Top Operating Systems for Hacking (2018 List best 22)

Do you want to know about The best operating systems for ethical hacking and pen testing —
Here is the list of most widely using infamous ethical hacking operating systems.
If you are really interested in ethical hacking or like to learn how certain cyber security
tools are working then hands on one of these below mentioned advanced operating
systems for hacking, some of these operating systems are used by hackers and security
experts to ãnd bugs and weaknesses in computer systems and networks.

A hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or
computer network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as proãt,
protest, challenge, enjoyment or to evaluate those weaknesses to assist in removing them.
Hacking is a type of art, And now you can also start your journey to hacking world with the
help of these hacking OS.

1. Kali Linux

Kali Linux maintained and funded by Offensive Security Ltd. Kali Linux is
one of the well-known ethical hacking operating systems used by hackers and security
professionals. Kali is a Debian-derived Linux distribution designed for digital forensics and
penetration testing. It was developed by Mati Aharoni and Devon Kearns of Offensive
Security through the rewrite of BackTrack, their previous forensics Linux distribution
based on Ubuntu.
Apart from desktop support, Kali Linux also has a dedicated project set-aside for
compatibility and porting to speciãc Android devices, called Kali Linux NetHunter. It is the
ãrst Open Source Android penetration testing platform for Nexus devices, created as a
joint effort between the Kali community member “BinkyBear” and Offensive Security. It
supports Wireless 802.11 frame injection, one-click MANA Evil Access Point setups, HID
keyboard (Teensy like attacks), as well as Bad USB MITM attacks.
When comes to security tools, this top hacking operating system is equipped with 600+
preinstalled pen testing tools like Aircrack-ng, Metasploit, THC Hydra etc. BackTrack (Kali’s
predecessor) contained a mode known as forensic mode. This capability was carried over
to Kali via live boot. This mode makes it easy to apply Kali to a forensic job.

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2. BackBox

BackBox is an Ubuntu-based ethical hacking Linux distribution. It provides penetration
test and security assessment oriented providing a network and informatic systems analysis
toolkit along with a complete set of other tools required for ethical hacking and security
testing.
It includes some of the most used security and analysis Linux tools to help out security
experts from stress tests to snifãng including vulnerability assessment, computer forensic
analysis and exploitation. Part of the power of this distribution comes from its Launchpad
repository core, constantly updated to the latest stable version of the most known and
used ethical hacking tools makes Backbox one of the hacker’s favorite Linux distro for hacking .

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3. Parrot Security OS

Parrot Security OS (or ParrotSec) is a GNU/LINUX distribution based on Debian. This
ethical hacking distro is built in order to perform penetration testing, vulnerability
assessment and mitigation, computer forensics and anonymous surãng. It has been
developed by Frozenbox’s Team.
Also Read : A-Z Bash Command Line for Linux
Parrot is cloud-friendly Linux distribution for ethical hacking. Unlike other ethical hacking
operating systems, Parrot OS is a lightweight Linux distro — runs over machines which
have minimum 265Mb of RAM and it is suitable for both 32bit (i386) and 64bit (amd64),
with a special edition it works on old 32bit machines (486).

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4. Live Hacking OS

Live Hacking OS is a Linux distribution packed with tools and utilities for ethical hacking,
penetration testing and countermeasure veriãcation. It includes the graphical user
interface GNOME inbuilt. There is a second variation available which has command line
only, and it requires very less hardware requirements.

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5. DEFT Linux
DEFT stands for Digital Evidence and Forensic Toolkit and it’s an open source distribution
of Linux built around the DART (Digital Advanced Response Toolkit) software and based on
the Ubuntu operating system. It has been designed from the ground up to offer some of
the best open source computer forensics and incident response tools that can be used by
individuals, IT auditors, investigators, military, and police.

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6. Samurai Web Testing Framework
The Samurai Web Testing Framework is a live linux environment that has been preconãgured
to function as a web pen-testing environment. The CD contains the best of the
open source and free tools that focus on testing and attacking websites. In developing this
environment, we have based our tool selection on the tools we use in our security
practice. We have included the tools used in all four steps of a web pen-test.

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7. Network Security Toolkit
The Network Security Toolkit (NST) is a Linux-based Live CD that provides a set of open
source computer security and networking tools to perform routine securi
analysis, validation and monitoring tool on servers hosting virtual machines. The majority
of tools published in the article “Top 125 security tools” by Insecure.org are available in
the toolkit. NST has package management capabilities similar to Fedora and maintains its
own repository of additional packages.

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8. Bugtraq-II
Bugtraq-II is a GNU/Linux distribution focused on digital forensics, penetration testing,
malware laboratories, and GSM forensics. Bugtraq-II is available in 11 languages with
more than 500 ethical security hacking tools installed and conãgured. Depending on your
desktop environment, the features vary. The minimum requirements are based on XFCE
and KDE, this ethical hacking os need 1GHz x86 processor & 512 MB of system memory
15 GB of disk space for installation.

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9. NodeZero
NodeZero is an open source Linux kernel-based ethical hacking operating system derived
from Ubuntu and designed to be used for penetration testing operations. The distro is
available for download as a dual-arch Live DVD ISO image, which will run well on
computers that support both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86_64) instruction set
architectures. Besides the fact that it allows you to start the live system, the boot menu
contains various advanced options, such as the ability to perform a system memory
diagnostic test, boot from a local drive, start the installer directly, as well as to boot in
safe graphics mode, text mode or debug mode.
With NodeZero you will have instant access to over 300 penetration testing tools, as well
as a set of basic services that are needed in penetration testing operations. Default
applications include the Mozilla Firefox web browser, F-Spot photo manager, Rhythmbox
music player, PiTiVi video editor, Transmission torrent downloader, Empathy multiprotocol
instant messenger, and OpenOfãce.org ofãce suite.

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10. Pentoo
Pentoo is a Live CD and Live USB designed for penetration testing and security
assessment. Based on Gentoo Linux, Pentoo is provided both as 32 and 64 bit installable
livecd. Pentoo is also available as an overlay for an existing Gentoo installation. It features
packet injection patched wiã drivers, GPGPU cracking software, and lots of tools for
penetration testing and security assessment. The Pentoo kernel includes grsecurity and
PAX hardening and extra patches – with binaries compiled from a hardened toolchain
with the latest nightly versions of some tools available.

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11. BlackBuntu
BlackBuntu is distribution for penetration testing which was specially designed for
security training students and practitioners of information security. BlackBuntu is
penetration testing distribution with GNOME Desktop Environment. It’s currently being
built using the Ubuntu 10.10 and work on reference BackTrack.

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12. GnackTrack
GnackTrack is an open and free project to merge penetration testing tools and the linux
Gnome desktop. GnackTrack is a Live and comes with multiple tools that are really helpful
to do a effective penetration testing, it has Metasploit, armitage, wa3f and others
wonderful tools.

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13. Cyborg Hawk Linux
CYBORG HAWK LINUX is a Ubuntu based penetration testing distro created by the team of
Ztrela Knowledge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. developed and designed for ethical hackers and
cyber security experts who are also known as Penetration testers . Cyborg Hawk
Penetration Testing Distro can be used for network security and assessment and also for
digital forensics. It has various tools also ãt for the Mobile Security and Wireless testing. It
has 700 + tools while other penetration distro have 300+ and also dedicated tools for and
menu for mobile security and malware analysis . Also it is easy to compare it with others
as to make a better OS than others ,we have to outperform them.

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14. Knoppix STD
STD is a Linux-based Security Tool. Actually, it is a collection of hundreds if not thousands
of open source security tools. It’s a Live Linux distro and its sole purpose in life is to put as
many security tools at your disposal with as slick an interface as it can. STD is meant to be
used by both novice and professional security personnel but is not ideal for the Linux
uninitiated.

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15. Weakerthan
Weakerthan is a penetration testing distribution which is built from Debian Squeeze. For
the desktop environment it uses Fluxbox. This ethical hacking operating system is ideal
for WiFi hacking as it contains plenty of Wireless tools. It has a very well maintained
website and a devoted community. Tools includes: Wiã attacks, SQL Hacking, Cisco
Exploitation, Password Cracking, Web Hacking, Bluetooth, VoIP Hacking, Social
Engineering, Information Gathering, Fuzzing Android Hacking, Networking and creating
Shells.

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16. BlackArch Linux
BlackArch Linux -an Arch Linux-based ethical hacking operting systems for penetration
testers and security researchers. The new version also has a total of 1400 penetration
testing tools with the old ones updated and the new ones added, making it a must have
download for hackers and security researchers.

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17. Matriux Linux
Matriux Linux – a Debian-based security distribution designed for penetration testing and
forensic investigations. Although suited best for hackers, it can also be used by any Linux
user as a desktop system for day-to-day computing. Matriux has more than 300 open
source tools for penetration testing and hacking. Since its the new one, many security
researchers claims that it is a better alternative to Kali Linux.

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18. Dracos Linux
Dracos Linux — ethical hacking os surfaced from Indonesia built based on the Linux from
scratch. Dracos is built to be fast, strong, and powerful OS which is used to perform
security testing (penetration testing). Powered by hundreds of pentest tools including
information gathering, forensics, malware analysis, maintaining access, and reverse
engineering, Dracos Linux is one of the best choices of hacker’s operating system.

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19. Fedora Security Lab
Fedora Security Lab comes with the clean and fast Xfce Desktop Environment and
essential set of tools like — Wireshark, Sqlninja, Yersinia, Medusa etc — to follow a proper
test path for security and pen testing. Fedora Security Lab is maintained by a community
of security testers and developers.

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20. Caine
Caine — Computer Aided Investigation Environment — is an Ubuntu-based GNU/Linux live
distribution OS created for ethical hackers and digital forensics experts. It provides a
complete forensic environment with a friendly graphical interface.

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21. ArchStrike
ArchStrike is the perfect Arch Linux based hacking operating system for security experts.
ArchStrike provides a live desktop environment based on the Openbox window manager
along with an extra repository of security software of 32-bit and 64-bit builds.

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22. URIX OS
URIX OS is a security-focused ethical hacking distribution based on openSUSE. In URIX OS
security is strengthened by removing servers and closing incoming ports. The distro also
provides several penetration tools for testing purposes.
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That’s all!! If you think we forget to add some other favourite operating systems of hackers
please comment below. And also soon we will add more ethical hacking operating
systems to the list.

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