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Rijul Rajesh
Rijul Rajesh

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Top 3 Easy to Use Cybersecurity Tools You Can Run in Your Terminal

#cybersecurity #tools #tutorial

You don’t need expensive hardware or enterprise dashboards to start learning cybersecurity. With just your terminal and a few free tools, you can scan, test, and analyze systems in the same way professionals do.

The best part is there are practice websites made for this exact purpose so you can learn without worrying about legality.

Let’s go step by step with three beginner friendly tools: Nmap, Nikto, and Tcpdump.

1. Nmap

Nmap (Network Mapper) scans machines for open ports and services.

Installation

On Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nmap
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On macOS (with Homebrew):

brew install nmap
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Example: Scan a test website

Use the official Nmap test server:

nmap scanme.nmap.org
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Sample output (shortened):

Starting Nmap 7.80 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-09-08 00:00 IST
Nmap scan report for scanme.nmap.org (45.33.32.156)
PORT     STATE    SERVICE
22/tcp   open     ssh
80/tcp   open     http
9929/tcp open     nping-echo
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You can also check service versions:

nmap -sV scanme.nmap.org
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2. Nikto

Nikto is a web vulnerability scanner. It automatically checks for outdated software and common misconfigurations.

Installation

On Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nikto
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On macOS:

brew install nikto
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Example: Scan a vulnerable web app

Try it against Acunetix’s test site:

nikto -h http://testphp.vulnweb.com
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Sample output (shortened):

- Nikto v2.5.0
- Target IP:  195.35.123.188
- Target Hostname: testphp.vulnweb.com
+ Server: Apache/2.2.8
+ The X-XSS-Protection header is not defined
+ The X-Frame-Options header is not present
+ Entry found: /admin/
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This tells you the server is missing security headers and even exposes an /admin page.

3. Tcpdump

Tcpdump captures network traffic and shows it live in your terminal.

Installation

On Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tcpdump
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On macOS:

brew install tcpdump
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Example: Monitor traffic while visiting a test site

Run:

sudo tcpdump -i eth0 host testphp.vulnweb.com
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Now open http://testphp.vulnweb.com in your browser. Tcpdump will log the packets:

Sample output (shortened):

12:00:05 IP your-ip.50544 > testphp.vulnweb.com.http: Flags [S], seq 12345, win 65535
12:00:05 IP testphp.vulnweb.com.http > your-ip.50544: Flags [S.], ack 12346
12:00:05 IP your-ip.50544 > testphp.vulnweb.com.http: Flags [.], ack 67890
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This shows the TCP handshake and HTTP request flow.

Final Thoughts

By combining Nmap, Nikto, and Tcpdump you get a starter toolkit for cybersecurity exploration:

  • Nmap maps out open ports and services.
  • Nikto checks for common web vulnerabilities.
  • Tcpdump lets you watch raw traffic in real time.

All of these run directly in your terminal, are free, and can be practiced safely on scanme.nmap.org and testphp.vulnweb.com.

Try them out today and you’ll see that cybersecurity is much more approachable than it first appears.

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