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BackTrack

BackTrack 5 R3
Developer	Mati Aharoni, Devon Kearns, Offensive Security
OS family	Linux (Unix-like)
Working state	Superseded by Kali Linux
Source model	Open source
Latest release	5 R3 / August 13, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-08-13)
Platforms	i386 (x86), AMD64 (x86-64), ARM
Kernel type	Monolithic
Default user interface	Bash, KDE Plasma Desktop, Fluxbox, GNOME
License	Various
Official website	www.backtrack-linux.org

BackTrack was a Linux distribution that focused on security, based on the Knoppix Linux distribution aimed at digital forensics and penetration testing use. In March 2013, the Offensive Security team rebuilt BackTrack around the Debian distribution and released it under the name Kali Linux.

History

The BackTrack distribution originated from the merger of two formerly competing distributions which focused on penetration testing:

• WHAX: a Slax-based Linux distribution developed by Mati Aharoni, a security consultant. Earlier versions of WHAX were called Whoppix and were based on Knoppix.
• Auditor Security Collection: a Live CD based on Knoppix developed by Max Moser which included over 300 tools organized in a user-friendly hierarchy.

On January 9, 2010, BackTrack 4 improved hardware support, and added official FluxBox support. The overlap with Auditor and WHAX in purpose and in collection of tools partly led to the merger. The overlap was done based on Ubuntu Lucid LTS starting from BackTrack 5.

Tools

BackTrack provided users with easy access to a comprehensive and large collection of security-related tools ranging from port scanners to Security Audit. Support for Live CD and Live USB functionality allowed users to boot BackTrack directly from portable media without requiring installation, though permanent installation to hard disk and network was also an option.

BackTrack included many well known security tools including:

• Metasploit for integration
• Wi-Fi drivers supporting monitor mode (rfmon mode) and packet injection
• Aircrack-ng
• Reaver, a tool used to exploit a vulnerability in WPS
• Gerix Wifi Cracker
• Kismet
• Nmap
• Ophcrack
• Ettercap
• Wireshark (formerly known as Ethereal)
• BeEF (Browser Exploitation Framework)
• Hydra
• OWASP Mantra Security Framework, a collection of hacking tools, add-ons and scripts based on Firefox
• Cisco OCS Mass Scanner, a very reliable and fast scanner for Cisco routers to test default telnet and enabling password.
• A large collection of exploits as well as more commonplace software such as browsers.
• Armitage - java frontend to Metasploit.

BackTrack arranged tools into 12 categories:

• Information gathering
• Vulnerability assessment
• Exploitation tools
• Privilege escalation
• Maintaining access
• Reverse engineering
• RFID tools
• Stress testing
• Forensics
• Reporting tools
• Services
• Miscellaneous

Releases

Whenever a new version of BackTrack was released, older versions would lose their support and service from the BackTrack development team. There are currently no supported versions of BackTrack.

References

1. "Developers". Archived from the original on 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
2. "HowTo:Install KDE 4.1". Offensive-security.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
3. "BackTrack 4 tutorial". Archived from the original on 2011-10-26.
4. "BackTrack Linux – Penetration Testing Distribution".
5. "Kali Linux Has Been Released!". 2013-03-12. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
6. "BackTrack - remote-exploit.org".
7. "BackTrack Linux - Penetration Testing Distribution". www.backtrack-linux.org. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
8. "BackTrack Linux - Penetration Testing Distribution". backtrack-linux.org. 2018-04-09. Archived from the original on 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
9. "BackTrack Downloads (seriously old)". Archived from the original on 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
10. "BackTrack Security Final Release". 15 May 2006. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
11. "Downloads". Archived from the original on 2006-10-27. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
12. "BackTrack v2.0 Public Beta Has Been Released!". 14 October 2006. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
13. "BackTrack Downloads". Archived from the original on 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
14. "BackTrack Developers Log". Archived from the original on 2009-05-29. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
15. "BackTrack 2.0 Final Due End of February". 13 February 2007. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
16. "Latest News". Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
17. "BackTrack 3 Beta out!". 13 December 2007. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
18. "BackTrack Developers Log". Archived from the original on 2009-05-29. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
19. "BackTrack". Retrieved 2019-04-09.
20. "BackTrack Downloads". Archived from the original on 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
21. "BackTrack 4 Final Released". Archived from the original on 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
22. "BackTrack 4 Final Release". 11 January 2010. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
23. "BackTrack 4 R1 – Public Release". Archived from the original on 2010-11-30. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
24. "BackTrack 4 R2 Download!". Archived from the original on 2011-01-12. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
25. "BackTrack Linux". Retrieved 2019-04-09.
26. "BackTrack 5 Release". Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
27. "BackTrack 5 R1 released". Archived from the original on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
28. "BackTrack 5 R2 Released". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
29. "BackTrack 5 R3 Released!". Archived from the original on 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
30. "BackTrack to be Reborn as Kali Linux!". 2013-02-01.

External links

• Official website
• Offensive Security
• SecurityNet on BackTrack

• Discontinued Linux distributions
• KDE
• Operating system distributions bootable from read-only media
• Pentesting software toolkits
• Linux distributions