You can even access Kali through the Windows Subsystem for Linux.īackBox Linux is a community-supported distribution for penetration testing and security assessment. If you want to fire up Kali on a cloud server, in a container, or simply on a USB drive, there are options for each.

You can also run Kali on a large number of Android devices. There's an ARM version, with links for popular brands such as Raspberry Pi and Pine64. There are also OVA downloads intended for VirtualBox and VMWare. The default version, known as 'Bare Metal,' that you can install on your PC comes in at around 500MB to 3GB, depending on whether you opt for the network-connected installer or the offline installer. When you head to the download page of Kali Linux's website, you get the impression that you can run Kali just about anywhere. Likewise, you can grab metapackages that provide you with tools that benefit from having access to GPU hardware or those aimed at hacking hardware. You can install only tools that target Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices, Radio-Frequency Identification tools (RFID), Voice over IP (VoIP), and more. The metapackages extend to the type of testing you wish to do. Or if a graphical interface is excessive for the job you're doing, you can go for the headless option as well. So if you only want the core components needed to run the Kali Linux desktop, you can go that route. The default installer provides 'metapackages' that bundle similar types of software together. But you don't have to pre-install this much code if you don't want to. Kali Linux has around 600 penetration testing programs available, making it the most comprehensive Linux distro for the job.

Categories include the likes of 'Web Application Assessment,' 'Password Attacks,' and 'Sniffing & Spoofing.' The default setup provides the Xfce desktop sporting a custom theme and an app menu whose categories reflect the needs of security professionals. Kali Linux is a rolling-release distro based on Debian.

The initial release was in 2013, but the origins go back to BackTrack Linux and even further to a project known as Whoppix (short for WhiteHat Knoppix) as early as 2004. The project is maintained and funded by the America-based international company Offensive Security. Kali Linux's aim is to be the most advanced distribution for penetration testing.

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