is among
the top choices of security tools for most organizations.
POf is a widely adopted Cyber Security tool that enables companies to monitor networks, regardless of any updates released by developers for a while. The tool does not create any extra data traffic while monitoring the network, making it an efficient network security tool. It is used by professionals to depict the host operating systems that are connected to a network.
POf allows Cyber Security professionals to perform a range of functionalities, such as
building name lookups, assorted queries, probes, etc. Its quick and lightweight nature has
made it popular among Cyber Security specialists with advanced skills, but not among
beginners as they may find it difficult to learn and use the tool.
Paros Proxy is a Java-based security tool comprising a set of useful tools that allow experts to perform several security tests that lead to the discovery of various vulnerabilities in the web. Web spiders, vulnerability scanners, and the traffic recorded to retain real-time network activities are some of the significant tools available in Paros Proxy. Moreover, it enables experts to identify network intrusions.
Paros Proxy also helps in uncovering basic and popular Cyber Security threats, including SQL
injection attacks and cross-site scripting. Besides, one of its main benefits is that it can
easily be edited with the help of rudimentary Java or HTTP/HTTPS. In simple terms, Paros
Proxy is an ideal tool to find network vulnerabilities before cyber attackers and hackers
exploit them to cause breaches.
Nmap is otherwise called Network Mapper. It is a free and open-source tool in Cyber Security that can help in scanning IT systems and networks to recognize security vulnerabilities. Further, it enables professionals to map out possible areas of attacks on the network, monitor host uptime and service, and take significant security measures accordingly.
Nmap can run on almost all popular operating systems, which makes it a preferred tool among
professionals. Apart from that, it allows experts to scan for vulnerabilities on the web,
irrespective of the size of the network. Also, it provides the IT professionals with an
overview of the characteristics of the network, such as the types of packet filters and
firewalls deployed to keep the network secure, the hosts that are connected to the network,
the operating system it runs on, etc.
This tool helps organizations improve network integrity and rectify numerous flaws, including misconfiguration of the security settings, implementing incorrect security patches, and many other mistakes. Besides, Nessus Professional allows professionals to find weaknesses in the network, such as software bugs, incorrect security configurations in operating systems, IT devices, and software applications, missing and incomplete patches, etc., and manage them as required.
The Nessus Pro version enables security experts to utilize its free vulnerability scanner
that helps in finding possible threats and exploits. Besides, one of its main benefits is
that its database is regularly updated with the new and updated threat data, allowing it to
contain the latest details regarding the vulnerabilities found on the network.