In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of BackTrack. This topic is of great interest to a wide spectrum of people, since its impact is felt in different areas of daily life. From historical aspects to its relevance today, BackTrack has been the subject of studies, debates and reflections by experts and enthusiasts alike. In the next lines, we will explore the various facets of BackTrack, analyzing its importance, its implications and its possible future developments. Join us on this tour of BackTrack and discover everything this exciting topic has to offer!
Developer | Mati Aharoni, Devon Kearns, Offensive Security[1] |
---|---|
OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
Working state | Superseded by Kali Linux |
Source model | Open source |
Latest release | 5 R3 / August 13, 2012 |
Platforms | i386 (x86), AMD64 (x86-64), ARM |
Kernel type | Monolithic |
Default user interface | Bash, KDE Plasma Desktop, Fluxbox,[2][3] GNOME |
License | Various |
Official website | www |
BackTrack was a Linux distribution that focused on security, based on the Knoppix Linux distribution aimed at digital forensics and penetration testing use.[4] In March 2013, the Offensive Security team rebuilt BackTrack around the Debian distribution and released it under the name Kali Linux.[5]
The BackTrack distribution originated from the merger of two formerly competing distributions which focused on penetration testing:
On January 9, 2010, BackTrack 4 improved hardware support, and added official FluxBox support.[7] 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.[8]
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:
BackTrack arranged tools into 12 categories:
Date | Release |
---|---|
May 26, 2006 | First stable release of BackTrack [9] [10] |
October 13, 2006 | BackTrack 2 beta #1 released [11] [12] |
November 19, 2006 | BackTrack 2 beta #2 released [13] |
March 6, 2007 | BackTrack 2 final released [14] [15] |
December 14, 2008 | BackTrack 3 beta released [16] [17] |
June 19, 2008 | BackTrack 3 final released (Linux kernel 2.6.21.5) [18] [19] |
February 11, 2009 | BackTrack 4 beta released [20] |
January 9, 2010 | BackTrack 4 final release (Linux kernel 2.6.30.9) [21] [22] |
May 8, 2010 | BackTrack 4 R1 release [23] |
November 22, 2010 | BackTrack 4 R2 release [24] |
May 10, 2011 | BackTrack 5 release (Linux kernel 2.6.38) [25] [26] |
August 18, 2011 | BackTrack 5 R1 release (Linux kernel 2.6.39.5) [27] |
March 1, 2012 | BackTrack 5 R2 release (Linux kernel 3.2.6) [28] |
August 13, 2012 | BackTrack 5 R3 release [29] |
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.[30]