Social-Engineer Toolkit vs Cobalt Strike

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

Social-Engineer Toolkit is a Security & Privacy solution with tags like social-engineering, phishing, vishing, smsishing, usb-autorun, red-team, pentesting.

It boasts features such as 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 pros including Open source, Frequently updated, Wide range of social engineering attack vectors, Easy to use.

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.

Social-Engineer Toolkit

Social-Engineer Toolkit

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.

Categories:
social-engineering phishing vishing smsishing usb-autorun red-team pentesting

Social-Engineer Toolkit Features

  1. Spearphishing attacks
  2. Website attack vectors
  3. Infectious media generator
  4. Multi-attack web method
  5. Mass mailer attack
  6. Arduino-based attack vector
  7. SMS spoofing
  8. Wireless access point attack vector

Pricing

  • Open Source

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


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:
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