Hacking Tools Paper
A hacking tool is a program built for attackers to assist them in hacking. There are many different types of hacking tools. One of these hacking tools is called Nmap. Nmap is a security scanner that was originally designed by Gordon Lyon. It was built to find hosts and services on a network. Once it finds these hosts and services, it will then send packets to the target host and evaluate the responses. Nmap checks the network conditions during the packet run including latency fluctuations and congestion. It also figures out if a host is up or down and which ports are open or closed. Also, it can tell which operating system the target is using, the type of device and even the presence of a firewall.
Another popular hacking tool is called Nessus. Nessus is a vulnerability scanning program. It is a free program designed to detect potential vulnerabilities on systems. It checks for vulnerabilities such as misconfiguration, allowing a hacker to control or access data remotely, default passwords, dictionary attacks, denial of service attacks, and also provides preparation for PCI DSS audits. The way in which Nessus works is it does a port scan first to figure out which ports are open, and then tries to exploit them. All of the tests are written in Nessus Attack Scripting Language. It then produces dozens of new plugins every week and is tested/scanned on a regular basis. John the Ripper is another hacking tool out there. This one is a password cracker. John runs on fifteen different platforms. It is so popular because it combines multiple password crackers into one package. It automatically detects the password hash type and includes a customizable cracker. There are a couple different attack types that John can use. It can perform a dictionary attack (a technique for defeating a cipher). Also it can perform a brute force attack (where it will check all possibilities, hashing each one and comparing it), which is good for figuring out passwords not on the dictionary list. This method usually takes a long time so it is usually a last resort.