Kali Linux is based on the company’s BackTrack Linux distro but has been rebuilt from the ground up. The company calls Kali Linux “a more mature, secure, and enterprise-ready version of BackTrack Linux.” Kali Linux is intended for professional penetration testing and security auditing, and the developers emphasize that the distribution is not recommended for those unfamiliar with Linux.

According to the Kali Linux website: “Seven years of developing BackTrack Linux has taught us a significant amount about what we, and the security community, think a penetration testing distribution should look like. We’ve taken all of this knowledge and experience and implemented it in our ‘next generation’ penetration testing distribution.”

Features of Kali Linux include: single user, root access by design; network services disabled by default; custom Linux kernel patched for wireless injection; more than 300 penetration testing tools; and compliance with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. Additionally, Kali Linux offers ARM support and is available for the following ARM devices: rk3306 mk/ss808, Raspberry Pi, ODROID U2/X2, and Samsung Chromebook.