Being towards death

Why Python is the Hacker's First Choice?#

Python has gradually occupied an important position in the field of cybersecurity due to its simple and easy-to-use syntax, powerful functionality extensions, and rich libraries. Whether it's network traffic analysis, discovering web vulnerabilities, or performing penetration testing, Python can help security practitioners complete tasks quickly and efficiently.

Friendly Reminder: Ethical hacking should always comply with laws and regulations. Before conducting any tests, be sure to obtain authorization and strictly adhere to relevant ethical guidelines.

Recommended Tool Libraries and Their Application Scenarios#

Here are some Python libraries and tools that shine in the field of cybersecurity, covering all aspects from network scanning to vulnerability exploitation.

1. Pwntools

   • Introduction: Pwntools is a framework specifically designed for CTF (Capture The Flag) competitions and is also a powerful vulnerability exploitation development library. It can quickly complete prototype development, greatly simplifying the process of writing exploits.
   • Installation Command: pip install pwntools
   • Application Scenario: Writing exploit scripts. Developing custom CTF tools.

2. Scrapy

   • Introduction: Scrapy is an efficient web crawling and data extraction framework, very suitable for data mining, web monitoring, and automated testing.
   • Installation Command: pip install scrapy
   • Application Scenario: Crawling websites and extracting structured data. Used for traffic analysis and network behavior monitoring. Building network packet sniffing tools.

3. Argparse

   • Introduction: Argparse is a command-line argument parsing library that makes it easy to create interactive command-line tools.
   • Example Code:
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     import argparse
     
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="A simple website scanning tool")
     parser.add_argument("url", help="The target URL to scan")
     parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", help="Enable verbose mode")
     
     args = parser.parse_args()
     
     if args.verbose:
         print(f"Scanning {args.url} in detail...")
     else:
         print(f"Scanning {args.url}...")
     

   • Application Scenario: Rapid development of command-line tools. Adding user input functionality to penetration testing scripts.

4. DNSpython

   • Introduction: DNSpython is a DNS toolkit that supports operations such as querying, zone transfers, and dynamic updates, making it very suitable for DNS-related testing.
   • Installation Command: pip install dnspython
   • Application Scenario: Executing DNS record queries. Automating domain resolution and subdomain enumeration.

5. Subprocess

   • Introduction: The Subprocess module allows you to start new operating system processes and interact with them, widely used for system-level operations.
   • Example Tool: MAC address modification script
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     import subprocess
     
     def change_mac(interface, new_mac):
         print(f"[+] Changing MAC address to {new_mac}")
         subprocess.call(["sudo", "ifconfig", interface, "down"])
         subprocess.call(["sudo", "ifconfig", interface, "hw", "ether", new_mac])
         subprocess.call(["sudo", "ifconfig", interface, "up"])
     

   • Application Scenario: Changing MAC addresses. Batch network configuration management.

6. Pycryptodome

   • Introduction: Pycryptodome is a powerful cryptography library that supports encryption, decryption, hashing, and random number generation.
   • Installation Command: pip install pycryptodome
   • Example Code:
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     from Crypto.Cipher import AES
     from Crypto.Random import get_random_bytes
     
     key = get_random_bytes(16)
     cipher = AES.new(key, AES.MODE_EAX)
     plaintext = b"This is a secret message"
     ciphertext, tag = cipher.encrypt_and_digest(plaintext)
     
     print("Ciphertext:", ciphertext)
     

   • Application Scenario: Data encryption and decryption. Secure hash generation.

7. Python3-Nmap

   • Introduction: Python3-Nmap is a Python library that allows easy automation of network scanning using the Nmap port scanner.
   • Installation Command:
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     git clone https://github.com/wangoloj/python3-nmap.git
     pip3 install -r requirements.txt
     apt-get install nmap
     

   • Example Code:
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     import nmap3
     
     nmap = nmap3.Nmap()
     results = nmap.nmap_version_detection("example.com")
     print(results)
     

   • Application Scenario: Performing port scans. Automating vulnerability scans.

8. Impacket

   • Introduction: Impacket provides low-level access to various network protocols (such as SMB, MSRPC), supporting the construction and parsing of packets, suitable for network attack simulation and exploitation.
   • Installation Command: python3 -m pipx install impacket
   • Application Scenario: SMB and NTLM relay attacks. Simulating server behavior and extracting sensitive credentials.

9. Pyshark

   • Introduction: Pyshark is a Python wrapper for Tshark, allowing the parsing of network packets using Wireshark.
   • Application Scenario: Real-time capturing of network traffic. In-depth analysis of specific protocol packets.

10. Requests

    • Introduction: Requests is an HTTP request library that simplifies interactions with web servers, making it an essential tool for network testing and automation tasks.
    • Installation Command: pip install requests
    • Application Scenario: Automating API testing. Extracting and analyzing web content.

Summary and Outlook#

Python's powerful ecosystem empowers cybersecurity practitioners with more capabilities, covering everything from simple network scanning to complex vulnerability exploitation. By making good use of these tools, we can not only improve work efficiency but also gain a deeper understanding of the core technologies in cybersecurity.