In today’s environment, cyber security is more commonly known as information security. Nowadays, most people are looking forward to beginning their professional careers or transitioning to the cyber security domain due to its prominence and critical position in the IT business. since a result, it is critical to understand the tools before beginning your profession, since this will allow you to be swiftly adopted.

In this article, we will look at the top cyber security technologies and software accessible, as well as provide an overview of them. The majority of the role-playing tools discussed here are open-source and extensively documented.

There are many tools in cyber security based on specific domains/areas of interest:

• Security Information and Event Management Tools 
• Vulnerability Assessment Tools 
• Digital Forensic Tools 
• Penetration Testing Tools 
• Firewall Tools
• IDS / IPS Tools 
• Privileged Access Management Tools 
• Endpoint Detection and Response Tools 
• Network Detection and Response Tools 
• Email Security Tools 
• Data Loss Prevention Tools 

Best Cyber Security Tools

Now it’s time to learn more about some of the most popular cyber security products. Let we begin.

1. NMAP

NMAP (Network Mapper) is an open-source program for network scanning. This program is mostly useful for discovering hosts, getting information about network devices whose services or ports are available to the public, identifying security flaws, and determining host uptime. NMAP supports all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and MAC OS. This tool’s key advantage is that its steps are customizable, portable, free, and extensively documented.

Pros 

• Comprehensive network scanning offers a detailed overview of the network’s structure.  
• Advanced port scanning options like TCP connect scan, TCP SYN scan, UDP scan, etc.  
• Supports multiple operating systems like Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.  
• NMap Scripting Engine (NSE) allows security professionals to develop and share custom scripts for specific operations.   

Cons 

• Some of NMap’s scanning methods may cause disruptions or raise security alerts.  
• NAT devices, firewalls, and other network configurations can result in false positives.  
• Complicated user interface and limited Windows GUI options.

Pricing  

• NMap OEM for small companies – $7,980 per quarter  
• NMap OEM for mid-sized companies – $11,980 per quarter 
• NMap OEM for enterprises – $13,980 per quarter

2. Wireshark

Wireshark is a tool that is widely used around the world to analyze network protocols. This application will assist you in utilizing pcap to record, store, and thoroughly analyze each packet. Wireshark supports a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, and macOS. Wireshark is an open-source program similar to tcpdump that includes a user interface. Wireshark’s key capabilities include the ability to examine real-time data from several protocols. The platform also has a colour coding tool that shows packets when they match a given rule. This program only captures packets from pcap-supported networks.

Pros  

• Displays captured packets in real time. 
• Facilitates packet filtering, grouping, and sorting. 
• Identifies packet-generating protocols.  

Cons  

• Cannot send packets.  
• Does not have the ability to generate or alter packets.  

Pricing: Free  

3. Metasploit

Metasploit is a popular open-source penetration testing tool used in the cyber security business. This tool will be utilized by both cyber attackers and defenders. What counts is how they use the tool. Metasploit has numerous modules that can be used for exploitation, payload executions, auxiliary functions, encoding, listening, executing shell codes, and Nops. This tool can be used to conduct security assessments and improve the company’s security posture.

Pros  

• Comprehensive multi-platform modules collection. 
• Allows security professionals to create their own payloads and modules.  
• Strong community provides useful troubleshooting and learning resources.  
• Customizable and interactive user interface.  

Cons 

• Can be unreliable when dealing with dynamic or complex environments.  
• May be easily detectable by security solutions, making it difficult for network professionals to establish persistence in case of compromised systems.  
• Can lead to legal violations in cases where Metasploit is used without proper scope, consent or authorization.  

Pricing: Average price of Metasploit Pro is approximately $15,000 per year.   

4. Aircrack-ng

Aircrack-ng offers with a set of security tools for evaluating WiFi network security settings. It discusses monitoring, attacking, testing, and cracking WiFi security. This tool is mostly used by hackers to hack WiFi by breaking WEP, WAP, and WAP2 encryption methods. This utility includes sniffer and packet injection capabilities. This tool is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD.

Pros 

• It has the ability to crack WiFi passwords using a wide array of methods like WPS attacks, brute force attacks, or dictionary attacks.  
• Can carry out de-authentication attacks like replay attacks or disconnecting users from wireless networks.  
• Works on multiple platforms like Windows, macOS, Unix and Linux.  
• Comes pre-installed in Kali Linux.   

Cons 

• Not for beginners as it has a steep learning curve.  
• Installation and configuration can be difficult, especially in non-Linux systems. 
• Can be detected and blocked by network security measures like firewall rules, authentication or encryption.     

Pricing: $65 per user  

5. Hashcat

Hashcat is a widely used password-cracking tool. This program supports over 250+ hashing algorithms. This tool is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS. This tool’s key benefits are that it is highly fast, adaptable, versatile, and open-source, allowing users to undertake brute-force attacks using several hash values. Supported hashing algorithms include the LM, MD, and SHA families.

Read Also: Cybersecurity for IoT Devices: Challenges and Solutions

Hashcat can be used to launch a variety of cyber attacks, including brute-force assaults, combinator attacks, dictionary attacks, fingerprint attacks, mask attacks, hybrid attacks, permutation attacks, toggle-case attacks, rule-based attacks, and more.

Pros  

• Supports multiple devices like Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, etc.  
• Can operate on both clouds hosted servers and on-premises. 
• Supports over 250 hashing algorithms like SHA, LM, and MD-family.   
• Performs a wide range of attacks like fingerprint attacks, brute-force attacks, permutation attacks, etc.  
• Can recover lost WiFi passwords, open locked PDF files and password-protected MS Office files.       

Cons  

• Using this tool can be expensive if security professionals are searching for long hours for a comprehensive list of passwords. 

Pricing: $0.63 to $2112.52/one-time payment  

6. Burp suite

Burp Suite is a platform that combines numerous tools used in penetration testing. This is the preferred tool among all pen testers and bug bounty seekers. This utility was created by the business “Port Swigger”. Spider, Proxy, Intruder, Repeater, Sequencer, Decoder, Extender, and Scanner are some of the tools used in various security testing methods. This tool can be used at both the project and user levels.

Pros  

• Polished and intuitive user interface.  
• The presence of customizable features like Burp Intruder, Burp Extender, and Burp Collaborator.  
• Burp Suite has a large and active community of developers and users who provide updates, support and feedback. 
• Burp Suite Professional (which is a paid feature) provides a wide array of integrations and functionalities like Burp Enterprise and Burp Scanner.     

Cons 

• Resource-intensive and can slow down when performing complex or large-scale testing.  
• Comes with a steep learning curve and can require additional customization and configuration to suit individual needs.  
• Automated scan reports can sometimes bring forth false positives.    

Pricing 

• Burp Suite Professional – $449.00/user per year 
• Burp Suite Enterprise Edition (PAYS) – $1,999.00/year  
• Burp Suite Enterprise Edition – $5,999.00/year 
• Burp Suite Enterprise Edition (Unlimited) – $49,999.00/year

7. Nessus Professional

Nessus Professional is a commercial tool for vulnerability assessments. This tool can assist you in identifying security issues, vulnerabilities, outdated patches, and misconfigurations of systems, servers, and network devices. This tool can also be used for compliance and auditing tasks. This is a sophisticated tool, with all of the aforementioned characteristics automated.

The platform supports a variety of vulnerability scans, including basic network scans, advanced scans, advanced dynamic scans, malware scans, mobile device scans, web application tests, credential patch audits, badlock detection, bash shellshock detection, DROWN detection, Intel AMT Security Bypass, shadow brokers scans, specter and meltdown, and WannaCry ransomware. Audit Cloud Infrastructure, Policy Compliance Auditing, Offline Config Audit, SCAP and OVAL Auditing are some of the options available for compliance perspective.

Pros    

• One of the best in the cyber security tools list for conducting vulnerability assessments.  
• Offers numerous scanning options like web application scans, malware scans, PCI-DSS scans, etc.  
• Can classify vulnerabilities across various risk-based categories like – informative to critical.  
• Reports can be scheduled and customized across formats like – HTML, XML and CSV formats.   

Cons 

• Vulnerability scanners may not always be accurate, leading to false positives. 
• Supplements may not be always timely updated.  
• Scheduling authenticated scans for web applications can be very difficult.    

Pricing  

• Nessus Professional (Annual Subscription) – $3500.18 
• Nessus Professional (Annual Subscription + Advanced Support) – $3913.18 
• Nessus Professional (2-Year Subscription) – $6825.34 
• Nessus Professional (2-Year Subscription + Advanced Support) – $7651.34

8. Snort

Snort is one of the top open-source IPS/IDS tools. This program employs a set of criteria to assist identify malicious activities and produce security alerts for users. Snort can also be used in the first layer of the network to prevent malicious traffic. Snort can be used and deployed for personal and professional purposes. The Sniffer can be configured in three modes: “Sniffer mode, Packet logger mode, and Network Intrusion Detection System mode”. This utility was created by Cisco Systems.

Pros  

• Security professionals can scan network traffic for analysis.  
• Packets can be stored in files to perform analysis with other tools.  
• Allows remediation action triggers upon intruder detection.  
• Open source, flexible and customizable with the help of rulesets.    

Cons 

• Setup process and configurations can be complicated for beginners. 
• Vulnerable to DoS attacks from within networks. 
• Lack of proper backend support.    

Pricing   

• Snort Personal – $29.99/sensor 
• Snort Business – $399/sensor 

9. Intruder

Intruder is a vulnerability scanner tool for doing cyber security assessments and identifying weaknesses within your company’s structure. This program can detect security fixes, online application exploits such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and CSRF, as well as apps with default passwords. It is a commercial tool with three versions: “Pro, Essential, and Verified”.

Pros  

• Continuously scans and identifies vulnerabilities. 
• Intuitive and user-friendly user interface.  
• 24/7 customer support.    

Cons  

• Lack of a dedicated mobile app.  
• The premium version has a bespoke pricing model which may not be cost-effective for some companies.  

Pricing   

• Intruder Essential – $113/license 
• Pro – $181/license 

10. Kali Linux

Kali Linux is an open-source, advanced penetration testing program. The primary goal of building this tool is to simulate cyber attacks and ethical hacking. Kali Linux includes over 600 tools, including Aircrac-ng, Autopsy, Burp Suite, Hashcat, John the Ripper, Maltego, Nmap, OWASP ZAP, Sqlmap, WPScan, Nessus, Hydra, Wireshark, Nikto, Vulnhub, and the Metasploit framework, that can be used for particular cyber security applications. Offensive Security maintains and develops Kali Linux, a Debian-based Linux distribution tool.

Pros 

• It comes with over 600 penetration tools. 
• Adheres to the file-system hierarchy standard.  
• Supports a wide array of wireless devices.  
• Open source, customizable and supports multiple languages.   

Cons  

• Can be a bit slow in comparison to other software in the cyber security tools list.  
• Some software may malfunction on Kali Linux.  
• It can be complicated for users who are new to Linux.   

Pricing: Free  

11. John the Ripper

John the Ripper is a password cracker that is free of cost, and it is an open-source project, so any developer can contribute as well. It is used for password cracking. Cybersecurity researchers use John the Ripper because it can crack many hashes and cipher text using its comprehensive set of algorithms of hashes.

Pros 

• Efficient cracking: It accelerates the password cracking speed by utilizing multiple CPUs or even when required it utilizes GPU as well. 
• Identification of hash: John the Ripper can identify the hash type by itself, eliminating manual recognition. 
• Flexibility: It is highly customizable because users can create their wordlist or rules according to their target and their needs. 

Cons 

• Limited Identification: Apart from the capability of finding hash types, sometimes it can’t find the new or more complex hashing algorithm. 
• Complex password: If the password is complex means if it contains Capital and small letters, numbers and special characters then it can decrease the performance of John the Ripper. 

Price: Free 

12. SiteLock

SiteLock is a web security technology designed to secure websites. It checks websites on a daily basis for vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS (Cross-Site Scripting), malware detection, and so on. It offers plugin capabilities for a variety of hosting systems, including HostGator, WordPress, and Bluehost.

Pros 

• User Friendly: SiteLock’s User Interface (UI) is easy to use. Even a person from a non-technical background can use it. 
• Improved Availability: Because of regular scans and malware removal, it’ll decrease the downtime of the website. 
• Scalability: SiteLock fulfills the requirement according to the website owner’s requirements. It scales from a blog page to a full-fledged e-commerce website with high traffic. 

Cons 

• False positives: The security scans sometimes can lead to giving false negatives, which means it would mark legitimate actions or files as malicious or a threat. 
• Reliance: Apart from its capability of managing website security, it shouldn’t be a substitute for better security practices like strong passwords or user access controls. 

Price:  

• Basic plan – $14.99/month 
• Pro plan – $ 24.99/month 
• Business plan – $ 34.99/month 

Bottom Line

As a newcomer to the cyber security field, these tools will help you get started. As your experience grows, you will encounter a variety of cyber security and monitoring tools at work. If you want to improve your cyber security skills, you may start by using these tools and learning more. All of these tools will provide insight into how attackers utilize them to locate vulnerabilities, as well as how they exploit those vulnerabilities to obtain access to user data or information.