Cobalt Strike vs Social-Engineer Toolkit

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

Cobalt Strike is a Security & Privacy solution with tags like penetration-testing, red-team, exploit, cybersecurity, network-security.

It boasts features such as Beacon payload generation, Command and control, Scriptable post-exploitation, Social engineering attacks, Malleable C2 profiles, Network profiling and host enumeration and pros including Powerful post-exploitation capabilities, Evasion techniques to avoid detection, Flexible communication protocols, Integrates with Metasploit, Customizable to mimic real attacks.

On the other hand, Social-Engineer Toolkit is a Security & Privacy product tagged with social-engineering, phishing, vishing, smsishing, usb-autorun, red-team, pentesting.

Its standout features include Spearphishing attacks, Website attack vectors, Infectious media generator, Multi-attack web method, Mass mailer attack, Arduino-based attack vector, SMS spoofing, Wireless access point attack vector, and it shines with pros like Open source, Frequently updated, Wide range of social engineering attack vectors, Easy to use.

Feature	Cobalt Strike	Social-Engineer Toolkit
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Security & Privacy	Security & Privacy

Product Overview

Cobalt Strike

Description: 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.

Social-Engineer Toolkit

Description: The Social-Engineer Toolkit is an open-source penetration testing framework designed for social engineering attacks. It includes a variety of custom attack vectors that enable red teams and security researchers to simulate phishing, vishing, SMSishing and USB autorun attacks.

Key Features Comparison

Cobalt Strike Features

• Beacon payload generation
• Command and control
• Scriptable post-exploitation
• Social engineering attacks
• Malleable C2 profiles
• Network profiling and host enumeration

Social-Engineer Toolkit Features

• Spearphishing attacks
• Website attack vectors
• Infectious media generator
• Multi-attack web method
• Mass mailer attack
• Arduino-based attack vector
• SMS spoofing
• Wireless access point attack vector

Pros & Cons Analysis

Cobalt Strike

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

Social-Engineer Toolkit

Pros

• Open source
• Frequently updated
• Wide range of social engineering attack vectors
• Easy to use

Cons

• Can be detected by antivirus tools
• Requires technical knowledge to use effectively
• Legal and ethical concerns around social engineering

Pricing Comparison

Cobalt Strike

• Subscription-Based

Social-Engineer Toolkit

• Open Source