Bettercap vs Strace vs Splunk vs Foremost: Which Web Security tool is Best in 2025?

Bettercap is a powerful, open-source, and modular network security tool designed for penetration testers, security researchers, and ethical hackers. Pre-installed on Kali Linux, it serves as a Swiss Army knife for network reconnaissance, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, and traffic manipulation across Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Ethernet, and IPv4/IPv6 networks. Written in Go, Bettercap offers a flexible framework with an intuitive web UI, scriptable proxies, and caplets for automating complex attack scenarios.

Strace is a powerful open-source diagnostic and debugging tool for Linux, available on Kali Linux at /usr/bin/strace, used to monitor and manipulate interactions between user-space processes and the Linux kernel. Developed initially by Paul Kranenburg for SunOS in 1991 and ported to Linux in 1992, Strace leverages the ptrace kernel feature to trace system calls, signals, and process state changes. Maintained by Dmitry Levin and released under the GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1, it’s a staple for cybersecurity professionals, system administrators, and developers for troubleshooting programs without source code.

Splunk, a Cisco company, empowers organizations to thrive in the digital age with its cutting-edge cybersecurity and observability platform. By harnessing AI and real-time data analytics, Splunk helps businesses proactively secure their systems, optimize performance, and drive resilience across IT, OT, and multicloud environments—trusted by global leaders to turn data into decisive action.

Foremost is an open-source, command-line file carving utility pre-installed on Kali Linux at /usr/bin/foremost, designed for recovering deleted or hidden files from disk images and storage devices. Originally developed by Jesse Kornblum, Kris Kendall, and Nick Mikus for the U.S. Air Force, Foremost uses data carving techniques to identify and extract files based on their headers, footers, and internal structures, bypassing file system metadata. Widely used by digital forensic investigators, incident responders, and ethical hackers, it supports formats like PDF, JPG, MP3, and executable files, making it essential for cyber forensic investigations and data recovery.