15 Popular Tools for Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing (Pen Test) is a method of identifying security weaknesses in software systems and broke into them.

Some of the multiple tools to consider:

1.     Wireshark: Network Protocol Analyzer, may be used on Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS X and many other systems.

2.     Kali Linux: open-source project from Offensive Security.

3.     Metasploit: one of the most popular frameworks based on the “exploit” concept. Can be used on web applications, servers, networks etc. Has a free limited trial.

4.     Breachlock: RATA (Reliable Attack Testing Automation) web application vulnerability scanner. Can be used without previous security experience.

5.     Intruder: vulnerability scanner which finds weaknesses and explains related risks. Includes identification of missing patched, misconfigurations, SQL injection, cross-site scripting etc.

6.     Acunetix: fully automated web vulnerability scanner. Report includes more than 4500 web app vulnarabilities.

7.     Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP): free scanner for web applications.

8.     SQLmap: open-source penetration tool mostly for detecting and exploiting SQL injections and DB servers hacking.

9.     Canvas: popular tool for web application and networks Pen Test. It’s not free.

10.  Nmap: must have tool for ethical hackers.

11.  W3af: web application and audit framework. Contains three plugins: discovery, audit and attack.

12.  Samurai framework: open-source free took, contains preconfigure wiki to store information during the testing.

13.  BeEF: the Browser Exploitation Framework, tool mostly focused in the web browser.

14.  IronWASP: another open-source took for web application vulnerability testing. Powerful and easy to use software.

15.  Websecurify: powerful and simple security testing environment.