Wireshark

How Penetration Testing Tools Can IT Support Engineers

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Nmap

Nmap, short for Network Mapper, is a reconnaissance tool that is widely used by ethical hackers to gather information about a target system. This information is key to deciding the proceeding steps to attack the target system. Nmap is cross-platform and works on Mac, Linux, and Windows. It has gained immense popularity in the hacking community due to its ease of use and powerful searching and scanning abilities.

Using Nmap you can:

  • Audit device security
  • Detect open ports on remote hosts
  • Network mapping and enumeration
  • Find vulnerabilities inside any network
  • Launch massive DNS queries against domains and subdomains

Wireshark

Wireshark is free open-source software that allows you to analyze network traffic in real-time. Thanks to its sniffing technology, Wireshark is widely known for its ability to detect security problems in any network, as well as for its effectiveness in solving general networking problems. While sniffing the network, you’re able to intercept and read results in a human-readable format, which makes it easier to identify potential problems (such as low latency), threats and vulnerabilities.

Main features:

  • Saves analysis for offline inspection
  • Packet browser
  • Powerful GUI
  • Rich VoIP analysis
  • Inspects and decompresses gzip files
  • Reads other capture file-formats including Sniffer Pro, Tcpdump, Microsoft network monitor, Cisco Secure IDS IP log, etc.
  • Exports results to XML, PostScript, CSV, or plain text

Wireshark supports up to 2000 different network protocols, and is available on all major operating systems including:

  • Linux
  • Windows
  • Mac OS X

Wapiti

Wapiti is a free open-source command-line based vulnerability scanner written in Python. While it’s not the most popular ethical hacking tool in this field, it does a good job of finding security flaws in many web applications. Using Wapiti can help you to discover security holes including:

  • XSS attacks
  • SQL injections
  • XPath injections
  • XXE injections
  • CRLF injections
  • Server-side request forgery
November 15, 2024 by Career Building 0

Open Source Security Testing Tools You Can Start Using Today

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In today’s interconnected world, ensuring your digital assets’ security is paramount. As cyber threats continue to evolve, it’s crucial to have effective security testing tools at your disposal. Fortunately, the open-source community offers a wealth of powerful security testing tools to help identify vulnerabilities and strengthen defenses. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the top open-source security testing tools you can use today.

  1. OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy): OWASP ZAP is a popular open-source web application security scanner. It provides a comprehensive set of features for finding vulnerabilities in web applications, including automated scanning, manual testing, and security analysis. ZAP is highly extensible, allowing you to customize and enhance its capabilities according to your specific requirements. It’s an invaluable tool for identifying common web application vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, etc.
  2. Nmap (Network Mapper): Nmap is a versatile and powerful open-source network scanning tool for security auditing and network exploration. With its extensive scanning techniques, Nmap can map out hosts, identify open ports, and detect potential vulnerabilities. It supports a scripting engine that enables you to automate tasks and create custom scripts for targeted scanning. Nmap is an essential tool for assessing network security and identifying potential entry points for attackers.
  3. Wireshark: Wireshark is a widely used open-source packet analyzer for network troubleshooting and security analysis. It allows you to capture and examine network traffic at a granular level. Wireshark provides detailed insights into network protocols, allowing you to detect anomalies, analyze network behavior, and identify security threats. Its robust filtering capabilities and extensive protocol support make it an indispensable tool for network security professionals.
  4. Metasploit Framework: The Metasploit Framework is a powerful open-source penetration testing platform that enables you to assess and exploit vulnerabilities in systems and applications. With a vast collection of exploits, payloads, and auxiliary modules, Metasploit simplifies the process of penetration testing and helps security professionals validate the effectiveness of their defenses. It also offers a collaborative community and a wide range of resources for sharing knowledge and expertise.
  5. Nikto is an open-source vulnerability scanner to identify security flaws in web servers and applications. It performs comprehensive tests, including server misconfigurations, outdated software versions, and potentially dangerous files or scripts. Nikto provides detailed scan reports, making prioritizing and remediating identified vulnerabilities easier. Its simple command-line interface and extensive plugin support make it a valuable tool for security testing.

Securing your digital assets requires a proactive and comprehensive approach. By leveraging open-source security testing tools, you can enhance your security posture and protect against potential threats. The tools mentioned in this blog post, including OWASP ZAP, Nmap, Wireshark, Metasploit Framework, and Nikto, offer powerful capabilities to identify vulnerabilities, assess network security, and perform penetration testing. Start exploring these open-source tools today and take a proactive stance in securing your systems and applications. Remember to stay updated with the latest releases and actively participate in the open-source community to maximize the benefits of these valuable resources.

May 18, 2023 by Cyber Security 0

Top 2 Free Open Port Check Tools

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The open ports in your hardware could be critical points of vulnerability if the services exposed to them are misconfigured or unpatched. Unfortunately, many organizations are exposing their sensitive resources through such malicious connections, heightening the risk of ransomware attacks, supply chain attacks, and data breaches. Fortunately, free tools can detect all of the open ports in your ecosystem to assess the level of criticality of each exposure.

In this post, we discuss the two best free open port scanners you can start using today to check for open ports in your ecosystem.

What is Open Port Scanning?

Port scanning is the process of analyzing the security of all ports in a network. It involves identifying open ports and sending data packets to select ports on a host to identify any vulnerabilities in received data. Network reconnaissance should be completed regularly to identify and remediate vulnerabilities before cyber attackers discover them. Unfortunately, cybercriminals also use port scanners to garnish vulnerability intelligence about a potential victim before launching a cyberattack.

Because many of these tools are freely accessible, you must assume that cybercriminals are using them to study your open ports. So they cannot be the only security controls protecting your network. This is why network administrators should only use free open port scanners to determine the level of network visibility available to potential cyber attackers. In addition, all free port scanners should be supported with additional security solutions for maximum security. TCP Port scanners can also help penetration testers determine which specific ports accept data to protect them from compromise.

List of Common Network Port Numbers

Every port in a network transports a specific type of network traffic. Each of these ports is assigned a particular number to be easily differentiated.

There are two types of network ports:

TCP – Transmission Control Protocol

UDP – User Diagram Protocol.

What’s the difference between UDP and TCP?

The TCP uses a handshake protocol. TCP also checks each data packet for errors. UDP doesn’t include verification, error checking, or any handshakes. Because of the different processes, TCP is a slower protocol than UDP.

Port numbers range from 0 – 65,535, forming a total of 65,536 ports. These ports are either TCP, UDP, or a combination of both. Because of this extensive range, port numbers are ranked by relevance to shorten the list of network options.

Ports 0-1023 are primarily designed for internet connections.Ports 1024-49151 are ‘registered ports’ designated for exclusive use by registered software corporations and applications. Ports 49152-65,536 are private ports that can be used by anyone.

Tools

1. Nmap

Nmap (short for Network Mapper) is one of the most popular free, open-source port scanning tools. It offers many different port scanning techniques, including TCP half-open scans.

Key features:

Multiple port scanning techniques.

Identifies all open ports on targeted servers.

Operating system detection.

Discovers network services

Scans remote ports

TCP SYN Scanning

UDP and TCP port scanning.

Can scan comprehensive networks housing tens of thousands of network devices. Supports Mac, Linux, Windows Solaris, OpenBSD, Free BSD, and more.

2. Wireshark

Wireshark is a free network sniffing tool used to detect malicious activity in network traffic. This tool can also be used to detect open ports.

Key features:

Reveals request and reply streams in each port.

Malicious network discovery.

Troubleshoots high bandwidth usage.

Offers multiple data packet filters.

Allows users to follow and monitor data streams of interest.

December 29, 2022 by Software 0

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