Kali Linux is a penetration testing suite and uses Debian in the background. It can run as a live image, but can of course also be installed on existing storage media. It comes with an extensive collection applications, such as Armitage, nmap, Wireshark, John the Ripper, Aircrack-ng, and Burp Suite. For more information, please refer to this page. The developers at Offensive Security have released version 2021.1 of Kali Linux and the release notes for that release can be found below.
The summary of the changelog since the 2020.4 release from November 2020 is:
- Xfce 4.16 – Our preferred and current default desktop environment has been updated and tweaked
- KDE 5.20 – Plasma also received a version bump
- Terminals – mate-terminal, terminator and tilix all had various work carried out on them
- Command Not Found – A helping hand to say if a program needs to be installed
- Partnership with more tool authors – BC Security & Joohoi have been producing great tools and we want to support them
- New tools & updates – Multiple new tools have been added to Kali and are ready for you
- Kali NetHunter – New BusyBox & Rucky version, and boot-animation
- Kali ARM – Preliminary support for Parallels on Apple Silicon (Apple M1) & Raspberry Pi 400 (WiFi Support)
The Kali project itself also has a couple different changes:
- New Kali website – You may have noticed a few things looking different
- Kali newsletter – Rather than you coming to us for updates, we can push them to your inbox
| Version number | 2021.1 |
| Release status | Final |
| Operating systems | Linux |
| Website | Kali Linux |
| Download | https://www.kali.org/downloads/ |
| License type | Conditions (GNU/BSD/etc.) |