Kali Linux
| Kali Linux | |
|---|---|
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|
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| developer | Offensive security |
| License (s) | GPL and a. |
| First publ. | 13th March 2013 |
| Current version |
2020.2 of May 12, 2020 (111 days ago) |
| Kernel | monolithic |
| ancestry |
GNU / Linux ↳ Debian GNU / Linux ↳ Kali Linux |
| Architecture (s) | i386 (x86) , AMD64 (x86-64) , armel, armhf |
| timeline | WhoppiX / IWHAX and Auditor, BackTrack |
| Installation medium | DVD |
| Languages) | multilingual |
| Others | Desktop: Xfce
(from 2019.4, previously Gnome) |
| www.kali.org | |
Kali Linux is a Debian- based Linux distribution that mainly includes programs for penetration tests and digital forensics . Kali Linux is aimed primarily at professional and advanced users.
history
The distribution was developed by Mati Aharoni and Devon Kearns from Offensive Security , announced on December 12, 2012 and released after a year of development on March 13, 2013 with version number 1.0. From version 2.0 onwards, the publication will be a rolling release .
Kali Linux is the official successor to BackTrack , which in turn was developed on previous versions of the Linux distributions Whoppix , IWHAX, and Auditor. According to the manufacturer, the name change from BackTrack to Kali Linux should indicate that it is a significantly advanced new development. In contrast to its predecessor, Kali Linux does not rely on Ubuntu , but on Debian. The entire operating system was completely rebuilt and a corresponding infrastructure was set up with Git as version management.
| version | publication | Innovations |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 13th March 2013 | |
| 1.0.1 | March 14, 2013 | Fixed bug with USB keyboards. |
| 1.0.2 | March 27, 2013 | Fixed minor bugs. |
| 1.0.3 | April 26, 2013 | Accessibility programs; Possibility to install from the LiveCD . |
| 1.0.4 | July 25, 2013 | Additional programs, updates. |
| 1.0.5 | 5th September 2013 | Possibility of an encrypted installation. |
| 1.0.6 | January 9, 2014 | Program and package updates |
| 1.0.7 | May 27, 2014 | Kernel 3.14, program and package updates, Kali Live Encrypted USB Persistence added |
| 1.0.8 | July 22, 2014 | EFI support, program and package updates |
| 1.0.9 | August 25, 2014 | Bug fixes, package updates |
| 1.1.0 | February 9, 2015 | New kernel, new tools and updates |
| 2.0 | 11th August 2015 | Update to Kernel 4.0, GNOME 3.14 as standard, changeover to rolling release model |
| 2016.2 | August 31, 2016 | Second snapshot of the rolling release
|
| 2017.1 | April 25, 2017 | |
| 2017.2 | 20th September 2017 | |
| 2017.3 | November 21, 2017 | |
| 2018.1 | February 6, 2018 | |
| 2018.2 | April 30, 2018 | |
| 2018.3 | August 27, 2018 | |
| 2018.4 | October 29, 2018 | |
| 2019.1 | February 18, 2019 | |
| 2019.1a | 4th March 2019 | |
| 2019.2 | May 21, 2019 | |
| 2019.3 | 2nd September 2019 | |
| 2019.4 | November 26, 2019 | Switch from Gnome to Xfce Desktop |
| 2020.1 | January 28, 2020 | Not root user by default |
| 2020.2 | May 12, 2020 |
Attention
The distribution has repeatedly been described in detail and appreciated in the trade press, for example Jörg Riether, a specialist in IT security, summed up on the occasion of the publication of version 1.0 in the trade journal iX that Kali Linux is “the worldwide de facto standard for IT Define security-focused distributions ”.
The Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen provides one of the official mirror servers for downloading Kali Linux . Kali Linux has been downloaded a total of millions of times, according to Offensive Security , the manufacturer of Kali, and it is the most widely used software structure for computer break-in tests. Accordingly, in January 2014, Kali Linux was also among the 20 most popular Linux distributions on the DistroWatch website .
Kali has also attracted so much attention that in 2013/14 several books were published that expressly only provide instructions on how to use it and some of them became bestsellers in their field.
Architectures
Kali Linux is available for computers with differently structured main processors : for x86 systems and AMD64 as well as for the ARM architecture, which is used in many smaller devices such as tablet computers . The ARM socket from Kali can be used on the Raspberry Pi and the ARM Chromebook from Samsung, for example.
Depending on the application, Kali-Linux can, for example, be booted as a live system in the field of forensics without installation, both via CD / DVD, USB stick or via the network using the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE). The special feature of the live system is that no changes (traces) whatsoever are left on the system under investigation, such as the built-in hard drives or solid-state drive , such as the use of a swap file . Alternatively, Kali Linux can also be permanently installed on computers, for example to use this computer for penetration tests.
Programs
The distribution contains documentation and over 300 resources, such as John the Ripper , Aircrack , Kismet , with which the security of a computer system can be tested and assessed. The programs used can also be installed individually under most Linux distributions, but Kali Linux automatically provides optimizations such as modified drivers for Aircrack-ng . The programs are obtained four times a day from the Debian repository, which ensures that Kali users have solid, current software packages and security updates. In addition, the very latest versions, which have not yet been extensively tested under Kali Linux, can be obtained from a separate package source called "Kali bleeding edge".
| Surname | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Maltego | A program to collect data about individuals or companies on the Internet |
| Kismet | Passive sniffer for examining local radio networks ("Wireless Local Area Networks", short: WLANs ) |
| Social Engineer Toolkit (SET) | Programs for various penetration tests with an emphasis on social engineering . |
| Nmap | Network scanner for the rough analysis of networks with the Zenmap user interface . |
| Wireshark | graphic network sniffer |
| Ettercap | Network manipulation tool (e.g. for man-in-the-middle attacks ) |
| John the Ripper | Program for cracking and testing passwords |
| Metasploit | Framework for testing and developing exploits |
| Aircrack-ng | Collection of tools that make it possible to analyze and exploit weak points in WLANs |
| Nemesis | Packet forger for networks |
| RainbowCrack | LAN manager hash cracker |
| The Sleuth Kit | Collection of forensic tools |
Legal
Kali Linux contains software tools, some of which bypass security precautions and which, according to Section 202c StGB , the so-called hacker paragraph that came into force at the end of May 2007 , are perceived in Germany as computer programs for spying on data . Due to this legal situation, possession or distribution can already be punishable if there is an intention to use it illegally according to § 202a StGB (spying on data) or § 202b StGB (interception of data).
See also
literature
- Andreas Weyert: Hacking with Kali Franzis Verlag, Haar 2014, ISBN 978-3-645-60341-6
- Willie Pritchett; David De Smet: Kali Linux Cookbook. Packt Publishing, Birmingham 2013, ISBN 978-1-78328-959-2
- Rahul Singh: Kali Linux Social Engineering. Packt Publishing, Birmingham 2014, ISBN 978-1-78328-327-9
- James Broad; Andrew Bindner: Penetration Testing with Kali. Syngress Media (Elsevier), Burlington MA 2013, ISBN 978-0-12-407749-2
- Joseph Muniz; Aamir Lakhani: Web Penetration Testing with Kali Linux: a practical guide to implementing penetration testing strategies on websites, web applications, and standard web protocols with Kali Linux. Packt Publishing, Birmingham 2013, ISBN 978-1-78216-316-9
- Abhinav Singh: Instant Kali Linux. Packt Publishing, Birmingham 2013, ISBN 978-1-84969-566-4
Web links
- Official website (English)
- The official German-language documentation
- FTP server of the RWTH Aachen with the possibility to download Kali Linux
Individual evidence
- ^ Kali Linux. In: offensive-security.com. Retrieved on February 4, 2014 (English): "Kali Linux is a GPL-compliant Linux distribution [...]"
- ↑ www.kali.org . May 12, 2020.
- ↑ Should I Use Kali Linux? In: Kali.org. February 16, 2013, accessed on January 29, 2014 (English): "The fact of the matter is however, that Kali is a Linux distribution specifically geared towards professional penetration testing and security auditing and as such, it is NOT a recommended distribution for those unfamiliar with Linux. "
- ^ Kali Linux. In: Ohloh.net. Retrieved on February 5, 2014 (English): "Contributors: Mati Aharoni (Kali Linux Developer)"
- ↑ Devon Kearns, @ dookie2000ca. Retrieved on February 5, 2014 (English): "Offsec Instructor, Kali Developer, Exploit-DB Admin, Author, [...]"
- ^ Mati Aharoni: The Birth of Kali Linux. In: Kali.org. December 12, 2012, accessed February 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Kali Linux Has Been Released! In: Offensive-security.com. March 13, 2013, accessed on February 5, 2014 (English): "After a year of silent development, Offensive Security is proud to announce the release and public availability of" Kali Linux ", the most advanced, robust, and stable penetration testing distribution to date. "
- ↑ NEW - Distribution Release: Kali Linux 1.0. In: Distrowatch.com. March 14, 2013, accessed on February 5, 2014 (English): "Offensive Security has announced the release of Kali Linux 1.0 [...]. This is a major new update of the project's flagship distribution formerly known as BackTrack [...] "
- ^ Kali Linux. In: Offensive-security.com. Retrieved on February 4, 2014 (English): "Kali Linux originally started with earlier versions of live Linux distributions called BackTrack, Whoppix, IWHAX, and Auditor."
- ^ Mati Aharoni: The Birth of Kali Linux. Kali Linux - What's in a Name? In: Kali.org. December 12, 2012, accessed on February 5, 2014 (English): “Hindu Goddess of time and change? Philippine martial art? Cool word in Swahili? None of the above. 'Kali' is simply the name we came up with for our new distribution. Why change the name in the first place? With all these significant changes in our distribution, we felt that we needed to convey this in the project name. 'BackTrack 6' didn't do justice to our efforts in the past year, and wouldn't convey our new message to our users. What's the new message? We'll let you find out for yourself. "
- ↑ Jörg Thoma: Backtrack becomes Kali. In: Golem.de. March 14, 2013, accessed on January 29, 2014 : “The name change from Backtrack to Kali involves numerous changes to the Linux distribution for security tests in IT networks. […] [The Linux system] uses the kernel 3.7 including the Debian distribution and the Gnome desktop instead of Ubuntu. Nevertheless, users should hardly notice any differences. "
- ↑ Kali Linux Releases. Retrieved October 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Kali Linux 2.0 Released. August 11, 2015, accessed August 12, 2015 .
- ↑ Kali Linux 2016.2 release. August 31, 2016, accessed January 26, 2017 .
- ↑ Jörg Riether: Reincarnation. Heirs of BackTracks: Kali Linux 1.0. In: iX - magazine for professional information technology . Heise Zeitschriften Verlag, May 2013, accessed on February 8, 2014 : “When […] a small team of just five developers sits together and […] presents results that also set the global de facto standard for IT security Defined focused distributions, then this can be described as successful. "
- ↑ Official Kali Linux Downloads. Official Kali Mirrors. In: Kali.org. Retrieved February 7, 2014 .
- ^ Kali Linux. In: Offensive-security.com. Retrieved on February 4, 2014 (English): "With millions of downloads, it has become the most widely adopted penetration testing framework in existence and is used by the security community all over the world."
- ↑ DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking. In: Distrowatch.com. Retrieved on January 29, 2014 (English): “Last 12 months: 20; Last 6 months: 17; Last 3 months: 16; Last 1 month: 12. "
- ↑ Amazon search for "Kali Linux".
- ↑ Amazon.de referred to the title "Kali Linux Cookbook" in February 2014 as the "No. 1 best seller in network security", that is to say, as the book on the topic of network security that is most in demand.
- ^ Darren Pauli: BackTrack successor Kali Linux launched. In: SC Magazine (Australia). March 13, 2013, accessed on February 5, 2014 (English): “ Runs on Raspberry Pi, USBs. A computer small enough to fit inside the palm of a hand sits in the corner of an office, its lights blinking. It looks like a toy to most, but the small ARM-based machine is running the latest version of Backtrack, and is breaking into the corporate network. "
- ^ Abhinav Singh: Instant Kali Linux . Packt Publishing, Birmingham 2013, ISBN 978-1-84969-566-4 , pp. 3 (English). Quote: "Kali Linux contains over 300 penetration testing and assessment tools."
- ↑ List of programs | http://tools.kali.org/tools-listing
- ^ Joseph Muniz, Aamir Lakhani: Web Penetration Testing with Kali Linux . 1st edition. Packt Publishing, Birmingham 2013, ISBN 978-1-78216-316-9 , pp. 24 (English). Quote: “The tools are streamlined with the Debian repositories and synchronized four times a day. That means users have the latest package updates and security fixes. "
-
↑ Kali Linux: Bleeding Edge Repositories. March 25, 2013, accessed on January 29, 2014 (English): "
echo deb http://repo.kali.org/kali kali-bleeding-edge main >> /etc/apt/sources.list; apt-get update; apt-get upgrade" - ^ Social Engineer Toolkit. (No longer available online.) In: TrustedSec.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014 ; accessed on February 8, 2014 (English): "The Social-Engineer Toolkit (SET) [...] is an open-source Python-driven tool aimed at penetration testing around Social-Engineering."