Kali Linux 2019.1

Once again we have only a single distribution this month, but this time we’re not neglecting our 32-bit users, with 64- and 32-bit versions of Kali Linux.

It’s been a while since the last Kali release – the end of October 2018, in fact – and we like to encourage our readers to hack all the things (in a totally legal and responsible way, of course), so here we are.

The main event in this new release is version 5.0 of Metasploit Framework, released in January 2019, but there’s all sorts other goodies. We’ve gone for the MATE release this time, because we like it. This is the full-fat edition with all the tools ready to go. There’s only so much you can fit on a DVD, so we’ve got the Xfce-based Kali Light for 32-bit users. This has all the basic tools, and you can add anything you like (subject to available memory) to the live environment with apt.

Speaking of the live environment, you may notice that those are the only available options when booting the disc: the installation options are all conspicuously absent. That’s because we removed them, much as we did eight issues ago, because they don’t play nice with our multi/ hybrid booting menu system. Given the choice, we’d rather have a disc that boots to a nice live environment than one that offers broken options, promises and dreams.