Ethical Hacking with Python – Beginner to Practical Guide 🐍🛡️

⚠️ Important Note

Ethical hacking means testing systems with permission.

🚫 Never use these skills on unauthorized systems.

🔐 What is Ethical Hacking?

Ethical hacking is the practice of identifying security vulnerabilities in systems, networks, or applications legally to improve security.

🐍 Why Python for Ethical Hacking?

Python is widely used because:

• Easy syntax
• Powerful libraries
• Automation friendly
• Used in penetration testing tools

🧱 Ethical Hacking Phases (Python Use)

1. Reconnaissance
2. Scanning
3. Gaining Access
4. Maintaining Access
5. Reporting

🔍 1️⃣ Reconnaissance (Information Gathering)

WHOIS Lookup

import whois

domain = whois.whois("example.com")

print(domain)

DNS Lookup

import socket

print(socket.gethostbyname("example.com"))

🔎 2️⃣ Scanning (Ports & Services)

Simple Port Scanner

import socket

target = "127.0.0.1"

for port in range(20, 1025):

s = socket.socket()

s.settimeout(0.5)

if s.connect_ex((target, port)) == 0:

print(f"Port {port} is open")

s.close()

📌 Used to identify open services.

🔐 3️⃣ Brute Force (Educational Purpose)

SSH Brute Force (LAB ONLY)

import paramiko

ssh = paramiko.SSHClient()

ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())

try:

ssh.connect("127.0.0.1", username="test", password="test123")

print("Login successful")

except:

print("Login failed")

📌 Only in test environments (DVWA, Metasploitable)

🧪 4️⃣ Web Application Testing

Banner Grabbing

import socket

s = socket.socket()

s.connect(("example.com", 80))

s.send(b"HEAD / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: example.com\r\n\r\n")

print(s.recv(1024))

s.close()

📦 5️⃣ Malware Analysis (Defensive)

File Hashing

import hashlib

with open("file.exe", "rb") as f:

file_hash = hashlib.sha256(f.read()).hexdigest()

print(file_hash)

🧰 Common Python Libraries for Ethical Hacking

PurposeLibraryNetworkingsocketWeb RequestsrequestsSSHparamikoScanningscapyHashinghashlibAutomationos, subprocessWeb scrapingbeautifulsoup

🧪 Practice Platforms (Safe)

• TryHackMe
• Hack The Box
• DVWA
• Metasploitable

🎯 Interview Questions (Python + Hacking)

Q: Why Python for ethical hacking?

A: Easy, fast scripting and strong libraries.

Q: What is port scanning?

A: Identifying open ports/services.

Q: What is reconnaissance?

A: Collecting information about target.

Q: What is hashing?

A: One-way encryption for integrity.

🧠 Beginner Learning Path

1. Networking basics
2. Linux commands
3. Python basics
4. Web security (OWASP Top 10)
5. Ethical hacking tools
6. Python automation

🔥 Real‑World Use Cases

• Automating scans
• Log analysis
• Password auditing
• SOC scripting
• Malware analysis