Kali Linux (Essay Sample)

Kali Linux
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Kali Linux
Kali Linux is a security auditing and penetration testing software developed by Offensive Security Company. The software is Debian based and it is a Linux distribution. Kali Linux was developed to replace BackTrack which had some features which were not functional. Kali Linux follows fully follows the Debian software and programming guidelines (Kali Linux, 2019). Other software that is used for penetration testing and security auditing include Ubuntu. However, many users are diverting to Kali Linux because it has become one of the most resourceful. There are several advantages of using Kali Linux over other security software. Besides penetration testing, Kali Linux aimed at information security tasks such as computer forensics, security research, and reverse engineering (Kali Linux, 2019). The software was first released in 2013. The latest highly improved version of 2019.4 was released in November 2019 (Kali Linux, 2019). There are several advantages of using Kali Linux.
The latest version of Kali Linux has more than 600 penetration testing tools. With the development of the software from BackTrack, the Offensive Security company removed the less functional and redundant tools and further increased the tool to enable easy use for the user (Allen, Heriyanto, & Ali, 2014). As a result, users have a wide variety of tools from where they can choose and execute what they want. With the hundreds of tools, network security teams can easily inspect their networks. The many tools ensure the nothing is left to chance in security information gathering and analyses. The vast variety of tools enables users to install their preferred tools in their computers (Chapman, 2016). In addition, the high number of tools within the software is advantageous in that it makes Kali Linux less complex than other software.
Adherence to the file-system hierarchy standard (FHS) is another advantage of the Kali Linux software (Allen, Heriyanto, & Ali, 2014). This is advantageous in the sense that it enables users to easily find libraries, support files, and binaries unlike in Back Track whereby a user can only find the items manually (Chapman, 2016). A user does not have to manually find the tool he/she wants to use but can find it by entering the command name in the root terminal. Besides being compliant with FHS, Kali Linus is a free operating system (Broad, & Bindner, 2014). As a result, users do not spend on installing in it their computers. This factor has attracted many people to the software.
Kali Linux provides an open development tree. Kali Linux is committed to the open-source development model (Broad, & Bindner, 2014). The software has made its development tree available for all users. Users are able to rebuild or tweak packages to make them suitable for their specific needs. Also, a user can monitor the coding at any stage. A user can customize the application down to the kernel (Chapman, 2016). Unlike other penetration software, the provision for customizing according to one's needs brings customer satisfaction.
Moreover, Kali Linux supports a wide range of wireless devices and languages. Offensive Security Company has developed Kali Linux to support many wireless devices as possible while allowing it to run properly on a variety of hardware (Allen, Heriyanto, & Ali, 2014). The software is also compatible with numerous wireless and USB devices. This feature makes it easy for users to link devices to the application. Besides, Kali Linux is designed to support ARMHF and ARMEL. The installation of these systems was necessitated by the increasing use of single-board systems like the BeagleBone Black and the RaspberryPi (Broad, & Bindner, 2014). The integration of the ARM systems helps will keep the software technologically relevant. The software’s ability to support many languages helps users to access support services and tools easily. The ability to support many languages gives the application an upper hand over other penetration tools that mainly use English (EDUCBA, 2019).
Security is one of the critical aspects of any application. Kali Linux is developed in a secure environment. To ensure security, only a small team is involved in managing various activities such as in committing packages and interacting with repositories (Broad, & Bindner, 2014). These activities are undertaken using secure protocols. In addition, Kali Linux packages are signed by the individual developers who built and committed them (EDUCBA, 2019).
Kali Linux is targeted to people who want to work with matters concerning cybersecurity (Halton, & Weaver, 2018). The operating system involves various categories that enable secure information gathering and diagnostics. The categories include information gathering, vulnerability analysis, database analysis, web application analysis, password attacks, wireless attacks, reverse engineering, exploitation tools, sniffing and spoofing, post-exploitation, forensics, reporting tools, and social engineering tools (Kali Linux, 2019). The operating system utilities provide tools for users. For security professionals, the operating system is designed to ensure robust security for their networks in the corporations which they work in. the security professionals use the software to conduct penetration tests on their systems after which they conduct analyses to establish the weak points in their systems. It is after such tests when they can correct and make their systems more secure. While using Kali Linux on a virtual machine, the operating system is used to train personnel on cybersecurity (Sinha, 2018). Cybersecurity learners are also a target user group for the software since it provides hands-on skills that clearly educate learners on cybersecurity. However, the company cautions that the operating system is not for beginners and carefulness should be highly considered while using it.
Presently, hacking seems to be a normal way of living. Although the intentions for the development of Kali Linux were genuine, other users have used the software for launching attacks on target corporate computer systems (Halton, &