7 Must Have Tools For Every Hacker

Its been a while since I have posted about some hacking tools and with increasing number of emails asking me to do an article on it,I finally decided to cover it up.Hacking tools are developed by some really good coders out there to ease out many complex tasks which have to be done manually and took painstakingly great deal of time and effort.All these tools provided here are free of cost,are tried hands on and are being actively developed by community,and if not,their alternatives are provided.To summarize it up,these are the 7 must have tools for every hacker out there.


1. Nmap

I think everyone has heard of this one, it recently had a version 5 release.

Nmap (Network Mapper) is a free open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, although it works fine against single hosts.Many systems and network administrators also find it useful for tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use,and dozens of other characteristics. It may be used to discover computers and services on a computer network, thus creating a "map" of the network.Nmap runs on most types of computers and both console and graphical versions are available. Nmap is free and open source.Can be used by beginners (-sT) or by pros alike (packet_trace). A very versatile tool, once you fully understand the results.



Download Nmap



2. Nessus Remote Security Scanner

Recently went closed source, but is still essentially free. Works with a client-server framework.Nessus is the worlds most popular vulnerability scanner used in over 75,000organizations world-wide. Many of the worlds largest organizations are realizing significant cost savings by using Nessus to audit business-critical enterprise devices and applications.



Download Nessus



3. Wireshark

If you have been reading my site,you might have read about it in a couple of articles.Wireshark is a GTK+-based network protocol analyzer, or sniffer, that lets you capture and interactively browse the contents of network frames. The goal of the project is to create a commercial-quality analyzer for Unix and to give Wireshark features that are missing from closed-source sniffers. Works great on both Linux and Windows (with a GUI), easy to use and can reconstruct TCP/IP Streams! .



Download Wireshark



4. Cain and Abel

The swiss knife of hacking tools..Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols.The program does not exploit any software vulnerabilities or bugs that could not be fixed with little effort.



Download Cain and Abel



5. Kismet

Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. A good wireless tool as long as your card supports rfmon



Download Kismet



6. NetStumbler

Yes a decent wireless tool for Windows! Sadly not as powerful as it’s Linux counterparts, but it’s easy to use and has a nice interface, good for the basics of war-driving. NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses:



1.Verify that your network is set up the way you intended.

2.Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.

3.Detect other networks that may be causing interference on your network.

4.Detect unauthorized rogue access points in your workplace.

5.Help aim directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links.

6.Use it recreationally for WarDriving.

Download NetStumbler



7. SuperScan

Powerful TCP port scanner, pinger, resolver. SuperScan 4 is an update of the highly popular Windows port scanning tool, SuperScan.If you need an alternative for nmap on Windows with a decent interface, I suggest you check this out, it’s pretty nice.



Download Superscan



Alternatively,you can try Angry IP Scanner which is a pretty good replacement for it.

How to Alter Windows Product ID

If you are running a Microsoft Windows operating system on your computer, then you are most likely aware of the fact that your PC will have a Product ID. This Product ID is a system specific alphanumeric code which is derived/calculated based on the Windows product key you use and the hardware configuration of your Computer. In simple words, Product ID is the alphanumeric code that you see when you Right-Click on the My Computer icon and select the Properties option.






Ever wondered how to alter the Windows Product ID?



It is possible to alter the Windows Product ID and change it to what ever you like. For example, you can change the Product ID and put your nickname in place of the formal Product ID displayed by the Operating System. This hack is too easy and can be done within minutes. The screenshot showing the altered Product ID is given below



Win 7 PC showing Original PID

Windows 7 PC showing Altered PID

As you can see from the above screenshot it is simple and easy to make your Windows display what ever you want in the place of the real Product ID. Here is a step-by-step procedure to alter your Windows Product ID.



1. Goto Start->Run and type the following in the Run dialog box


regedit


2. After you open the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key


HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version


3. On the right hand side, you can see an entry by name ProductID listed under the heading Name.



4. Double-Click on ProductID, a dialog box will pop-up showing your Windows PID. Now you can delete the original PID and enter anything of your choice.



5. Once you are done, just click on OK and close the Registry Editor. Now you can see the altered Product ID in the Windows Properties window.



NOTE: This trick works on Win 7, Vista and Win XPI hope you like this trick. Pass your comments. Cheers!