I've heard about Kali Linux many times before. What does it do to make these tasks easier? Is it just that it comes pre installed with the right software or is there any other tweaks that is made?
this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2024
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Pretty much that. It has all the sane defaults that protect and enable you when starting out in SecOps.
And for more experienced users it's later on: "before I setup everything again, I just use Kali."
It isn't a secure operating system. It is a toolkit for pen testing and red team hackers. Definitely not a daily driver kind of OS.
Except it is secure by design.
But you're right about it not being meant as a daily driver.
it's not secure by design, since it's not made to be secure, and also uses unstable versions of a lot of packages to make certain exploits work
What do you mean secure by design? What part of it is secure. Compare it to actually security focused Linux operating systems like QubesOS, Kicksecure, or Secureblue. Literally any OS that supports the Brace tool (made by the creator of DivestOS) is much more secure than Kali Linux. Kali is purpose built for red team work, not being secure (aka reducing attack surface or designing around a threat model).
Kali is secure as in once it's configured, it cannot be accessed without creds, keys etc. That meets the definition of 'secure'. It's just Linux with a bunch of pre installed packages.
Of course something can always be more secure. But saying Kali isn't secure is like me saying your PC isn't secure because it isn't air gapped like my most secure PC.
PCs aren't secure. Linux default isnt secure. Kali has so many apps/tools installed by default that it isnt comparable to default Linux. It has massive attack surface and no security design, therefore calling it secure isn't accurate.
If no effort was put into the security design of an OS, why call it secure?
Okay if I turned off password auth, just used keys, disabled the Kali user and root login, how are you breaking in? Where's the vulnerability? Which cve or cwe are you able to exploit?
A large attack surface doesn't mean insecure. It just means less secure.
Source: I literally pentest for a living. No, I don't even use Kali on a regular basis.
My point exactly. A large attack surface means less secure. My point was that Kali isn't focused on being a secure OS. It is all about the tools. Even without a vulnerability, a secure OS should protect against unknowns.
Where did I say otherwise? 🤔
You mention "sane defaults". That might mislead someone because it is ambiguous. The terminal ~~defaults~~ used to default to a root prompt, exemplifying that it isn't a distro focused on sane defaults for a desktop distro.
Kali is a tool for a specific job. Its meant mostly for hacking or troubleshooting/analysis, being an OS for executing a collection CLI/TUI and GUI utils.
-Edited everything to make myself more intelligible.
It has not defaulted to root prompt in many years.
Thanks for some updated context.
Purpose-built for Security Testing
What makes Kali Linux unique is its purpose-built nature for security testing. While other Linux distributions may have security tools, Kali Linux integrates a vast array of them out of the box. This saves time for professionals who require a quick setup for penetration testing and ethical hacking tasks.
Wide Array of Pre-installed Tools
Kali Linux boasts a comprehensive selection of pre-installed tools, including but not limited to Wireshark, Nmap, Metasploit, and Aircrack-ng. These tools cover a broad spectrum of security assessments, from network scanning to vulnerability analysis and exploitation.
https://www.jamesparker.dev/how-is-kali-linux-different-from-other-linux-distributions/###
If you ever get involved in hacking, a lot and I mean a LOT of the tools are written in Python.
It can be a real PITA to set up a ton of different, standalone python programs, so kali linux comes with most of what people will need installed and ready to go.
Personal rant: Stop writing your programs in Python. If it's meant to be distributed, use a compiled language.
The wallpaper fucks.
4.3 became 4.7Gb Kali Linux Live image.