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11 May 2011, 12:17

Security distribution BackTrack 5 released

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Zoom Backtrack 5 offers a range of easily accessible security tools
Source: Heise Security
The BackTrack development team has announced the availability of BackTrack 5, its security-focused Linux distribution, while shrugging off a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on its web server the day before. According to the developers, the latest release "has been built from scratch, and boasts several major improvements over all our previous releases".

BackTrack offers more than 300 penetration testing tools to enable users and administrators to test the security of items ranging from web applications to RFID systems. The tools include LAN and WLAN sniffers, password crackers, vulnerability scanners and the Metasploit exploit framework.

BackTrack 5 (BT5), code-named "Revolution", is based on the latest Long Term Support (LTS) release of Ubuntu, version 10.04 "Lucid Lynx", and uses the 2.6.38 Linux kernel, which has been patched with "all relevant wireless injection patches".


Zoom BackTrack 5 running on an ARM-powered Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone.
Source: backtrack-linux.org
For the first time, an ARM image is now provided. So far, the developers have tested it on a Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone and a Motorola Xoom tablet. According to a tweet from the developers they demonstrated the ARM version's functionality by using a Xoom to run Metasploit to gain access to a Windows XP system.

In the forums, the developers say they have ceased support for all versions of BackTrack 4. Details about the new release can be found in the BackTrack 5 Forums and in a post on the BackTrack Linux blog. BackTrack 5 ISO and VMware image files, with either GNOME or KDE 4.6 desktop, for 32- and 64-bit systems are available to download as torrent files from the project's web site.

The BackTrack project is sponsored and developed by Offensive Security.

See also:

(crve)

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