Last Updated on August 13, 2023 by Larious
Hacking is of two types – Ethical and Unethical. Hackers carried unethical hacking techniques to make some quick money. But, many users want to learn hacking in the right way. Security research, WiFi protocols, etc., all come under ethical hacking.
So, if you are willing to learn about ethical hacking, you need to use some tools. These tools would help you ease out many complicated things in the security field. Here we have compiled a list of the best hacking tools with descriptions and features.
Also Read: Best Android Hacking Apps
Table of Contents
List of Best Hacking Software For Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X
So, in this article, we will share a list of the best hacking tools for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. Most of the tools listed in the report were free. We have written the article for educational purposes; please don’t use these tools for evil purposes.
1. Metasploit
Rather than calling Metasploit a collection of exploit tools, I’ll call it an infrastructure you can utilize to build your custom tools. This free tool is one of the most prevalent cybersecurity tools that allow you to locate vulnerabilities on different platforms.
Metasploit is backed by more than 200,000 users and contributors that help you get insights and uncover your system’s weaknesses.
2. Nmap
Nmap is available for all major platforms, including Windows, Linux, and OS X. I think everyone has heard of this; Nmap (Network Mapper) is a free, open-source utility for network exploration or security auditing.
It was designed to scan large networks, working fine against single hosts. It may be used to discover computers and services on a computer network, thus creating a “map” of the network.
3. Acunetix WVS
Acunetix is a web vulnerability scanner (WVS) that scans and finds flaws in a website that could prove fatal.
This multi-threaded tool crawls a website and finds malicious Cross-site Scripting, SQL injection, and other vulnerabilities. This fast and easy-to-use tool scans WordPress websites from over 1200 vulnerabilities in WordPress.
4. Wireshark
This free and open-source tool was originally named Ethereal. Wireshark also comes in a command-line version called TShark. This GTK+-based network protocol analyzer runs efficiently on Linux, Windows, and OS X.
Wireshark is a GTK+-based Wireshark network protocol analyzer or sniffer that lets you capture and interactively browse the contents of network frames. The project aims to create a commercial-quality analyzer for Unix and give Wireshark features missing from closed-source sniffers.
5. oclHashcat
This useful hacking tool can be downloaded in Linux, OSX, and Windows versions. If password cracking is something you do daily, you might know about the free password-cracking tool Hashcat.
While Hashcat is a CPU-based password cracking tool, oclHashcat is its advanced version that uses your GPU’s power. You can also take the tool as a WiFi password decryptor.
oclHashcat calls itself the world’s password-cracking tool with its first and only GPGPU-based engine. NVIDIA users require ForceWare 346.59 or later to use the device, and AMD users require Catalyst 15.7 or later.
6. Nessus Vulnerability Scanner
It is supported by various platforms, including Windows 7 and 8, Mac OS X, and popular Linux distros like Debian, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, etc. This top free hacking tool of 2020 works with the help of a client-server framework.
Developed by Tenable Network Security, the tool is one of the most popular vulnerability scanners. Nessus serves different purposes to different users – Nessus Home, Nessus Professional, Nessus Manager, and Nessus Cloud.
7. Maltego
This tool is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Maltego is an open-source forensics platform that offers rigorous mining and information gathering to paint a picture of cyber threats around you.
Maltego excels in showing the complexity and severity of points of failure in your infrastructure and the surrounding environment.
8. Social-Engineer Toolkit
Apart from Linux, Social-Engineer Toolkit is partially supported on Mac OS X and Windows. Also featured on Mr. Robot, TrustedSec’s Social-Engineer Toolkit is an advanced framework for simulating multiple social engineering attacks like credential harvestings, phishing attacks, and more.
9. Nessus Remote Security Scanner
It recently went closed-source, but it is still essentially free. Works with a client-server framework. Nessus is the Remote Security Scanner’s most popular vulnerability scanner, used in over 75,000 organizations worldwide.
Many world’s largest organizations realize significant cost savings by using Nessus to audit business-critical enterprise devices and applications.
10. Kismet
It’s an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any Kismet wireless card which supports raw monitoring (mon) mode and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. A good wireless tool as long as your card supports from.
11. John The Ripper
It’s a free and Open Source software, distributed primarily in source code form. It is a password-cracking software tool.
It is one of the most popular password testing and breaking programs as it combines several password crackers into one package, autodetects password hash types, and includes a customizable cracker.
12. Unicornscan
Unicorns can is an attempt at a User-land Distributed TCP/IP stack for information gathering and correlation. It is intended to provide a researcher with a superior interface for introducing a stimulus and measuring a response from a TCP/IP-enabled device or network.
Its features include asynchronous stateless TCP scanning with all TCP flag variations, asynchronous stateless TCP banner grabbing, active/passive remote OS, application, and component identification by analyzing responses.
13. Netsparker
It’s an easy-to-use web application security scanner with advanced Proof-Based vulnerability scanning technology and built-in penetration testing and reporting tools.
Netsparker automatically exploits the identified vulnerabilities in a read-only and safe way and produces proof of exploitation.
14. Burp Suite
Burp Suite is an integrated platform for performing security testing of web applications. It’s also one of the best hacker programs on the internet.
Its various tools seamlessly support testing, from initial mapping and analysis of an application’s attack surface to finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities.
15. Superscan 4
Well, this is another popular hacking software for pc used to scan Windows ports. Put, you can take SuperScan, a powerful TCP port scanner, pinger, and resolver. This free connect-based port scanning tool is designed to detect open TCP and UDP ports on a target computer.
16. Aircrack
It is the best WiFi hacker for Windows 10, consisting of a detector, packet sniffer, WEP and WPA/WPA2-PSK cracker, and analysis tool.
In AirCrack, you will find many tools that can be used for tasks like monitoring, attacking, pen testing, and cracking. This is undoubtedly one of the best network tools you can use. So, it’s one of the best WiFi hacking tools.
17. w3af
If you are looking for a free and open-source web application security scanner, then w3af is the best. Hackers and security researchers widely use the tool.
w3aF or web application attack and audit framework are used to get security vulnerability information that can be further used in penetration testing engagements.
18. OWASP Zed
The Zed Attack Proxy is one of the best and most popular OWASP projects that has reached a new height. OWASP Zed is one of the best hacking software that is very efficient and easy to use.
OWASP Zed provides many tools and resources for security researchers to find loopholes and vulnerabilities.
19. Nikto Website Vulnerability Scanner
Pentesters widely use it. Nikto is an open-source web server scanner capable enough to scan and detect vulnerabilities in any web server.
The tool also scans for outdated versions of over 1300 servers. Not just that, but the Nikto Website Vulnerability Scanner also checks for server configuration issues.
20. SuperScan
It is one of the best free connect-based port scanning software available for the Windows operating system. The tool can detect TCP and UDP ports open on the target computer.
Additionally, SuperScan can also run basic queries like whois, traceroute, ping, etc. So, SuperScan is another best hacking tool that you can consider.
These tools were meant for security purposes and could find loopholes. We don’t promote account hacking, and it can invite legal troubles.
If you are downloading the tools from trustable sources, then you would be on the safe side.
To scan the WiFi network, one needs to use a WiFi scanner. A few WiFi scanners in the article would provide details about the web.
So, above are the top best ethical hacking tools for PC. If you face any problems, please discuss them with us in the comment section below. If you like this post, don’t forget to share it with your friends.