The popularity of this digital forensics and penetration testing Linux distribution has surged since it prominently appeared in several episodes of the TV series Mr. Kali Linux is 100% FREE and is distributed online as a 4GB ISO archive that can run on any modern PC, starting with ancient i386 all up to modern PCs, laptops, Chromebooks, Raspberry Pi, Galaxy Note smartphones, and many other supported devices. In the latest version, initial support for auditing security for Apple Silicon (Apple M1) devices via Kali ARM service. Some of the most commonly used security audit packages found in Kali Linux are nmap (a port scanner), Burp suite and OWASP ZAP (app security scanners), Aircrack-ng (for testing wireless networks), John the Ripper (password cracker), Wireshark (a network packet analyzer), Airgeddon (wireless networks audit app), Metasploit Framework, Arjun, DNSGen, Shellshock, Wget, Chiselm, GitLeaks, DumpsterDiver, HTTProbe, PSKracker, Bluesniff, and many others.

The development of this security Linux repo platform was done in a completely secure environment, with an intention to keep the entire development team small to reduce data leaks or security exploits.

While BackTrack was based on Ubuntu, Kali Linux is built on top of Debian Wheezy, with most packages being imported from Debian repositories. Kali Linux was originally developed in 2013 by the small team of Mati Aharoni, Devon Kearns, and Raphaël Hertzog of Offensive Security who were previously responsible for the creation of the similarly security-themed Linux distribution package BackTrack. Of course, it can also be run as a virtual machine.

To enable the easier deployment, Kali Linux 64bit can be installed directly on target PC hard drives, or run live from bootable CDs and USB sticks. Built from the ground up to cater to the needs of advanced programmers, network specialists, and security auditors, this Linux distributions comes with over 600 penetration-testing programs that can immediately be used for testing network defenses, security measures, malicious software detection systems, and proprietary data protection platforms present on networks of all sizes. Kali Linux is an advanced version of Linux that is optimized from the ground up for penetration testing, ethical hacking, and network security assessments.

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