Ncat, sometimes referred to as Netcat, is a computer networking utility for reading from and writing to network connections using TCP or UDP protocols. It was developed as part of the Nmap project and is a powerful networking utility designed for network exploration or security auditing. It is flexible, portable, lightweight, and supports a large number of protocol options and configurations.
Ncat offers a wide array of functionality, such as being able to create virtually any type of connection, including TCP, UDP, UNIX socket, and more. It also features tunneling mode, port redirection, proxying, SSL support, and others. Ncat usage is intuitive, as it reads and writes data across networks from the command line.
Nmap also known as Network Mapper, is a free and open source utility for network discovery and security auditing. 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 IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services those hosts are offering, what operating systems are being used, what type of packet filters or firewalls are in use, and a lot more.
Combined, Ncat and Nmap can be a powerful tool in any network administrator or security professional’s toolkit. For instance, you can use Nmap to scan a network for open ports and then use Ncat to further investigate these ports. Or you can use Ncat to create a backdoor into a system (for legitimate, ethical hacking purposes) and then use Nmap to exploit this backdoor.
Let’s see an example of using Ncat with Nmap. You can use Nmap to perform a simple scan by typing `nmap -p 80
It is important to note that while these tools can be a great resource, they should be used responsibly and ethically, only for legitimate reasons, such as enhancing security on your own system or network, or on systems or networks for which you have explicit permission to perform such actions.
Sources:
1. `Ncat – Netcat for the 21st Century – https://nmap.org/ncat/`
2. `nmap(1) – Linux man page – https://linux.die.net/man/1/nmap`
3. `Nmap.org, official NMAP project guide – https://nmap.org/book/man.html`
4. `Netcat, Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat`
