Top 15 Hacking Tools and Softwares For Beginners.
A Hacking tool is nothing but a device or a piece of software used by any unauthorized user to gain access or to attack any information available on your computer. Hacking tools try to bypass the security systems of any computer in order to gain copy or even to destroy information from its host. Here is a list of what is believed to be among the best of the hacking tools by most hackers. These tools are used only for ethical hacking purposes and are not illegal.
1. Nmap
The tool Network Mapper has gained immense popularity in recent times as it is an open source and a free tool which is used to explore networks and also in security auditing. It is designed to scan networks rapidly. It also copes very well against a single host. Nmap uses IP packets to determine what type of hosts are present in the network along with information on the applications being used by them and also the operating systems that they are running along with their respective versions. In additional to these it also identifies the firewalls being used and many more other characteristics of any given host.
2. Nessus Remote Security Scanner
The Nessus Security Scanner was started by Renaud Deraison in the year 1988 to provide a free remote scanner to the internet community. But since the year 2005 the Nessus Remote Security Scanner has become closed source software although the engine that runs the software is still free of cost.
The Nessus Security Scanner has been the world’s most popular scanner being used by well over 75000 organizations world-wide. Many have befitted from this software and it is being used extensively in auditing critical enterprise devices.
3. John the Ripper
John the Ripper commonly known as JTR is a password cracker available for DOS, WIN32, UNIX, OpenVMS and BeOS. Its primary purpose is to detect weak passwords, but at the same time can be very handy to crack passwords also.
4. Nikto
Nikto web scanner as the name suggests is an Open Source web scanner which is capable of performing comprehensive tests on any web server for multiple items, including some of the most potentially dangerous files or CGIs, versions in about 625 servers and version specific problems in about 230 servers.
5. SuperScan
SuperScan is a powerful TCP port scanner, resolver and also pinger. It is a very highly popular port scanning tools made especially for windows users. If you are looking for a substitute to Nmap with a good user interface, then SuperScan is your best bet.
6. p0f
p0f is an extremely versatile passive OS fingerprinting tool. It can identify the operating systems on SYN mode, SYN+ACK mode and also RST+ mode. The p0f software is so versatile that it can fingerprint anything without even making a single active connection to the target system.
7. Wireshark
Wireshark which was formerly known as ethereal is network protocol analyzer or in common terms a sniffer. Wireshark lets you browse and capture the contents of network frames. It is compatible with both windows and linux and is very user-friendly.
8. Yersinia
Yersinia is a hacking tool which is designed to manipulate the weaknesses in different Layer 2 protocols. It pretends like a solid framework for testing and analyzing the systems and networks it is deployed into. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), IEEE 802.1q and Inter-Switch Link Protocol (ISL), are some of the protocols which can be implemented.
9. Eraser
Eraser is an advanced security tool for windows used to completely remove any trace whatsoever of any bit of information permanently from the hard drive. This is achieved by continuously overwriting the memory locations where the targeted information was previously available. It works well on all the windows versions till windows xp. Eraser is a free tool which is available under the GNU General Public license.
10. PuTTY
PuTTY is a free software used for implementation of Telnet and SSH for UNIX and WIN32. It is an absolute necessity for any h4x0r to Telnet or SSH without using MS command line clients.
These are the most popular of the hacking tools that are being used widely there are also several other alternatives to these tools so feel free to experiment with other varieties of tools out there. Along with the above a few other software, which are almost similar to the ones mentioned above like LCP, Cain and Abel, Kismet and NetStumbler are also good and handy.
A collection of all the above would give any user enough power to be a good hacker. It is also important to note that the information furnished here is not meant to be used for illegal purposes and also that hacking is a punishable offence in most countries. Use these powerful tools wisely. 
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