Many beginners want to learn to use pentesting tools but are not familiar with Linux environment.
If you want to get your hands on some pentesting tools using windows, here are some you can try.
Of Course, if you want to use advanced penetration tools you should try Kali Linux or Parrot OS.
Below are 10 most important Windows based tools which are commonly used in penetration testing :
- NMAP : Nmap is a free tool for network discovery and security auditing. It can be used for host discover, open ports, running services, OS details, etc. Nmap send specially crafted packet and analyzes the response. Download NMAP
- Wireshark : Wireshark is a free open source network protocol and packet analyzer. It allows us to monitor the entire network traffic by putting network interface into promiscuous mode. Download Wireshark
- PuTTY : PuTTY is a free and open source SSH and telnet client. It is used for remote access to another computer. Download Putty
- SQLmap : SQLmap is a free and open source tool mainly used for detecting and exploiting SQL injection issues in the application. It has options for hacking the vulnerable database as well. SQLmap can be downloaded from http://sqlmap.org/
- Metasploit Framework : Metasploit is a popular hacking and pentesting framework. It is developed by Rapid7 and used by every pentester and ethical hacker. It is used to execute exploit code against vulnerable target machine. Metasploit Download
- Burp Suite : Burp Suite is an integrated platform for performing security testing of web applications. It has multiple tools integrate in it. Two main tools in free version are Spider and Intruder. Spider is used to crawl the pages of the application and Intruder is used to perform automated attacks on the web application. Burp Has professional version in which there is a additional tool present called Burp Scanner to scan the applications for the vulnerabilities. Download Burp Suite
- OWASP Zed Attack Proxy : OWASP zap is one of the OWASP project. It is a penetration testing tool for web applications having similar features of Burp Suite. It has automated scanner to discover the vulnerabilities in application. Additional feature include spider for Ajax based application. OWASP zap can be used as a intercepting proxy also. OWASP zap Download
- Nessus : Nessus is a Vulnerability, configuration, and compliance assessment tool. It has free and paid version. Free version is for personal use. It uses the plugins for scanning. Simply feed the IP address of the target machine and run the scan. There is an option to download the detailed report as well. Nessus can be downloaded from http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus
- Nikto : Nikto is a open source Web server vulnerability scanner. It detects the outdated installation of software and configuration, potentially dangerous files/CGIs, etc. It has a feature of report creation as well. Nikto can be downloaded from http://www.cirt.net/nikto2
- John the Ripper : It is a password cracking pen testing tool and commonly used to perform dictionary based brute force attack. John the Ripper can be downloaded from http://www.openwall.com/john/