The TCP/IP Swiss Army knife for networking operations
IntermediateInteractive Dual Perspective
Netcat (nc) is a networking utility for reading from and writing to network connections using TCP or UDP. It's called the "Swiss Army knife" of networking for its versatility in debugging, port scanning, file transfers, and creating backdoors.
🔴 RED TEAM
Establish reverse shells, create backdoors, transfer files stealthily, pivot through networks, and maintain persistence.
🔵 BLUE TEAM
Test port connectivity, debug network services, validate firewall rules, and detect unauthorized connections.
Netcat Operations Center
The TCP/IP Swiss Army knife - Connection relay, port scanner, backdoor listener, file transfer
Network Topology
Attacker
192.168.1.100
Target
10.0.0.50
:4444
IDLE
Detection Risk0%
Interactive Shell
nc -lvnp 4444
Listening on 0.0.0.0 4444
Packet Flow Log
🔴 RED TEAM: Attack Techniques
Bind Shell: nc -lvnp 4444 on target, attacker connects
Reverse Shell: Target calls back to attacker listener