With hundreds of tools preinstalled, the Kali Linux distribution makes it easier for penetration testers and other professionals to get started with security testing quickly. But with more than 600 tools in its arsenal, the Kali Linux can also be overwhelming. The new edition of this practical book covers updates to the tools, including deeper coverage of reverse engineering. Kali Linux is a specialized distribution of the Linux operating system based on Ubuntu Linux, which in turn is based on Debian Linux. Kali is targeted at people who want to engage in security work. This may be security testing, it may be exploit development or reverse engineering, or it may be digital forensics. The thing about Linux distributions is that they aren’t the same. Linux is really just the kernel— the actual operating system and the core of the distribution. Each distribution layers additional software on top of that core, making it unique. In the case of Kali, what gets layered on are not only the essential utilities, but also hundreds of software packages that are specific to security work. One of the really nice things about Linux, especially as compared to other operating systems, is that it is almost completely customizable. This includes selecting the shell you run programs from, which includes the terminal environment where you type commands as well as the graphical desktop you use.