Organizations are in a sheer need to stay up-to the minute, and be ahead for protecting their systems and data. Penetration testing can prove to be a structured process that can mimic the real-world vulnerabilities before it’s prone to any malicious exploits.
In this entire lifecycle of pentesting, we got some tools in order to automate, streamline, and enhance each phase of it. They could be of various types, based on their specific role in this entire lifecycle.
In this blog, we will get a walkthrough of the need of these tools, and the best way to classify them into types.
Why do we need Penetration Testing Tools?
There have been several myths about the need for pentest tools. One of such myths says- “they're only useful for detecting external threats”. While in reality, the pentest tools are used to identify internal threats too, such as any compromised credentials, etc.
Contrary to all such myths, these testing tools are the critical focus. They assist in several aspects such as :
providing faster and automated vulnerability discovery,
simulating real-world attacks, and
a thorough security assessment.
These tools can actually help to reduce the repeated-tests, and place a great consistency. Thus, it all makes penetration testing to be more affordable than expected.
What Are the Different Types of Penetration Testing Tools?
All the above misconceptions about testing tools for penetration, could simply be resolved after a clear classification. They can essentially be classified into 10 main types- on the basis of functionality and the area of focus.
Though it sounds lengthy, classifying will help organizations to choose better penetration testing tools- with the perfect use case focused. A perfect tool can literally save time & resources with compliance. Ultimately, the goal of any company is settling some less-risky environments for their own stakeholders.
Following are some classification types:
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Web Application Tools :
As evident with the name, these tools help in spotting out the vulnerabilities on a web application. These type of pentesting tools essentially simulate the cyber attacks to web, in order to evaluate it’s security.
SQL injection, broken authentication, XSS, and Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR) are some types of vulnerabilities that are monitored by web application testing tools
Some common Examples for the same are: Burp Suite, & OWASP ZAP.
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Exploitation Tools :
They take advantage of the known vulnerabilities for understanding impact, and potential risks of possible real-world attacks. Interestingly, many security tools demonstrate the unpatched security issues, and replicate sophisticated attacks for immediate attention.
You must choose an exploitation testing tool when there’s a need to deal with complex and high-risk vulnerabilities and issues. Choose exploitation tools when you need access to an extensive library of ready-to-use exploits or the ability to customize them.
Some of the common Examples could include: BeEF(Browser Exploitation Framework) and Metasploit.
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Wireless Network Testing Tools :
Purpose of these tools is to access the security of specifically the wireless networks, and so forth work on identifying vulnerabilities. Here, the vulnerabilities can range from unauthorised access points, to some weak encryptions too.
Some very common instances are Aircrack-ng (for cracking the WEP or WPA-PSK keys) and Kismet (for detecting unauthorised devices in wireless networks)
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Reconnaissance Tools :
The pentesting reconnaissance tools can help in gathering the preliminary information about any target without directly interacting. These tools essentially identify potential attack vectors by collecting data from open sources or network surveying.
This type actually includes the Network Scanning tools, and the Open-Source Intelligence Tools within it.
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Password & Credential Tools :
Password and credential testing tools are essential for exposing out the vulnerabilities in case of password recovery mechanisms. Moreover, they are effective in testing out the password policies, multi-factor authentication bypass (MFA), and the credential reuse across your system.
These types of tools are operable to test the password strength or instead, to crack the credentials. The latter could be done by relying on the dictionary attacks or brute force approach.
The proper use case could also list down dictionary attacks, credential dumping, and also validating security of the network & authentication protocols for your organization.
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Social Engineering Tools :
They essentially simulate the social engineering tactics for testing out the susceptibility of the users. Social engineering tools are essentially necessary in order to test the human element of security by simulating phishing attacks or credential harvesting via fake login portals.
Some other common use-cases could be conducting pre-testing scenarios, or the voice-phishing (vishing) attacks.
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Network Sniffing Tools :
Such type of penetration testing tools help in capturing and analyzing the network traffic. The end-purpose is to identify vulnerabilities or suspicious activities within the network. They are the perfect tools for identifying leaks of any sensitive data out there.
Network sniffing tools are essentially needed in order to keep an analysis check on wired and wireless data traffic and the packet capturing.
Some underlying examples can include Wireshark, Tcpdump, and Ettercap, as the common network sniffing tools.
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Forensic & Post Exploitation Tool :
The Forensic & Post Exploitation tools rigorously help in penetration testing by retrieving the information related to file activities, and by post-incident analysis. These file activities are the ones that might essentially include malware-related information, or the historical data present, etc.
If you’d like to opt for a tool that essentially would harvest credentials, and simulating the network & lateral movements, then this is your pick.
Examples: FTK (Forensic Toolkit), and Autopsy (Open-source digital forensics tool for recovering deleted data)
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Fuzzing Tools:
The fuzzing tools are specialised in utilities focused on sending out the unexpected or malformed input into the software. It’s done in order to see any crash or unexpected behaviour in it.
Some of the common tools include Peach Fuzzer or AFL.
These pentesting tools can detect the vulnerabilities in the software by automatically injecting the random, unexpected, and invalid data into the app inputs. They take care of the hidden vulnerabilities and bugs for your software application.
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Scanning & Enumeration Tools:
As evident with the name, this type includes the vulnerability scanners, and the enumeration tools (like Netcat) within it. The main purpose lies in identifying the live hosts, running services, and the system’s structure.
They collectively could be a segment which goes deeper into the network structure issues out there. Scanning & Enumeration Tools are one of the important tools in the pentesting lifecycle. They help you in identifying the active systems, and mapping the target network.
How do I choose the right penetration testing tool for my organization?
You need to have a clear picture about choosing the apt penetration testing tool for your system and organization. For this, you must have a walkthrough about the following steps:
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Define the objective and type of the test: (Web, Network, etc.)
You can simply start by defining the main objective or focus of your penetration testing process. Moreover, you must also pre-decide the type of test you’d like to perform.
For instance, Is the test for Web Applications? Then you must go for tools like OWASP ZAP, WebScarab, DefectDojo ,etc. However, if it’s Network Testing, Nmap or Nessus are ideal tools for scanning open ports and misconfigurations in networks.
By clearly defining the room for testing, you will be able your test needs pretty easily.
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Ease of Use vs. Advanced Features
This decision must be taken by analyzing the balance between functionality and usability, both. In case your team has limited technical skillset, you must go for a tool which gets you ease in usage with its interfaces and automations.
However, if that’s not the case, opt for much advance features, based on the team’s technical expertise out there. This can be really beneficial for the seasoned professionals.
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Cost vs. Features
In order to choose the right or perfect tool for your organization, assessment of your budget could prove to be helpful. Distinguish the Cost-Effective Tools or premium feature tools based on your budget scheme.
In case you're looking for any open source penetration testing tools, try out Nikto or Wireshark. They can prove to help in robust functionality without any financial investments.
However, if your organization’s focus is to aim for premium features, then pentesting tools like Burp Suite could be a good choice. It’s about the premium features that you might focus on.
Wireshark & Burp Suite- are the common testing tools ppl use(open -source). A couple of advantages are regular updates, and dedicated support, and the classy features.
Conclusion
Penetration Testing tools play a significant role in sheltering modern organizations from the evolving threats out there. It simulates real-world scenarios of attacks, and thereby result in helping out identify vulnerabilities, and security postures. The right tool will help fulfil your pentesting without any hassle or piled up time.
Either Bug or Breaches, at Keploy, we majorly focus on the test generation and management for developers. Our focus is to simplify the test processes, by also keeping a check on how critical it could go along.
FAQ
What are some of the top-5 tools used for penetration testing?
Following are the list of some really effective penetration testing tools:
Metasploit Framework: (works for systems and network both)
Nmap : (popular network scanning tool)
OpenVAS : (open-source vulnerability scanner tool)
Burp Suite : (used for web application security testing)
What are some best Practices for Using Penetration Testing Tools?
The given flow of practices could result to be really effective for a successful pentest:
1. Preparing for a Pen Test
2. Conducting Tests Ethically and Legally
3. Analyzing and Interpreting Results
4. Creating a detailed Reports for Clients or Teams
How often should penetration testing be performed?
After any crucial changes: such changes could be any infrastructure modifications, software update, or maybe a new application deployments.
For Meeting Compliance Requirements: pen tests could be performed to align with the industry standards like ISO 27001 or PCI DSS.
Regularly on annually or biannually basis: these tests must be done for addressing any evolving security threats, or lingering vulnerabilities.
Are there any risks involved in using penetration testing tools?
Yes, just like every other practice, this one also has some serious risks that could be accountable. The potential risks for using pen testing tools are:
If not used carefully, organization’s live systems could face slowdowns, disruption, crashes or other interruptions.
Misinterpretation such as False Positives/Negatives of results might have overlooked vulnerabilities.
Mitigating such types risks requires proper test strategy, trained professionals, and controlled-environment testing.
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