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Free Hacking Tools for Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking
Rating: 4.5 out of 5(401 ratings)
5,378 students

Free Hacking Tools for Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking

Learn hackers`Web Hacking, Network Scanning and Password Cracking tools such as Wireshark, Nmap, Metasploit, Maltego
Last updated 11/2026
English
English [Auto],Korean [Auto],

What you'll learn

  • Ethical hacking involves a hacker agreeing with an organization or individual who authorizes the hacker to levy cyber attacks on a system or network.
  • In addition to proficiency in basic computer skills and use of the command line, ethical hackers must also develop technical skills related to programming.
  • Ethical hacking is a good career because it is one of the best ways to test a network. An ethical hacker tries to locate vulnerabilities in the network.
  • Many hackers use the Linux operating system (OS) because Linux is a free and open-source OS that anyone can modify it. It’s easy to access and customize .
  • Ethical hacking is legal because the hacker has full, expressed permission to test the vulnerabilities of a system. An ethical hacker operates.
  • The different types of hackers include white hat hackers who are ethical hackers and are authorized to hack systems.
  • Whether you want to get your first job in IT security, become a white hat hacker, or prepare to check the security of your own home network.
  • Passing the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) exam indicates that the credentialed individual is an expert in the governance of information security
  • Penetration testing skills make you a more marketable IT tech. Understanding how to exploit servers, networks, and applications.
  • Penetration testing, or pen testing, is the process of attacking an enterprise's network to find any vulnerabilities that could be present to be patched.
  • Penetration tests have five different stages. The first stage defines the goals and scope of the test and the testing methods that will be used.
  • There are many types of penetration testing. Internal penetration testing tests an enterprise's internal network. This test can determine.
  • With Nmap, you will learn to identify the operating system and running service versions of the target system
  • SQLMap
  • Social Engineering Toolkit (SET) for Phishing
  • Setting Up The Laboratory
  • Set Up Kali Linux from VM Image
  • Set Up Kali Linux from ISO File
  • Set Up a Victim: Metasploitable Linux
  • Set Up a Victim: OWASP Broken Web Applications
  • Set Up a Victim: Windows System
  • Wireshark: Sniffing the Network Traffic
  • TCPDump in Action
  • Hping for Active Scan and DDoS Attacks
  • Ping Scan to Enumerate Network Hosts
  • Introduction to Port Scan
  • SYN Scan
  • Port Scan Details
  • Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE)
  • Vulnerability Scan Tool: Nessus
  • Exploitation Tool: Metasploit Framework (MSF)
  • Password Cracking Tools
  • Cain & Abel: A Brute Force Attack
  • Cain & Abel: A Dictionary Attack
  • John the Ripper
  • Information Gathering Over the Internet Tools
  • Web App Hacking Tools
  • Burp Suite
  • ZAP
  • Social Engineering and Phishing Tools
  • FatRat
  • Empire Project
  • ethical hacking
  • hacking
  • penetration testing
  • metasploit
  • ethical hacking and penetration testing
  • ethical hacking course

Course content

14 sections • 102 lectures • 8h 47m total length
  • Introduction to Ethical Hacking0:44

    Introduction to ethical hacking

  • FAQ regarding Ethical Hacking4:39

    What is Ethical Hacking and what is it used for ?
    Ethical hacking
    involves a hacker agreeing with an organization or individual who authorizes the hacker to levy cyber attacks on a system or network to expose potential vulnerabilities. An ethical hacker is also sometimes referred to as a white hat hacker. Many depend on ethical hackers to identify weaknesses in their networks, endpoints, devices, or applications. The hacker informs their client as to when they will be attacking the system, as well as the scope of the attack. An ethical hacker operates within the confines of their agreement with their client. They cannot work to discover vulnerabilities and then demand payment to fix them. This is what gray hat hackers do. Ethical hackers are also different from black hat hackers, who hack to harm others or benefit themselves without permission.

  • FAQ regarding Penetration Testing1:43

    What is penetration testing?
    Penetration testing, or pen testing, is the process of attacking an enterprise's network to find any vulnerabilities that could be present to be patched. Ethical hackers and security experts carry out these tests to find any weak spots in a system’s security before hackers with malicious intent find them and exploit them. Someone who has no previous knowledge of the system's security usually performs these tests, making it easier to find vulnerabilities that the development team may have overlooked. You can perform penetration testing using manual or automated technologies to compromise servers, web applications, wireless networks, network devices, mobile devices, and other exposure points.

Requirements

  • 8 GB (Gigabytes) of RAM or higher (16 GB recommended) for ethical hacking and penetration testing
  • 64-bit system processor is mandatory for ethical hacking course
  • 20 GB or more disk space for ethical hacking and penetration testing course
  • Enable virtualization technology on BIOS settings, such as “Intel-VTx”
  • Modern Browsers like Google Chrome (latest), Mozilla Firefox (latest), Microsoft Edge (latest)
  • All items referenced in this course are Free
  • A computer for installing all the free software and tools needed to practice
  • A strong desire to understand hacker tools and techniques in ethical hacking
  • Be able to download and install all the free software and tools needed to practice in hacking
  • A strong work ethic, willingness to learn and plenty of excitement about the back door of the digital world
  • Nothing else! It’s just you, your computer and your ambition to get started today in penetration testing

Description

Welcome to the "Free Hacking Tools for Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking" course

One lab, nine tool categories: sniff, scan, exploit, crack passwords, attack Layer 2, gather OSINT, hack web apps, and run social engineering, all with tools that cost nothing.

Every stage of a real penetration test has a tool behind it, and most of the best ones are free. This course puts the full toolkit in one place: the tools you'd otherwise learn one course at a time, together in a single lab, in the order a real engagement actually uses them.

You build your lab first, with Kali Linux, Metasploitable, OWASP Broken Web Applications, and Windows targets. Then you move through the toolkit stage by stage. You sniff and scan with Wireshark, TCPDump, Hping, and Nmap, including its full scripting engine. You scan for vulnerabilities with Nessus and exploit them with the Metasploit Framework, through Meterpreter and its post-exploitation modules. You crack passwords with Hydra, Cain & Abel, and John the Ripper. You attack the network layer itself, building real switch and router topologies in GNS3 and running MAC flooding, ARP cache poisoning, and DHCP starvation. You gather OSINT with Shodan, FOCA, theHarvester, Recon-ng, and Maltego, hack web applications with Burp Suite, ZAP, and SQLMap, and finish with social engineering and phishing using Veil, TheFatRat, Empire, and the Social Engineering Toolkit.

Whether you're putting together your first penetration testing toolkit, want one course that covers what several others do separately, or just want to see what each of these tools actually does, this course gives you hands-on time with all of them. You don't need previous experience with any of these tools to start. Enroll today and begin with lesson one.

What Skills Will You Learn in This Course?

Lab Setup: Build a complete lab with Kali Linux, Metasploitable, OWASP Broken Web Applications, and Windows targets.

Network Scanning and Sniffing: Capture traffic with Wireshark and TCPDump, run active scans with Hping, and scan networks fully with Nmap, including scripting and evasion.

Vulnerability Scanning and Exploitation: Scan for vulnerabilities with Nessus, exploit them with Metasploit and Meterpreter, and work through post-exploitation modules and extensions.

Password Cracking: Crack web app, SSH, and system passwords with Hydra, Cain & Abel, and John the Ripper.

Network Layer and Layer-2 Attacks: Build real switch and router topologies in GNS3, then run MAC flooding with Macof, ARP cache poisoning with Ettercap, and DHCP starvation with Yersinia.

OSINT and Web Application Hacking: Gather information with SearchDiggity, Shodan, FOCA, theHarvester, Recon-ng, and Maltego, and test web apps with Burp Suite, ZAP, and SQLMap.

Social Engineering and Phishing: Create and deploy payloads with Veil, TheFatRat, and the Empire Project, and run phishing campaigns with the Social Engineering Toolkit.

Who Is This Course For?

Aspiring Penetration Testers: Learners who want a complete, hands-on toolkit instead of learning one tool at a time.

Students Finishing an Ethical Hacking Path: People who've taken individual tool-focused courses and want everything brought together in one lab.

IT and Security Professionals: People who want practical, working familiarity with the tools used in a real assessment.

Bug Bounty Beginners: Learners who want hands-on time with web hacking and OSINT tools before they start.

Students and Career Changers: People moving into cybersecurity who want broad, tool-based practice.

Anyone Choosing Their First Security Tools: Learners who aren't sure which tools to learn and want to try the major ones before specializing.

You don't need previous experience with any of these tools to start. You do need a computer that can run virtual machines. The course starts with the lab setup and builds from there.

Why Learn These Tools?

A penetration tester's skill shows in how well they use a small set of tools, not how many they own. Wireshark, Nmap, Nessus, Metasploit, Hydra, Burp Suite, and the others in this course are the tools that show up again and again in real assessments and in job postings, because they work and they're free.

Knowing this toolkit applies directly to penetration tester, security analyst, and bug bounty roles. Even if you later specialize in one area, like web applications or network attacks, having used the full toolkit once makes it much easier to go deep into any single part of it.

Why Choose This Course?

Nine tool categories, one lab. You don't rebuild your lab for each tool. Everything in this course runs against the same environment you set up once.

Breadth without skipping the hands-on part. Each tool gets real, working practice, not a slide with a screenshot.

The full engagement order. Scan, find vulnerabilities, exploit, crack passwords, attack the network layer, gather OSINT, hack the web app, and run social engineering, in the order a real assessment follows them.

GNS3 included. You build and configure real Cisco switch and router topologies, not just attack pre-built targets.

Free tools only. Every tool in this course is free, so you don't need to buy anything to follow along.

A practical map for what to learn next. By the end, you know which tools you want to go deeper on, because you've actually used all of them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tools does this course cover?

Wireshark, TCPDump, Hping, Nmap, Nessus, Metasploit and Meterpreter, Hydra, Cain & Abel, John the Ripper, GNS3, Macof, Ettercap, Yersinia, SearchDiggity, Shodan, FOCA, theHarvester, Recon-ng, Maltego, Burp Suite, ZAP, SQLMap, Veil, TheFatRat, Empire, and the Social Engineering Toolkit.

Is this course a replacement for a dedicated Nmap or Metasploit course?

This course gives you hands-on practice with each tool so you understand what it does and how to use it, but a dedicated course on any single tool, like Nmap or Metasploit, will go deeper into that one area. This course is built to give you the full toolkit first.

Are all the tools really free?

Yes. Every tool in this course is free to use, so you don't need to buy any tool or application to follow along.

Do I need experience with any of these tools first?

No. The course starts with lab setup from scratch and introduces each tool before using it, so no previous experience with any of them is required.

What do I need to follow this course?

A computer that can run virtual machines (VirtualBox or VMware), since every tool is practiced against targets in your own lab.

Does the course cover web application hacking?

Yes. You use Burp Suite and ZAP to intercept and scan web traffic, and SQLMap to exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities.

Does the course cover network layer attacks?

Yes. You build real network topologies in GNS3 and run MAC flooding, ARP cache poisoning, and DHCP starvation attacks against them.

Is it legal to use these tools?

Using these tools on your own lab or systems you're authorized to test is legal. Using them against systems you don't own or have permission to test is not. This course is built entirely around a lab you set up yourself.

Why Learn These Tools with Muharrem Aydın?

Muharrem Aydın brings years of teaching and real-world experience to this course, with a practical, no-fluff approach: clear explanations, real examples, and every topic in a logical order. You study at your own pace and always have a way to ask when something is unclear.

Clear Video and Audio: See clearly, hear clearly, and learn without distractions.

Lifetime Access: Come back to any lesson whenever you want to review a topic.

Fast, Friendly Q&A Support: Ask your questions in the course Q&A section.

Certificate of Completion: Download your Udemy certificate when you finish the course.

Build Your Free Hacking Toolkit Today

Set up one lab, and put nine categories of free tools to work in it, from your first packet capture to a finished phishing campaign.

Enroll today in the Free Hacking Tools for Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking course and take your next step toward a career in penetration testing.

Important: This course is created for educational purposes. Use what you learn only on systems you are authorized to test.

Who this course is for:

  • People who want to start from scratch and to move more advanced level
  • Leaders of incident handling teams
  • People who want to take their Hacking skills to the next level
  • People who are cyber security experts
  • People who want transition to Cyber Security
  • Incident handlers
  • System administrators who are on the front lines defending their systems and responding to attacks
  • Other security personnel who are first responders when systems come under attack
  • People who are willing to make a career in Cyber Security
  • Anyone who want to do a Penetration Testing against Wi-Fi networks.
  • Anyone who wants to be a White Hat Hacker in ethical hacking and penetration testing course
  • Those who want to start from scratch and move forward in web hacking
  • Anyone who wants to learn ethical hacking