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In computing, netcat is a network utility for reading from and writing to network connections on either TCP or UDP. It is designed in a thin and simple way, which makes it easy to incorporate in larger applications. Because of its versatility, netcat is also called the "TCP/IP Swiss Army knife".
Variants The original version of netcat is a UNIX program. Its author is known only as *Hobbit*. Netcat is fully POSIX compatible and there exist several implementations, including a rewrite from scratch known as GNU netcat, which is maintained by Giovanni Giacobbi and a MS-Windows version of netcat created by Chris Wysopal. Also, an encrypted version of netcat named Cryptcat is available for use when security is of concern. has ported the Windows version to Windows CE (Pocket PC and Handheld PC). On some systems, modified versions or similar utilities go by the command name(s) nc, ncat, pnetcat, socat, sock, socket, spd. Security risks Netcat is sometimes detected and flagged up as a security risk by virus scanners and spyware removal software, which may simplistically categorise it as a remote administration tool•, or treat it as a hacking tool which may have been planted by malicious software•. Such warnings from security software do not however take into account its many legitimate uses as a flexible network data transfer tool. However, concerns may be justified in so far as netcat can serve as a tool for undesirable activity such as port scanning or as a vehicle with which to exploit vulnerabilities, and can be configured to allow unsecured remote access to a system. Hacking with netcat Netcat is the ultimate network security weapon for both the hacker and the defender. With netcat you can port scan: nc -v -w 2 -z $targetip $port-range It can be used to connect to any port the same as telnet can; however, it does not include the same EOF problem telnet does, so it will allow your network output to finish. It can also be used to connect to UDP ports. The most likely feature of netcat to be used as a security exploit (hack) is the ability to run as both a server and a client. It is rather simple to include netcat into any application you write then execute: nc -l -pand you have a backdoor in the system. Check out the link below for more info on hacking with netcat. Notes See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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