5 Best Programming Languages To Learn for Ethical Hacking

November 11, 2020

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The 21st century is a century of digital citizens as technology has become the most important aspect of our lives. Having the knowledge of programming has become more of a necessity than an option and similar to the growing craze of coding, Ethical hacking has also become extremely popular these days. Everyone wants to become a hacker today especially the youth, but the truth is that hacking and becoming a hacker is not as easy as it is shown in numerous sci-fi movies, in-fact it takes years of practice and programming to become an Ethical hacking expert. There are several Programming languages used for Ethical hacking/ Whitehat hacking that are used extensively.

The increasing cyber-attacks have increased the demand for ethical hackers in the market and they are paid big bucks too. So, where should one start the journey, well the answer would be by starting to code in one of the programming languages suitable for Ethical hacking purpose.

You don’t need to worry about which programming language to choose since we have brought the top 5 programming languages used by hackers all around the world.

Python –

Python is the easiest to learn among the programming languages and has worldwide fame in the coding community for its simplicity. It has played an important role in the writing of hacking scripts, exploits, and malicious programs and is thus known as the “de-facto language” for hacking programming.

Python socket Programming can be used for finding the vulnerabilities of a system since Python code can be used for checking the security integrity of systems and it can also be used to exploit them.

It has a massive community and tons of pre-built libraries having powerful functionalities that allow for writing automation scripts, prototyping, etc. a lot easier.

Highlights:

Python has interpreted nature allowing it to run without the need for compilation.
An easy-to-learn language which is very helpful for beginning ethical hackers.
Allows for easy writing of automation scripts to hack into web servers and makes prototyping much faster.
Python allows for a fast reconnaissance of the target network with the help of numerous 3rd-party plugins and libraries.

Java –

Java is the most widely used programming language in the industry and was originally released with the slogan “write once, run anywhere,” intended at highlighting its cross-platform capabilities.

It is because of the “WORA” functionality that Java is the perfect programming language for hacking PC, mobile devices, and web servers, and its flexibility is appreciated by hackers all around the world.

Java has powered many legacies as well as modern servers and is still relevant despite popular belief. It is the best programming language for hacking into mobile devices. Using Java, one can create tools acting as a backdoor exploit or even exploits capable of killing an entire computer system.

Highlights:

Java allows for the development of state-of-the-art Ethical hacking programs for advanced ethical hackers.
It is a dynamic language and hacking programs written on one system can be run on any platform that supports Java.
Java is widely used to reverse engineer paid software and also by professional pen-testers to curate scalable servers for delivering payloads.
A deep understanding of Java programming is an integral part of developing hacking programs for the Android system.

Also Read- 8 Free Online Coding Games for Everyone to Learn Programming

Ruby –

Ruby is a simple but complicated web-oriented programming language that is syntactically very similar to Python and thus it got popular among ethical hackers in no time.

Ruby is one of the best languages for Whitehat hacking since it provides superior flexibility while writing exploits and this is why the famous “Metasploit penetration testing framework” was written in Ruby.

It has been used by hackers to hack and exploit multi-purpose corporate systems. Ruby is easy to learn but difficult to master and that is the reason why lots of companies such as Shopify, Twitter, GitHub, etc are looking for people who know Ruby.

Highlights:

Ruby is an essential language to learn while mastering the art of writing effective exploits.
It has often been used by veteran hackers to write CGI scripts after a network has been compromised.
Ruby has a relatively simpler syntax that allows for writing whitehat hacking codes in very less time.
Many of the next-generation web applications are built with the Rails platform, this makes Ruby the best option for breaking into them.

JavaScript –

JavaScript is widely used for client-side programming and web development purposes. With the recent introduction of Node.js, JavaScript has become one of the best programming languages for hacking web applications since now it provides a broader field of exploitation to the hackers.

Security experts often use JavaScript for developing cross-site scripting hacking programs to mimic the actions of a black-hat hacker. Powerful hacking tools such as Burp Suite also rely on JavaScript code to perform exploitation and detect vulnerabilities in a system. It can be a bit difficult to learn for beginners but surely can be mastered over some time.

Highlights:

Using JavaScript hackers can easily manipulate the browser DOM, making it a viable solution for building internet worms.
As a hacking language JavaScript can manipulate front-end web components as well as their back-end counterparts which makes it perfect for hacking complex web apps.
A proper understanding of JavaScript can allow hackers to find vulnerabilities in almost any web application since there is barely any online project that doesn’t use JavaScript or its libraries.

C/C++ –

C language is a mother of all programming languages and C++ is a high-level programming extension of C with extra features to simplify programming

Despite being one of the first programming languages, C/C++ is highly preferred to crack corporate software that comes under a proprietary license and require paid activation.

It is the best option for exploiting desktop software and reverse engineering their features. They provide great functionality and control with a collection of predefined classes. C language has a low-level nature that allows security experts to access and manipulate system hardware and lower-level resources.

C & C++ Programming Language — C & C++ for Whitehat hacking

Highlights:

The object-oriented nature of C/C++ enables hackers to write fast and efficient modern-day hacking programs. In fact, many of the modern whitehat hacking programs are built on C/C++.
The fact that C/C++ are statically typed languages allows programmers to avoid a lot of trivial bugs right at compile time.
C++ provides high-level polymorphism features allowing hackers to write metamorphic PC viruses using C++ code.

The above-mentioned programming languages can prove to be quite useful if you are doing penetration testing or checking for security breaches to rectify them or for any other hacking purpose. Hackers all over the world actively code in these languages to find faults in systems or gain information about potential targets. Now go on, get started in one of these languages.