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Kali Linux Features

What is Kali Linux, and what is a Penetration Testing Distribution?

What is a penetration testing distribution? As legend tells it, years ago there was a penetration test in an isolated environment where the assessment team was not able to bring in any computers or have network access in or out of the target environment. In order to do the work, the first penetration testing distribution was born. It was a bootable Live CD configured with various tools needed to do the work, and after the assessment was completed the Live CD was shared online and became very popular.

Kali Linux has a direct lineage from this original distribution, running on through BackTrack Linux, and now is Kali Linux.

What are the makings of a great penetration testing distribution? What a penetration testing distribution is judged on has changed over the years. Originally it was just how many tools did it hold. Then it was did it have package management, and how often were they updated? As we have matured, so has the features that we need to provide. The true indication of a great Penetration Testing distribution is the selection of useful and relevant features that it offers security professionals. What kind of features are we talking about? We’re happy you asked! We’ve made a short list of some of these Kali Linux features, and linked them to their respective sources.

Special Kali Linux Features of Note

• Full customisation of Kali ISOs. With the use of metapackages optimized for specific need sets of a security professional and a highly accessible ISO customization process a optimized version of Kali for your specific needs is always easy to generate.

Kali Linux is heavily integrated with live-build, allowing endless flexibility in customizing and tailoring every aspect of your Kali Linux ISO images. This can be shown with our basic example build recipes, to our Kali ISO of doom recipe, which shows the types and complexity of customizations possible — build a self installing, reverse VPN auto-connecting, network bridging Kali image — for the perfect hardware backdoor.

• Live USB Boot. This allows you to place Kali onto a USB device, and boot without touching the host operating system (perfect also for any forensics work!). With optional persistence volume(s) you can have opt to pick what file system to use when Kali starts up allowing for files to be saved in between sessions, creating multiple profiles. Each persistence volume can be encrypted essential feature needed in our industry.

If that is not enough, we also have LUKS nuke option, allowing you to quickly control the destruction of data.

• Kali Undercover. Using Kali in an environment you don’t want to draw attention to yourself? Kali Undercover is perfect to not stand out in a crowd by blending to a familiar operating system that most people recognize to stop shoulder surfers.
• Win-KeX. Using Kali on WSL? This provides a Kali Desktop Experience for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), with seamless windows, clipboard sharing, audio support and more.
• Kali NetHunter. Kali on your (Android) phone and smart watch. This covers multiple items, such as a ROM overlay for multiple devices, NetHunter App, as well as NetHunter App Store. On top of this, you also boot into a “full desktop” using chroot & containers, as well as “Kali NetHunter Desktop Experience (KeX)”.

• Kali Everywhere. A version of Kali is always close to you no matter where you need it. Let it be; ARM (SBC) (including Raspberry Pis), Bare-Metal (single and multi-boot), Cloud (AWS, Azure, Digital Ocean & Linode), Containers (Docker, Podman & LXD), Virtual Machines (VMware, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, Parallels, Proxmox & Vagrant), DVD/USB, WSL, and so on — is all available.

We also make all our build-scripts for all our platforms public so you can generate the images yourself too!

• Kali Unkaputtbar. Using Btrfs file system, you can take snapshots of Kali just like you were using a VM, and roll back to a previous state.
• Kali ARM. Supporting over a dozen different ARM devices and common hardware such as Raspberry Pi, Pinebooks, USB Armory, Gateworks, ODROID, BeagleBone, and more. We offer pre-generated images, ready to be used as well as build-scripts to produce more. We’re very active in the ARM arena and constantly add new interesting hardware to our repertoire.

• The Industry Standard. Kali Linux is the undisputed industry standard Open-source penetration testing platform.
• For more features of Kali Linux, please see the following page: What is Kali Linux?.

Want to learn more about the Kali Linux Operating System?

• Download Kali Linux. the most advanced penetration testing platform ever made. Available in 32-bit (386), 64-bit (AMD64), and ARM flavors (ARMel, ARMhf and ARM64), as well as a number of specialized builds for many popular hardware platforms. Kali can always be updated to the newest version without the need for a new download.
• Kali Documentation. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or a novice — our Kali Linux documentation site will have something you need to know about Kali Linux.
• Kali Community. Kali Linux, with its BackTrack lineage, has a vibrant and active community. With active Kali forums, IRC Channel, Kali Tools listings, an open bug tracker system and community provided tool suggestions — there are many ways for you to get involved in Kali Linux today. Joining the community is easy — don’t hesitate; jump right in!

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The most advanced
Penetration Testing Distribution

Kali Linux is an open-source, Debian-based Linux distribution geared towards various information security tasks, such as Penetration Testing, Security Research, Computer Forensics and Reverse Engineering.

The Industry Standard

Kali Linux is not about its tools, nor the operating system. Kali Linux is a platform.

Make Your Job Easier

Kali Everywhere

Customization

Documentation

Community

Kali Linux, with its BackTrack lineage, has a vibrant and active community. There are active Kali forums, IRC Channel, Kali Tools listings, an open bug tracker system, and even community provided tool suggestions.

All the tools you need

The Kali Linux penetration testing platform contains a vast array of tools and utilities. From information gathering to final reporting, Kali Linux enables security and IT professionals to assess the security of their systems.

Find out all about Kali’s Tools

Kali Everywhere

Undercover Mode

Using Kali in an environment where you don’t want to draw attention to yourself? Kali Undercover is the perfect way to not stand out in a crowd.

Kali NetHunter

A mobile penetration testing platform for Android devices, based on Kali Linux. Kali NetHunter is made up of an App, App Store, Kali Container and KeX

Win-KeX

Win-KeX provides a full Kali Desktop Experience for Windows WSL. Applications started via Kali’s panel will share the desktop with Microsoft Windows applications.

ARM

Cheap & low powered devices, which make for great leave behind devices. Modern ARM based laptops provide high speed with long battery life as an assessment platform.

Bare Metal

Single or multiple boot Kali, giving you complete control over the hardware access (perfect for in-built WiFi and GPU), enabling the best performance.

Cloud

Hosting providers which have Kali Linux pre-installed, ready to go, without worrying about looking after the infrastructure.

Containers

Using Docker or LXD, allows for extremely quick and easy access to all of Kali’s tools, without the overhead of a isolated virtual machine.

Mobile

A mobile penetration testing platform for Android devices, based on Kali Linux. Kali NetHunter consists of an NetHunter App, App Store, Kali Container, and KeX.

USB

Kali in your pocket, ready to go with Live Boot. Your Kali, always with you, without altering the host OS, plus allows you to benefit from hardware access.

Virtual Machines

VMware & VirtualBox pre-built images ready to go. Allowing for a Kali install as bare as possible, with additional features such as snapshots, without altering the host OS. And we have vagrant images too.

WSL

WSL is included out of the box with modern Windows. You can then start to use Kali (and Win-Kex) without any installing any extra software.

Choose the desktop you prefer

Xfce

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

Xfce consists of separately packaged parts that together provide all functions of the desktop environment, but can be selected in subsets to suit user needs and preferences. This is Kali’s default desktop environment.

GNOME Shell

Every part of GNOME Shell has been designed to make it simple and easy to use. The Activities Overview is an easy way to access all your basic tasks. A press of a button is all it takes to view your open windows, launch applications, or check if you have new messages. Having everything in one place is convenient and means that you don’t have to learn your way through a maze of different technologies.

KDE Plasma

Plasma is made to stay out of the way as it helps you get things done. But under its light and intuitive surface, it’s a powerhouse. So you’re free to choose ways of usage right as you need them and when you need them.

With Plasma the user is king. Not happy with the color scheme? Change it! Want to have your panel on the left edge of the screen? Move it! Don’t like the font? Use a different one! Download custom widgets in one click and add them to your desktop or panel.

Latest news from our blog

Pip install and Python’s externally managed

TL;DR: pip install is on the way out. Installing Python packages must be done via APT, aka. Kali Linux’s package manager. Python packages coming from other sources should be installed in virtual environments. Long story below. Some background Back in February this year, for a few days, some of you might have tried (and failed) to install Python packages with Pip, aka.

Kali Linux 2023.2 Release (Hyper-V & PipeWire)

Quick off the mark from previous 10 year anniversary, Kali Linux 2023.2 is now here. It is ready for immediate download or upgrading if you have an existing Kali Linux installation. The changelog highlights over the last few weeks since March’s release of 2023.1 is: New VM image for Hyper-V — With “Enhanced Session Mode” out of the box Xfce audio stack update: enters PipeWire — Better audio for Kali’s default desktop i3 desktop overhaul — i3-gaps merged with i3 Desktop updates — Easy hashing in Xfce GNOME 44 — Gnome Shell version bump Icons & menus updates — New apps and icons in menu New tools — As always, various new packages added New Hyper-V VM Image With this release, we welcome a new member in the family of pre-built VM images!

Happy 10th anniversary & Kali’s story . so far

Wednesday 13th, March 2013, 10 years ago, Kali Linux v1.0 was first released. Today we want to celebrate Kali’s 10th anniversary! Time has flown. And gosh, a lot has changed since then! They grow up so fast! This is the story of how Kali came to be, and some of the challenges along the way.

Kali Linux 2023.1 Release (Kali Purple & Python Changes)

Today we are releasing Kali 2023.1 (and on our 10th anniversary)! It will be ready for immediate download or updating by the time you have finished reading this post. Given its our 10th anniversary, we are delighted to announce there are a few special things lined up to help celebrate. Stay tuned for a blog post coming out for more information!

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