People these days are so impressed and intrigued by the idea of Network Security and Hacking of a network or any device that it is crucial we make a post catering to these topics. This inspiration has got more to do with films and TV shows that are in limelight these days, mostly involving hacking, techno frauds etc story lines. However it cannot be ignored that a contributing factor into hacking has to do with vulnerability or threat assessment making it imperative to locate vulnerabilities whether digital or otherwise that can be used to hack into a network or any device.
When conducting a threat or any vulnerability assessment, one thing that is crucial is to locate open ports on a given device and what sort of services, applications etc are being operated on those ports. When you do this, you will be able to find a significant vulnerability which can be exploited by the services being operated on the device and of course by their vendors as well. In this blog, we will be bringing you the Top three Port Scanning Tools and Software which will enable you to keep tabs on a particular device and potentially even probe the services that are being used on a given port.
The Top Port Scanning Tools and Software 2018
If you are also someone which is worried about their port vulnerabilities then read below and figure out the best Port Scanning Tools and Software out of the Top Three listed below.
1. SolarWinds Port Scanner
The Solarwinds Port Scanner Tool is a free, open source tool among the Port Scanning Tools and Software that we have searched upon. It is potentially the most relevant to the Nmap considering the output it generates.
This tool has the capability and features for a well enhanced OS detection and will also display all kinds of ports after scanning whether open, close or filtered. It generates its results of the scan in a well organized GUI, including all the logos that are discovered on the operating systems which are scanned by the tool. It can be downloaded free of cost from here but you must remember that its installation can only take place on a device supporting Windows OS.
Visit the official Solarwinds.com for further details and free download: https://www.solarwinds.com/free-tools/port-scanner
2. Angry IP Scanner
The second tool in the list of Port Scanning Tools and Software that we will shed light upon is the Angry IP Scanner. It is although a basic and simple tool but its operating speed is impeccable as it makes use of its multithread capabilities meaning it uses many threads to scan a specific network at a given time.
Angry IP Scanner is essentially a tool based on GUI which has the capability for detection of open and all filtered ports and can cater to the vendors of MAC addresses and then provide the NetBIOS data. However unlike the Nmap and SolarWinds Port Scanners, it doesn’t have the ability for OS detection, and it also cannot probe on the open ports to keep tabs on the operating services on these ports.
You can access and download the Angry IP Scanner Software from this link: http://angryip.org/download/
3. Netcat
The last of the Port Scanning Tools and Software, we will shed light upon is Netcat. Netcat is a comparatively old tool which goes back to the last century is famously known by the name of “Swiss army knife” which can be in the right utility of any network or security engineer. The main reason of the Netcat software is its capability of reading and wrings information over many networks. Furthermore it also has a constructed port scanner, even though this feature of the software isn’t advanced but it performs the job in a systematic manner.
The real version of Netcat isn’t available anymore but there are many other versions out there in the market which can be accessed for the systems of Linux, Mac, and Windows using an excellent Google Search! To be able to locate the original version of Netcat at Source forge for downloading, you can visit the link given below:
Other Online Tools
The top there Port Scanning Tools and Software we have mentioned above doesn’t need installation on a PC device but there are other IP scanning tools in the market that can check ports and the used services. You can complete the scanning of any internal network but they can also be used to keep tabs on public devices as well. These tools can be used on a personal server as well for auditing etc.
Clarice 
Meghan