2. What is Kali Linux
● Kali Linux is a Debian-derived operating system
designed for digital forensics & penetration testing.
● Kali contains several hundred tools for various for
security tasks such as Penetration Testing, Security
Research, Computer Forensics & Reverse
Engineering
● It is maintained & funded by Offensive Security Ltd
● Mati Aharoni is the core developer.
● It's a rewrite of Backtrack
3. History
● Knoppix , ancestor of Kali Linux was the 1st ever Live
Bootable Linux Operating System. Knoppix was then
forked into Whoppix & then re-forked into WHAX .
● WHAX was then re-branded as BackTrack ,
the predecessor of Kali Linux.
BackTrack had a long reign of almost 7 Years as the
pentesters & hackers choice.
● BackTrack is dedicated to hacking.
● As of 2011 it was used by more than 4 million amateur &
professional security researchers.
4. Backtrack Issues
The main issue with BackTrack was dependencies.
Too many pentesting tools were embedded within
BackTrack they all struggled to coexist within the
dependencies
However, on 13th March 2013 it was replaced by
Kali Linux.
5. Solution to BackTrack
● The solution was a complete top-to-bottom rebuild of
BackTrack Linux
● Kali Linux has 600 tools which automatically work within
the Kali ecosphere. Kali also has been created with clean
File System Hierarchy Standard & offers vast plug &
play wireless support.
● The main attraction was the ARM support provided by
Kali Linux. You can also create your own .iso file with
Kali through the Debian build feature.
7. Features
● More than 600 penetration testing tools included.
● Free and Open Source
● Has Monolithic type Kernel
(A Monolithic kernel is an OS architecture where the entire OS is working in kernel space.
Monolithic kernels are able to dynamically load executable modules at runtime)
● Available in 32 & 64-bit
● Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
● Wide-ranging wireless device support
● Developed in a secure environment
● GPG signed packages & repositories
● Multi-language support
● Completely Customizable
● ARM devices support
8. Forensic Mode
When booted into the forensic boot mode, there are
a few very important changes to the regular
operation of the system:
1. First, the internal hard disk is never touched
2. Other, equally important, change is that auto-
mounting of removable media is disabled.
10. What is Penetration Testing?
“ The process of evaluating systems applications &
protocols with the intent of identifying vulnerabilities
usually from the perspective of an unprivileged or
anonymous user to
determine potential real world impacts ”
Or in other words
...we try to break into stuff before the bad guys do...
11. Booting Process
● BIOS loads & scans for devices such as Hard Disk, CD-ROM, RAM, etc.
● BIOS searches for MBR (Master Boot Record) & hands over the
responsibility to MBR.
● MBR contains the information of loader of most operating system
e.g UNIX, Linux & WINDOWS
● Boot loader loads itself into RAM
● The default stage 2 boot loader is a GRUB(Grand Unified Boot
Loader) or LILO (Linux Loader)
● Once GRUB is loaded into RAM, then it’s search for the location of
Kernel.
● Kernel starts the core system like RAM, processor & mass storage
& loads all the various daemons and mounts all the partitions
12. Requirements
● Kali Linux requires a minimum of 20GB hard
disk space for installation.
● A minimum of 1GB RAM
● A bootable CD-DVD drive or a USB stick.
13. Supported Platforms
● Kali Linux is distributed in 16 & 32 Bits
● Developers of Kali Linux aim to make Kali Linux
available for ARM devices
● With the arrival of Kali NetHunter, it is now
available on smartphones such as the Nexus
Models, OnePlus Phones & some Samsung
models.
● Chromebooks
14. Flexibility
● Kali Linux can run natively when installed on a
computer’s hard disk or can be booted from CD or
USB or on a virtual machine.
● Available for ARM devices like Chromebooks ,
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Raspberry Pi, CuBox & a
lot more.
● KALI LINUX can also be installed within a root
environment on an android device
15. Penetration-Testing Programs
Kali Linux is preinstalled with numerous penetration
testing programs :
● nmap - a port scanner
● Wireshark - a packet analyzer
● John The Ripper - a password cracker
● Aircrack-ng - a software suite for penetration
testing wireless LANs
● iKat- a hacking tool
16. UBUNTU
● Linux Platform
● Ubuntu is a general desktop
and server distribution
● Designed to satisfy general
Desktop & Server requirements
& also targeted in some smart
TVs
KALI
● Debian Platform
● Kali Linux is a specialized
distribution
● Primarily designed for
purposes like Penetration
Server Testing and Digital
requirements and also
Forensics
17. Information Security Certifications
Offensive Security Ltd. provides courses &
certifications related to Kali Linux. These
certifications are :
● OSCP - Offensive Security Certified Professional
● OSWP - Offensive Security Wireless Professional
● OSCE - Offensive Security Certified Expert
● OSEE - Offensive Security Exploitation Expert
● OSWE - Offensive Security Web Expert
18.
19. Mati Aharoni is the founder and core developer of
Kali Linux project , as well the CEO of Offensive Security.
“It is critical to take the view of the
attacker to see if your defenses are working "
This was the main idea behind the development of
KALI LINUX
