BackTrack was a

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

that focused on security, based on the

Knoppix Knoppix, stylized KNOPPIX ( ), is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD or DVD (Live CD) or a USB flash drive ( Live USB). It was first released in 2000 by German Linux consultant Klaus Knopper, and was one ...

aimed at

digital forensics Digital forensics (sometimes known as digital forensic science) is a branch of forensic science encompassing the recovery, investigation, examination, and analysis of material found in digital devices, often in relation to mobile devices and com ...

and

penetration test A penetration test, colloquially known as a pentest, is an authorized simulated cyberattack on a computer system, performed to evaluate the security of the system; this is not to be confused with a vulnerability assessment. The test is perform ...

ing use. In March 2013, the Offensive Security team rebuilt BackTrack around the

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

distribution and released it under the name

Kali Linux Kali Linux is a Linux distribution designed for digital forensics and penetration testing. It is maintained and funded by Offensive Security. The software is based on the Debian''Testing'' branch: most packages Kali uses are imported from the De ...

History

The BackTrack distribution originated from the merger of two formerly competing distributions which focused on

ing: * ''WHAX'': a Slax-based Linux distribution developed by Mati Aharoni, a security consultant. Earlier versions of WHAX were called ''Whoppix'' and were based on

. * ''Auditor Security Collection'': a

Live CD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete booting, bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than lo ...

based on

developed by ''Max Moser'' which included over 300 tools organized in a user-friendly hierarchy. On January 9, 2010, BackTrack 4 improved hardware support, and added official

FluxBox Fluxbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System, which started as a fork of Blackbox 0.61.1 in 2001, with the same aim to be lightweight. Its user interface has only a taskbar, a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking on the d ...

support. The overlap with Auditor and WHAX in purpose and in collection of tools partly led to the merger. The overlap came about as Backtrack 5, released on May 10, 2011. This version also seen the base OS changed from

Slackware Slackware is a Linux distribution created by Patrick Volkerding in 1993. Originally based on Softlanding Linux System (SLS), Slackware has been the basis for many other Linux distributions, most notably the first versions of SUSE Linux distr ...

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

Tools

BackTrack provided users with easy access to a comprehensive and large collection of security-related tools ranging from port scanners to Security Audit. Support for

and

Live USB A live USB is a portable USB-attached external data storage device containing a full operating system that can be booted from. The term is reminiscent of USB flash drives but may encompass an external hard disk drive or solid-state drive, thou ...

functionality allowed users to boot BackTrack directly from portable media without requiring installation, though permanent installation to hard disk and network was also an option. BackTrack included many well known security tools including: *

Metasploit The Metasploit Project is a computer security project that provides information about security vulnerabilities and aids in penetration testing and IDS signature development. It is owned by Boston, Massachusetts-based security company, Rapid7. ...

for integration * Wi-Fi drivers supporting

monitor mode Monitor mode, or RFMON (Radio Frequency MONitor) mode, allows a computer with a wireless network interface controller (WNIC) to monitor all traffic received on a wireless channel. Unlike promiscuous mode, which is also used for packet sniffing, ...

(rfmon mode) and

packet injection Packet injection (also known as forging packets or spoofing packets) in computer networking, is the process of interfering with an established network connection by means of constructing packets to appear as if they are part of the normal communic ...

Aircrack-ng Aircrack-ng is a network software suite consisting of a detector, packet sniffer, WEP and WPA/ WPA2-PSK cracker and analysis tool for 802.11 wireless LANs. It works with any wireless network interface controller whose driver supports raw mon ...

* Reaver, a tool used to exploit a vulnerability in WPS * Gerix Wifi Cracker * Kismet *

Nmap Nmap (Network Mapper) is a network scanner created by Gordon Lyon (also known by his pseudonym ''Fyodor Vaskovich''). Nmap is used to discover hosts and services on a computer network by sending packets and analyzing the responses. Nmap pro ...

Ophcrack Ophcrack is a free open-source ( GPL licensed) program that cracks Windows log-in passwords by using LM hashes through rainbow tables. The program includes the ability to import the hashes from a variety of formats, including dumping directly f ...

* Ettercap *

Wireshark Wireshark is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source packet analyzer. It is used for computer network, network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. Originally named Ethereal, ...

(formerly known as Ethereal) * BeEF (Browser Exploitation Framework) * Hydra *

OWASP The Open Worldwide Application Security Project (formerly Open Web Application Security Project) (OWASP) is an online community that produces freely available articles, methodologies, documentation, tools, and technologies in the fields of Io ...

Mantra Security Framework, a collection of hacking tools, add-ons and scripts based on

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

* Cisco OCS Mass Scanner, a very reliable and fast scanner for Cisco routers to test default telnet and enabling password. * A large collection of exploits as well as more commonplace software such as

browsers Browse, browser, or browsing may refer to: Computing *Browser service, a feature of Microsoft Windows to browse shared network resources *Code browser, a program for navigating source code *File browser or file manager, a program used to manage f ...

. * Armitage -

java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

-based front-end to Metasploit. BackTrack arranged tools into 12 categories: * Information gathering *

Vulnerability assessment A vulnerability assessment is the process of identifying, quantifying, and prioritizing (or ranking) the vulnerabilities in a system. Examples of systems for which vulnerability assessments are performed include, but are not limited to, informati ...

* Exploitation tools *

Privilege escalation Privilege escalation is the act of exploiting a Software bug, bug, a Product defect, design flaw, or a configuration oversight in an operating system or software application to gain elevated access to resource (computer science), resources that ar ...

* Maintaining access *

Reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

tools *

Stress testing Stress testing is a form of deliberately intense or thorough testing, used to determine the stability of a given system, critical infrastructure or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, often to a breaking point, in orde ...

* Forensics * Reporting tools * Services * Miscellaneous

Releases

Whenever a new version of BackTrack was released, older versions would lose their support and service from the BackTrack development team. There are currently no supported versions of BackTrack.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Backtrac Discontinued Linux distributions Linux distributions offering KDE desktop environment Operating system distributions bootable from read-only media Pentesting software toolkits Year of introduction missing Linux distributions