by Natsuya Uesugi
Kali Linux is an advanced OS used by security researchers and penetration testers. Kali Linux consists of many different tools for all types of hacking. It has over 600 pre-installed penetration testing programs. It is based on Debian Testing. Some tools of Kali include:
Nmap (Network Mapper) – Used to scan ports and map networks. Mainly used for network discovery and security auditing. System admins use it for network inventory, checking for open ports, managing service upgrade schedules and monitoring hosts and service uptime. It uses raw IP packets to determine what hosts are available on the network, and what services like application name and versions.
Vulnerability Exploitation Tool (Metasploit Penetration Testing Software) – A penetration testing or hacking framework. It is a collection of hacking tools and frameworks that can be used for various tasks. It is widely used by cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers. It provides the user with information about known security vulnerabilities and helps formulate penetration testing and strategies for exploitation.
Password Cracking Tool (John The Ripper) – Popular password cracking penetration testing tool commonly used to perform dictionary attacks. It takes text string samples from a text file referred to as a word list encrypting it the same way as the password being cracked and comparing the output to the encrypted string.
Password Cracking Tool (THC Hydra) – A password cracker that is a fast and stable Network Login Hacking Tool that will use dictionary or brute force attacks to try various password and login combinations against a login page. It supports a wide range of protocols including Map (POP#, IMPAP), databases, LDAP, SMB, VNS and SSH.
Web Vulnerability Scanner (Wireshark) – Penetration testing tool that captures data packets in a network in real time and then displays the data in readable human format. It lets the user get into network traffic and inspect individual packets.
Password Cracking Tool (Aircrack) – Wireless hacking that can recover keys when sufficient data packets have been captured.
Password Cracker/Password Hacking (Cain and Abel Hacking Tool) – A password recovery tool for Microsoft Windows but is used by whitehat and blackhat hackers to crack many types of passwords using network packet sniffing and by using the tool to crack password hashes such as by dictionary attack or brute force.
Kali is used for hacking and was solely built for penetration testing. Still you need to have some basic understanding of penetration testing to be able to use the tools to the best functionality.