7. Network Admins And Hackers: Using The Same Tools And Methods

The scary thing for the common user is that all of the tools named above are readily available for free download - ping and arp are even standard tools in Windows. And some more automated tools, such as NetScanTools Professional, are available for purchase. To give you a taste of what's in store if the hacker has that tool, look at the screenshot below.

This toolset permits very incisive targeting by hackers, as there is a good level of inter-tool automation. That is, you can get a list of results from a net scanner, and with a right-click, get a submenu with available options for the results that you have gleaned. Thus you can very quickly and easily check a network and its attached hardware for flaws.

NetScanTools was primarily designed for the network administrator, but there is no escaping the fact that the hacker and administrator share the same toolsets.