Kali Linux Operating System Download 2021.3

Kali Linux is an open-source operating system designed from the ground up as a drop-in replacement for the well-known BackTrack penetration testing Linux distribution. It includes more than 300 penetration testing tools

, Its FHS compliant, supports a wide range of wireless devices, comes with a custom kernel patched for injection, supports multiple languages and it is completely customizable.

Availability and supported architectures

The distribution is available for download as standard and minimal ISO images, designed to support the 64-bit, 32-bit and ARMEL architectures, as well as custom VMware and ARM images that support the Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black, HP Chromebook, Samsung Chromebook, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Cubieboard 2, CuBox, EfikaMX, Odroid U2, Odroid XU, Utility Pro and SS808 devices.

Boot options

The ISO images are Live CD/DVDs that allow the user to start the live environment with default options, in safe graphics mode, in forensic mode, using the simple or encrypted persistence mode, which allows you to save files on the USB stick and reuse it whenever you want, as well as to permanently install the operating system on a local drive.

GNOME Classic desktop environment for traditional hackers

Kali Linux’s main and only desktop environment is powered by GNOME 3.4, which provides users with a traditional desktop environment that uses a two-panel layout and a pitch-black theme. Default applications include the Iceweasel web browser, Empathy IM client, VLC Media Player, and Brasero CD/DVD burning tool.

Hundreds of penetration testing tools

As mentioned, the operating system includes over 300 penetration testing utilities, among which we can mention Aircrack-ng, Hydra, Nmap, Wireshark, Metasploit framework, Maltego, Owasp-Zap, SQLMap, John, Burpsuite, Johnny, Pyrit, SIPcrack, PWdump, Rainbowcrack, Maskgen, Hexinject, SSLSniff, and sniff.

Features of Kali Linux:

Full Customisation of Kali ISOs

With live-build allowing you to create your own Kali Linux images – Kali Linux is heavily integrated with live-build, allowing endless flexibility in customizing and tailoring every aspect of your Kali Linux ISO images. Want a non-root user, KDE version of Kali with only the top 10 tools installed? We have a Kali Linux live build recipe for that!

ISO of Doom and Other Kali Recipes

A great example of the flexibility of live-build, and 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 with LUKS Encrypted Persistence

Kali has extensive support for USB live installs, allowing for features such as file persistence or full (USB) disk encryption.

Live USB with Multiple Persistence Stores

What’s more, Kali Linux supports multiple persistence USB stores on a single USB drive. You can create a live Kali USB bootable drive which supports encryption and multiple store profiles.

Full Disk Encryption

Having the ability to perform full disk encryption of your sensitive penetration testing computer drive is an essential feature needed in our industry. Just the thought of unencrypted client data getting lost or mishandled is horrific.

LUKS Encryption Nuke

While being able to encrypt your drives is important, we believe it’s also important to be able to quickly control the destruction of data on these drives. Our Kali LUKS nuke feature is unique to our distribution.

Metapackages

Kali contains a bunch of meta package collections which aggregate different toolsets. This makes it easy to get custom, minimized environments set up. For example, if all you need are some wireless tools for an upcoming assessment, you can apt-get install kali-Linux-wireless.

Amazon EC2 AWS Images

Need to spin up a Kali box quickly? Perhaps you need some serious bandwidth or disk space for your upcoming tasks. You can easily set up a cloud version of Kali Linux in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.

Accessibility Features

Kali is one of the very few Linux distributions which have a working accessibility system for blind or visually impaired users through both voice feedback and braille hardware support.

Automating Deployment

You can automate and customize your Kali Linux installations over the network. You are one PXE boot away from a fresh, custom Kali installation, or 10,000 of them.

Raspberry Pi and Other ARM Devices

Kali supports over a dozen different ARM devices and common hardware such as Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Beaglebone, and more. We’re very active in the ARM arena and constantly add new interesting hardware to our repertoire.

Forensics Mode

The bootable “Forensics” mode available in Kali makes it perfect for forensics work, as the forensics Kali live image option does not mount any drives (including swap) with this option. The wealth of forensics tools on Kali (metapackage – kali-forensics-tools) makes Kali a good choice for any forensics work you need.

NetHunter

Kali is so versatile that creating the “Kali NetHunter” Android was a natural extension to our distribution. NetHunter is a custom Android ROM overlay for ASOP which brings together all the toolset of Kali Linux (and more!) to your Nexus or OnePlus phones.

Running on Android

Have a recent Android device other than a Nexus or OnePlus phone? Try using the Android App “Linux Deploy” to get Kali seamlessly installed in a chroot environment.

Disk Encryption on Raspberry Pi 2

There’s no easy way of having LUKS disk encryption on ARM hardware. We’ve simplified the process and gave it bells and whistles.
In conclusion, those of you who are looking for an updated version of BackTrack should definitely download and use the Kali Linux operating system, as it is created by the same team of developers that started the world’s most popular free penetration testing Linux distribution.