Top 15 Most Popular Cybersecurity Tools You Need To Know

Cybersecurity professionals or hackers rely on a suite of trusted tools that cover everything from network scanning and vulnerability management to password cracking and digital forensic investigations.

Here’s an overview of the top 15 tools every security practitioner should know:

Nmap
Wireshark
Metasploit Framework
Burp Suite
OpenVAS
Nikto
Hashcat
SQLmap
Aircrack-ng
John The Ripper
Snort
OSSEC
Maltego
SEToolkit (Social-Engineer Toolkit)
Autopsy

1. Nmap

Nmap (Network Mapper) is a powerful open-source utility for network discovery and security auditing. It scans hosts and services on a network, identifies open ports, and reports on running service versions. Nmap tool is frequently used for reconnaissance, asset inventory, and vulnerability identification.

Scan a single host:

nmap 192.168.1.10

Scan a range of IPs:

nmap 192.168.1.1-50

Service & version detection:

nmap -sV 192.168.1.10

Aggressive scan (OS detection, traceroute):

nmap -A 192.168.1.10

Scan specific ports:

nmap -p 22,80,443 192.168.1.10

2. Wireshark

Wireshark is a leading open-source network protocol analyzer. It captures and displays network traffic in real-time, allowing deep packet inspection, troubleshooting, and protocol analysis. Its filtering and visual representation make it essential for network forensics and incident response.

Common Wireshark Filters:

ip.addr == 192.168.1.10 (filter by IP)
tcp.port == 80 (filter by port)
http (filter HTTP traffic)

3. Metasploit Framework

Metasploit is the industry’s most renowned exploit development platform. Used for penetration testing, it houses hundreds of exploits, payloads, and auxiliary modules. Security professionals leverage its modular design to automate vulnerabilities discovery, exploit systems, and test defenses.

Start Metasploit console:

msfconsole

Search for an exploit:

search exploit windows smb

Set exploit & payload:

use exploit/windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue
set RHOST 192.168.1.10
set PAYLOAD windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
exploit

4. Burp Suite

Burp Suite is a comprehensive toolkit for web application security testing. Its intercepting proxy lets users inspect and modify HTTP/S traffic, while its suite of tools enables crawling, vulnerability scanning, and automated as well as manual exploitation of flaws like XSS and SQL injection.

5. OpenVAS

OpenVAS (Open Vulnerability Assessment Scanner) is an open-source, full-featured vulnerability scanner. It scans networks for security issues like misconfigurations, outdated software, and weak passwords, producing detailed reports and integrating with other security frameworks. Its regularly updated database ensures coverage against the latest threats.

6. Nikto

Nikto is a popular open-source web server scanner. It tests for thousands of vulnerabilities, outdated software, dangerous files/CGIs, and server misconfigurations. Its flexibility allows for custom scan policies, and it supports a wide range of reporting formats.

Basic scan:

nikto -h http://example.com

Scan HTTPS with specific port:

nikto -h https://example.com:443

Output report:

nikto -h example.com -o report.txt

7. Hashcat

Hashcat is a high-performance, open-source password cracking tool. It supports over 300 hash algorithms, running efficiently on CPUs/GPUs. Security professionals use it to audit password strength through brute-force, dictionary, and hybrid attacks, helping organizations spot weak credentials.

8. SQLmap

SQLmap automates SQL injection detection and exploitation for database-driven web applications. It fingerprints databases, dumps data, and can execute file system commands. It’s widely regarded for its ease of use, powerful exploitation features, and ability to bypass certain web application firewalls.

Basic scan:

sqlmap -u "http://example.com/page?id=1"

Dump database:

sqlmap -u "http://example.com/page?id=1" --dump

Enumerate DB info:

sqlmap -u "http://example.com/page?id=1" --dbs

9. Aircrack-ng

Aircrack-ng is a suite for wireless network penetration testing. Its main function is cracking WEP and WPA/WPA2-PSK wireless keys using packet capture and subsequent dictionary/brute-force attacks. It also supports monitoring, replay attacks, and network analysis for wireless security assessments.

Start monitor mode:

airmon-ng start wlan0

Capture packets:

airodump-ng wlan0mon

Crack WPA key:

aircrack-ng capture.cap -w wordlist.txt

10. John The Ripper

John the Ripper is an advanced, open-source password cracker. Initially designed for Unix password hashes, it now supports a variety of platforms and hashing schemes. It combines multiple cracking modes, automatic hash detection, and high configurability, making it invaluable for password audits.

Crack a password file:

john hashes.txt

Show cracked passwords:

john --show hashes.txt

11. Snort

Snort is a powerful, open-source intrusion detection and prevention system (IDS/IPS). It performs real-time packet capture and protocol analysis, matching traffic to attack signatures, logging events, and optionally blocking malicious packets. Its flexibility and rule-based detection make it a staple in network defense.

Start Snort in IDS mode:

snort -A console -c /etc/snort/snort.conf -i eth0

Log packets to a file:

snort -l /var/log/snort

12. OSSEC

OSSEC is an open-source, cross-platform host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS). It provides log analysis, file integrity monitoring, Windows registry auditing, rootkit detection, and active response mechanisms. OSSEC integrates with SIEM platforms for comprehensive threat visibility and compliance.

13. Maltego

Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool for open-source intelligence (OSINT) and cyber investigations. It gathers, analyzes, and visualizes publicly available information to uncover relationships across entities like domains, email addresses, and social profiles. Its node-based graphs greatly aid threat investigation and digital footprint mapping.

14. SEToolkit (Social-Engineer Toolkit)

SEToolkit is an open-source platform designed to simulate social engineering attacks like phishing and credential harvesting. Developed in Python, it provides customizable attack vectors, enabling security teams to test human vulnerabilities and create awareness campaigns.

15. Autopsy

Autopsy is an open-source digital forensics platform built on The Sleuth Kit. With a user-friendly GUI, it enables forensic investigators to analyze hard drives, recover deleted files, conduct timeline and keyword analysis, extract web artifacts, and analyze mobile devices. Autopsy is widely used by law enforcement and cyber professionals for evidence analysis.

These cybersecurity tools represent the backbone of modern cybersecurity operations, each filling a critical role in defensive, offensive, and investigative workflows. From network mapping to forensics, their consistent use and community-driven development make them indispensable for practitioners and organizations worldwide.