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BackTrack
Linux distribution

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.

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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.3
  • Auditor Security Collection: a Live CD based on Knoppix developed by Max Moser which included over 300 tools organized in a user-friendly hierarchy.45

On January 9, 2010, BackTrack 4 improved hardware support, and added official FluxBox support.6 The overlap with Auditor and WHAX in purpose and in collection of tools partly led to the merger. The overlap came about as Backtrack 5, released on May 10, 2011. This version also seen the base OS changed from Slackware to Ubuntu.78

Tools

BackTrack provided users with easy access to a comprehensive and large collection of security-related tools ranging from port scanners to Security Audit.9 Support for Live CD and Live USB functionality allowed users to boot BackTrack directly from portable media without requiring installation,10 though permanent installation to hard disk and network was also an option.

BackTrack included many well known security tools including:11

BackTrack arranged tools into 12 categories:1213

Releases

DateRelease
May 26, 2006First stable release of BackTrack based on Slackware141516
October 13, 2006BackTrack 2 beta #1 released1718
November 19, 2006BackTrack 2 beta #2 released19
March 6, 2007BackTrack 2 final released202122
December 14, 2007BackTrack 3 beta released2324
June 19, 2008BackTrack 3 final released (Linux kernel 2.6.21.5)2526
February 11, 2009BackTrack 4 beta released27
January 9, 2010BackTrack 4 final release (Linux kernel 2.6.30.9 and base OS changed to Ubuntu)282930
May 8, 2010BackTrack 4 R1 release31
November 22, 2010BackTrack 4 R2 release32
May 10, 2011BackTrack 5 release (Linux kernel 2.6.38)3334
August 18, 2011BackTrack 5 R1 release (Linux kernel 2.6.39.5)35
March 1, 2012BackTrack 5 R2 release (Linux kernel 3.2.6)36
August 13, 2012BackTrack 5 R3 release37

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.38

References

  1. "BackTrack Linux – Penetration Testing Distribution". Backtrack Linux. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250123202439/https://www.backtrack-linux.org/ ↩

  2. "Kali Linux Has Been Released!". Offensive Security. March 13, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2013. https://www.offsec.com/blog/kali-linux-released/ ↩

  3. "BackTrack". remote-exploit.org. Retrieved February 19, 2025. http://www.remote-exploit.org/articles/backtrack/index.html ↩

  4. Moser, Max (June 22, 2005). "New release of the Auditor Security Collection available". seclists.org. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://seclists.org/pen-test/2005/Jun/230 ↩

  5. Marti, Don (August 2005). "Editors' choice awards 2005". Linux Journal. 2005 (136). Belltown Media: 4. ISSN 1075-3583. https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.5555/1080072.1080076 ↩

  6. "BackTrack Linux – Penetration Testing Distribution". Backtrack Linux. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250123202439/https://www.backtrack-linux.org/ ↩

  7. "BackTrack Linux – Penetration Testing Distribution". Backtrack Linux. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250123202439/https://www.backtrack-linux.org/ ↩

  8. "Kali Linux History". Kali Linux. Offensive Security. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/kali-linux-history/ ↩

  9. Lalitha, Priya; Challissery Samu, Lifna; SHANKAR Jagli, Dhanamma; Joy, Anooja (5 April 2014). Rational Unified Treatment for Web Application Vulnerability Assessment. International Conference on Circuits, Systems, Communication and Information Technology Applications. Mumbai, India: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. p. 338. doi:10.1109/CSCITA.2014.6839283. ISBN 978-1-4799-2494-3. 978-1-4799-2494-3 ↩

  10. Gupta, Ajay (October 1, 2010). "BackTrack 4: A One-Stop Shop for Security Analysis and Learning". opensourceforu.com. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.opensourceforu.com/2010/10/backtrack-4-one-stop-shop-for-security-analysis-and-learning/ ↩

  11. Murphy, Brandon F. (July 30, 2013). Network Penetration Testing and Research (PDF) (Report). NASA. pp. 2–3. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20140002617/downloads/20140002617.pdf ↩

  12. Murphy, Brandon F. (July 30, 2013). Network Penetration Testing and Research (PDF) (Report). NASA. pp. 2–3. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20140002617/downloads/20140002617.pdf ↩

  13. Hess, Ken (September 20, 2011). "BackTrack Linux: The Ultimate Hacker's Arsenal". Admin Magazine. pp. 1–3. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.admin-magazine.com/Articles/BackTrack-Linux-The-Ultimate-Hacker-s-Arsenal ↩

  14. "Kali Linux History". Kali Linux. Offensive Security. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/kali-linux-history/ ↩

  15. "BackTrack Downloads (seriously old)". remote-exploit.org. Archived from the original on 2008-06-26. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20080626100030/http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download_veryold.html ↩

  16. "BackTrack Security Final Release". 15 May 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://secmaniac.blogspot.com/2006/05/backtrack-security-final-release.html ↩

  17. "Downloads". Offensive Security. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20061027172529/http://www.offensive-security.com/downloads.html ↩

  18. "BackTrack v2.0 Public Beta Has Been Released!". secmaniac. 14 October 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2019 – via Blogspot. https://secmaniac.blogspot.com/2006/10/backtrack-v20-public-beta-has-been.html ↩

  19. "BackTrack Downloads". remote-exploit.org. Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20070202024932/http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html ↩

  20. "Kali Linux History". Kali Linux. Offensive Security. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/kali-linux-history/ ↩

  21. "BackTrack Developers Log". remote-exploit.org. June 19, 2008. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20090529075045/http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_devlog.html ↩

  22. "BackTrack 2.0 Final Due End of February". secmaniac. 13 February 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2019 – via Blogspot. https://secmaniac.blogspot.com/2007/02/backtrack-20-final-due-end-of-febuary.html ↩

  23. "Latest News". remote-exploit.org. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20080501210105/http://www.remote-exploit.org/news.html ↩

  24. "BackTrack Developers Log". remote-exploit.org. June 19, 2008. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20090529075045/http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_devlog.html ↩

  25. "Kali Linux History". Kali Linux. Offensive Security. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/kali-linux-history/ ↩

  26. "BackTrack Developers Log". remote-exploit.org. June 19, 2008. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20090529075045/http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_devlog.html ↩

  27. "BackTrack Downloads". remote-exploit.org. Archived from the original on 2009-05-23. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20090523080314/http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html ↩

  28. "Kali Linux History". Kali Linux. Offensive Security. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/kali-linux-history/ ↩

  29. "BackTrack 4 Final Released". backtrack-linux.org. January 9, 2010. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20100114220541/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack4-release/ ↩

  30. "BackTrack 4 Final Release". Offensive Security. 11 January 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://www.offensive-security.com/backtrack/backtrack-4-final-release/ ↩

  31. "BackTrack 4 R1 – Public Release". backtrack-linux.org. August 4, 2010. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20101130093002/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-4-r1-public-release/ ↩

  32. "BackTrack 4 R2 Download!". backtrack-linux.org. November 19, 2010. Archived from the original on January 12, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20110112194447/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-4-r2-download/ ↩

  33. "Kali Linux History". Kali Linux. Offensive Security. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/kali-linux-history/ ↩

  34. "BackTrack 5 Release". backtrack-linux.org. May 10, 2011. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20120226060247/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-5-release/ ↩

  35. "BackTrack 5 R1 released". backtrack-linux.org. August 18, 2011. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20120223221229/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-5-r1-released ↩

  36. "BackTrack 5 R2 Released". backtrack-linux.org. March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20120303005136/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-5-r2-released/ ↩

  37. "BackTrack 5 R3 Released!". backtrack-linux.org. August 13, 2012. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20130314031147/http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-5-r3-released/ ↩

  38. Ahmed, Waqas (February 1, 2013). "BackTrack to be Reborn as Kali Linux!". HackRead. Retrieved February 19, 2025. https://www.hackread.com/backtrack-to-be-reborn-as-kali-linux/ ↩