We have of course been following BackTrack since the very early days, way back in 2006 when it was just known as BackTrack – A merger between WHAX and Auditor. They’ve come a long way and BackTrack is now a very polished and well rounded security distro, most of the others have dropped off the map leaving BackTrack as the giant in the security LiveCD space.
The last major release was BackTrack Final 4 Released – Linux Security Distribution – back in January 2010.
The BackTrack Dev team has worked furiously in the past months on BackTrack 5, code name “revolution” – they released it on May 10th. This new revision has been built from scratch, and boasts several major improvements over all our previous releases. It’s based on Ubuntu Lucid LTS – Kernel 2.6.38, patched with all relevant wireless injection patches. Fully open source and GPL compliant.
BackTrack 5 – Penetration Testing Distribution from Offensive Security on Vimeo.
The interesting part for me is that the new .ISO downloads offer multiple versions, including a choice between GNOME and KDE desktops and the images include ARM, 32-Bit and 64-Bit versions.
New in Version 5
- Based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS;
- Linux kernel 2.6.38 (with wireless injection patches);
- KDE 4.6;
- GNOME 2.6;
- 32-bit and 64-bit support;
- Metasploit 3.7.0;
- Forensics mode (a forensically sound instance);
- Stealth mode (without generating network traffic);
- Initial ARM image of BackTrack (for Android-powered devices);
- All support for Backtrack 4 will end on May 10th, 2011 and BackTrack 4 will not be available for download from our official mirrors from that date onwards.
As for the ARM image, they have had some joy getting BackTrack running on a Motorola Xoom tablet – check it out here.
You can download BackTrack version 5 here:
aim4r says
Really “Fully open source and GPL compliant” ? it has Nessus installed by default (and no openvas)
MiJa says
Hey that are cool news…. but it would be cooler if some one make a pentest android image for the xoom. So you get host support and can add some other wireless adapter. That will make the live more beautyfull ;=)))))))
Hacking Tricks says
its really cool since they are offering two download options.
outlaw says
Who uses SamuraiWTF?
Captain Sensible says
Linux Security Distribution…
Err can we rephrase it as… Ubuntu 10.04 minimal, lots of tools, more tools, tools, tools, tools, tools,….. Oh yeah runs as root. It’s not really a distro is it? More like what happens if you ask kiddies to make a meal you get cake topped with cake cake cake cake cake….
Root user as default? Isn’t this why we all laugh at XP installations? Skiddie heaven and lame as fuck. From the same security pros who got their server and forum busted. They really should take their own advice and try harder.
Darknet says
That’s a bit harsh isn’t it? Yah maybe they could do better, maybe you could help?
I still think it’s a pretty cool collection of tools and it puts together a lot of stuff people would struggle to get working.
No one is suggesting you install BackTrack on a critical infrastructure node.
Bogwitch says
Backtrack is a skiddie tool, make no mistake, it is also a serious security tool. On most security distros, there will be a requirement to run as root quite often so I see no big problem with it.
I have run tests from Backtrack, Slackware, CentOS, Fedora even Win2K. The one thing each assignment has in common is, following the test, the customer required a wipe (or submission) of my HDD.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Backtrack is a long-term installed use distro, it is what it is.
Kamesh says
Agreed CS comments seem a little over critical less constructive however I think I can understand his disposition. Backtrack is almost completely reliant in it’s notoriety and capability on 3rd party programmers who have created the tools independently.
I believe the frustration is sourced in that Backtrack’s actual contribution has been bundling the tools together within Ubuntu Linux. Furthermore Ubuntu is commonly discredited for basing the majority of it’s capability on Debian whilst not feeding much back to Debian… take patches for example.
So it transpires what we have in Backtrack is a copy of a copy. Personally I admire it’s strength in combining so many tools within one platform however I can agree in the argument that there is really a very minor amount of any contribution to the linux community.
It’s convenient and in some ways overpowering with it’s capability but within a very knowledgeable Linux community notorious for high standards and code scrutiny I think many people (e.g CS) are feeling it clearly could be packaged better with a greater degree of in-house contribution.
Ultimately people have the choice to use whatever they wish however I do feel there almost needs to be a governing body of the standards an OS should meet. I’m of the opinion personally that if there was less distributions we would all have a closer community and greater amount of shared knowledge and contribution which could only result in higher standards and greater impact upon what is still an achingly Windows dominated market.
Off subject I do want to say thanks for creating a great site Darknet, it’s a very good recourse!
Darknet says
I agree, but that’s the paradox of Open Source. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time, if you don’t like something – you can change it. But if the change doesn’t get merged upstream – you can fork off your own project. Which inevitably happens, like with Debian and Ubuntu – Debian moves slow and always has which doesn’t make it very exciting but makes it very stable. Not very good if you want a desktop oriented distro which is user friendly.
Personally I enjoy the variety (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Kubuntu, BackTrack, GnackTrack etc..).
There’s a place for them all.
And thanks – I do my best :)