BloodHound vs Cobalt Strike

Struggling to choose between BloodHound and Cobalt Strike? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

BloodHound is a Security & Privacy solution with tags like active-directory, attack-path-analysis, privilege-escalation, relationship-mapping, microsoft-windows.

It boasts features such as Graph database showing relationships between Active Directory objects, Identifies privilege escalation paths and access control vulnerabilities, Visualizes effective permissions and trusts, Integrates data from LDAP and Kerberos, Built on Neo4j graph database and pros including Open source and free to use, Powerful visualization of AD environments, Helps identify attack vectors and security holes, Large user community providing support.

On the other hand, Cobalt Strike is a Security & Privacy product tagged with penetration-testing, red-team, exploit, cybersecurity, network-security.

Its standout features include Beacon payload generation, Command and control, Scriptable post-exploitation, Social engineering attacks, Malleable C2 profiles, Network profiling and host enumeration, and it shines with pros like Powerful post-exploitation capabilities, Evasion techniques to avoid detection, Flexible communication protocols, Integrates with Metasploit, Customizable to mimic real attacks.

To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison of these two products, delving into their features, pros, cons, pricing, and more. Get ready to explore the nuances that set them apart and determine which one is the perfect fit for your requirements.

BloodHound

BloodHound

BloodHound is an open source security tool used to analyze Active Directory environments and find relationships between different objects. It helps identify attack paths that could potentially allow an attacker to escalate privileges.

Categories:
Security & Privacy Active Directory Security
active-directory attack-path-analysis privilege-escalation relationship-mapping microsoft-windows

BloodHound Features

  1. Graph database showing relationships between Active Directory objects
  2. Identifies privilege escalation paths and access control vulnerabilities
  3. Visualizes effective permissions and trusts
  4. Integrates data from LDAP and Kerberos
  5. Built on Neo4j graph database

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Open source and free to use

Powerful visualization of AD environments

Helps identify attack vectors and security holes

Large user community providing support

Cons

Requires installing Neo4j database

Steep learning curve

Does not fix vulnerabilities, only identifies them

Cobalt Strike

Cobalt Strike

Cobalt Strike is a commercial penetration testing tool used to simulate adversarial attacks against networks. It helps testers find vulnerabilities and gain access similar to real-world threats.

Categories:
Security & Privacy Penetration Testing
penetration-testing red-team exploit cybersecurity network-security

Cobalt Strike Features

  1. Beacon payload generation
  2. Command and control
  3. Scriptable post-exploitation
  4. Social engineering attacks
  5. Malleable C2 profiles
  6. Network profiling and host enumeration

Pricing

  • Subscription-Based

Pros

Powerful post-exploitation capabilities

Evasion techniques to avoid detection

Flexible communication protocols

Integrates with Metasploit

Customizable to mimic real attacks

Cons

Expensive licensing model

Steep learning curve

Can only be used legally for penetration testing

Advanced features require additional licensing