BackTrack

BackTrack is a Linux distribution dedicated for digital forensics and penetration testing. It is available in several types and architectures, all of which are based on Ubuntu, which is itself based on Debian.

History and development process
BackTrack uses primarily free and open source software (FOSS), making exceptions for some proprietary hardware drivers, non-free firmware in the kernel and some other software. BackTrack focuses on usability by trying to make it ready to use and thus does not strive to commit itself to software freedom.

BackTrack started in 2006 with its first public release called BackTrack v.1.0 Beta, based on SLAX featuring Fluxbox desktop. It was formed from the merger of two leading penetration testing Live CD distributions: WHAX and Auditor Security Collection. A few months later the BackTrack project released its first non-beta version BackTrack 1.0. Within this time, distribution caught the attention of many information security enthusiasts. The release cycle of the distribution was long after that, as they released only two successive versions of BackTrack from 2006 to 2008: BackTrack 2 final and BackTrack 3 final.

BackTrack 4 codenamed 'pwnsauce' was based on Ubuntu, featuring a KDE desktop and a security tools repository. The release cycle also got revised.

BackTrack 5 code named 'revolution' released soon after, featuring KDE and GNOME desktops. Additionally supporting ARM architecture. The current version is BackTrack 5 R3

On January 2013, a teaser video of an upcoming version of BackTrack namedKali Linux has been posted possibility indicating big changes.

Features
BackTrack can be run as Live CD and can be installed to hard disk. VMWare images of the distributions are also available, which can be run using VMWare, a virtual machine software.

Tools
BackTrack comes installed with a wide range of security-related software.

BackTrack arranges 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

Types of distributions
BackTrack supplies distributions featuring KDE and GNOME desktops; in ARM, 32 bit and 64 bit versions; available as CD and VMWare images.

Reception
BackTrack is seen as the golden standard in penetration testing and has been used world wide by professionals and academias. As of May 2012, BackTrack holds 36th position in Page Hit Ranking of Distrowatch. DistroWatch is not a reliable measuring stick to use for overall Linux distribution share, however, as it only measures hits on the web site of the various Linux distributions.