What is the “Hacker Linux” Kali?

Kali Linux is an operating system that is mainly used to protect and optimise computers and networks, as well as to crack passwords. Since these features can also be used for illegal purposes, the dis­tri­bu­tion gets its fair share of con­tro­versy. It is mainly aimed at ex­per­i­enced users.

Kali Linux is a Linux dis­tri­bu­tion based on Debian that can be used primarily to detect security holes in computers or Internet con­nec­tions, recover lost data, or analyse passwords. The system runs under the GNU GPL license and is open source. In the future, there will be annually updated versions of Kali Linux, which will be improved in terms of content, and will also include new back­grounds and other features. The first version of Kali Linux was released back in 2013, and de­velopers Mati Aharoni and Devon Kearns had created the dis­tri­bu­tion for Offensive Security as a successor to BackTrack. Kali Linux uses Xfce as the desktop en­vir­on­ment.

Kali Linux has more than 600 different security tools and is mainly used for pen­et­ra­tion testing and forensic computing. The Linux dis­tri­bu­tion checks networks and computers for potential vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies, cracks passwords and en­cryp­tions, and evaluates current security measures. Deleted or lost data and files can also be recovered or made visible with Kali Linux, provided they have not already been over­writ­ten. This enables users to check their own security ar­chi­tec­ture, detect and prevent un­au­thor­ised access, or fix fun­da­ment­al con­fig­ur­a­tion errors that could harm their own system or security.

The term ‘Hacker Linux’, which is often used in con­nec­tion with Kali Linux, can be at­trib­uted to the areas of ap­plic­a­tion mentioned above. By hacking their own system, a user iden­ti­fies vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies and closes security holes before other hackers can access them. However, it is also true that the tools provided are so good and reliable that they can the­or­et­ic­ally be used for illegal activ­it­ies. If Kali Linux were to be used on someone else’s computer, it would be possible to exploit the security vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies, crack passwords, overload systems and spy on them. This is (of course) a pun­ish­able offence.

Kali Linux should only be used on your own computers or those for which the user has been given explicit access per­mis­sion. However, since the pos­sib­il­ity of its misuse exists, the des­ig­na­tion ‘Hacker Linux’ can be traced back not only to ethical hacking or the use on one’s own computer, but also to the various malicious attack pos­sib­il­it­ies, therefore giving it the name ‘Hacker Linux’.

It is re­l­at­ively easy to install Kali Linux compared to many other Linux dis­tri­bu­tions. Only the system re­quire­ments need to be con­sidered. If you want to install Kali Linux on a secure shell server without a graphical user interface, you need at least 128 MB RAM and 2 GB disk space. However, at least 512 RAM is re­com­men­ded. For the in­stall­a­tion with a light­weight Xfce4 desktop and the kali-linux-default metapack­age, 8 GB of RAM and 20 GB of disk space are specified to ensure that the system runs per­man­ently without de­grad­a­tion. The­or­et­ic­ally, however, 2 GB of RAM is also enough for the in­stall­a­tion. In any case, a secure and stable Internet con­nec­tion must be guar­an­teed.

Kali Linux offers numerous different tools with which the security of one’s own system can be checked and optimised. These include the Social Engineer toolkit, which contains various programs for pen­et­ra­tion tests, Metas­ploit and Aircrack-ng for identi­fy­ing vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies in the computer or WLAN, and the security scanner WPScan for WordPress. For network security con­trib­ute, for example, Kismet, Nmap, or Wireshark. The security of one’s own passwords can be checked with Hashcat and John the Ripper. These programs can also be used to crack en­cryp­tion. For the area of digital forensics, Kali Linux offers the tool col­lec­tion The Sleuth Kit, among others.

The main ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages of Kali Linux can already be found in the main focus of the Linux dis­tri­bu­tion. If you want to check your computer or your cy­ber­se­cur­ity, Kali Linux gives you all the necessary tools to do so. There is hardly an easier and better way to close security gaps. Its ver­sat­il­ity in terms of in­stall­a­tion and the cor­res­pond­ing purpose also speaks for the dis­tri­bu­tion. In com­bin­a­tion with the ap­pro­pri­ate desktop en­vir­on­ment, the use is re­l­at­ively intuitive and cor­res­ponds to the usual operating systems in many points. In addition, Kali Linux has a large community, so there is a lot of doc­u­ment­a­tion for the different areas of use.

Even though the basic use is re­l­at­ively easy, it takes a com­par­at­ively long time to learn all features. Kali Linux is primarily aimed at ex­per­i­enced users. The operating system’s pos­sib­il­it­ies for misuse are often held against it and can be seen as a dis­ad­vant­age. Kali Linux is very well suited for the purposes mentioned above. However, if you want to focus on something other than security control, other Linux dis­tri­bu­tions are more suitable.

If you are looking for an al­tern­at­ive to Kali Linux that offers similar features, BlackArch with several thousand security features is a good choice. As a min­im­al­ist operating system with numerous cus­tom­isa­tion options, Arch Linux has proven itself a worthy candidate. A somewhat more ac­cess­ible al­tern­at­ive with a graphical front end for package man­age­ment is Manjaro Linux. In addition, Linux also offers de­riv­at­ives like the user-friendly Linux Mint or the lean Lubuntu beside the popular dis­tri­bu­tions Ubuntu and Debian. The two CentOS suc­cessors Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are binary com­pat­ible with Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux.