BackBox gets Upgraded to 4.3

The good folks at BackBox have put out an upgrade to their penetration testing distro Backbox Linux.

Release 4.3 of Backbox Linux features Linux Kernel 3.16 and Ruby 2.1.

For those unfamiliar with BackBox, think of it as a younger sibling to Kali Linux, the numero uno penetration testing distro.

BackBox has lesser number of tools than Kali but comes with a better user interface and includes the anonymizing software tor (with Kali, you have to install tor separately).

BackBox distro includes tools for information gathering, vulnerability assessment, exploitation, privilege escalation, maintaining access, malware analysis, forensic analysis, mobile analysis, social engineering and stress testing.

I recently installed BackBox 4.3 as a guest OS via VirtualBox, quickly updated it and happy to report that the upgrade works fine.

What’s new in Backbox 4.3

So you might ask what’s new in Backbox 4.3.

Here’s a list of new features in Backbox 4.3:

* Preinstalled Linux Kernel 3.16
* New Ubuntu 14.04.2 base
* New and updated hacking tools: beef-project, btscanner, dirs3arch, metasploit-framework, ophcrack, setoolkit, tor, weevely, wpscan, etc.
* Ruby 2.1
* Installer with LVM and Full Disk Encryption options
* Handy Thunar custom actions
* RAM wipe at shutdown/reboot
* System improvements
* Upstream components
* Bug corrections
* Performance boost
* Improved Anonymous mode
* Predisposition to ARM architecture (armhf Debian packages)
* Predisposition to BackBox Cloud platform

System Requirements

Here are the system requirements for BackBox 4.3.

* 32-bit or 64-bit processor
* 512 MB of system memory (RAM)
* 6 GB of disk space for installation
* Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
* DVD-ROM drive or USB port (2 GB)

How to Upgrade

To upgrade from a previous version (BackBox 4.x), follow the below instructions:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

$ sudo apt-get install -f

$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic-lts-utopic linux-headers-generic-lts-utopic linux-signed-image-generic-lts-utopic

$ sudo apt-get purge ri1.9.1 ruby1.9.1 ruby1.9.3 bundler

$ sudo gem cleanup

$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/gems/1.*

$ sudo apt-get install backbox-default-settings backbox-desktop backbox-tools --reinstall

$ sudo apt-get install beef-project metasploit-framework whatweb wpscan setoolkit --reinstall

$ sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

If you’re new to BackBox, the ISO images (32-bit and 64-bit) can be downloaded from the Backbox web site.