14 DAY TRIAL // BackBox Linux, an operating system based on Ubuntu that is built to perform penetration tests and security assessments, has finally reached version 4.0.
It's been a while since the last BackBox Linux release, which was all the way back in January. The developers decided to rebase the system on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and that meant they had a lot of work to do, which delayed the launch of a new version.
There are quite a few Linux distros that deal with penetration testing and there is a lot of competition, albeit very friendly. BackBox Linux is one of the more famous operating systems out there, so people are looking forward to new versions.
Despite the fact that it might sound like a difficult distribution to use, BackBox Linux features a very friendly desktop environment based on Xfce, and it comes with its own repositories, which is always a nice feature to have.
What's new in BackBox Linux 4.0
Because it's been so long since the previous stable update for this OS, numerous changes have been made and a ton of improvements have been implemented. The devs even apologized for the delay, but they had good reason for it.
"The BackBox team is sorry for the delayed release date, but the porting to the new Ubuntu 14.04 base required lots of work. The developing team also promises more tools will be available soon and automatically installed in form of system updates."
"We hope our users will understand... all our work is done for free and for passion. Our biggest satisfaction is knowing we hopefully made an enjoyable distro, and your best feedback would be seeing you joining our community and contribute," reads the official announcement.
Because the system uses Ubuntu 14.04 LTS as a base, it also comes with a few interesting features, such as UEFI support (which is very helpful), an anonymous mode, LVM and a disk encryption installer, numerous privacy features, and armhf Debian packages.
Also, the hacking tools have been updated, the RAM memory is now wiped at shutdown and reboot, the Thunar file manager has received a few custom actions, a number of upstream components have been updated, the system performance should be much better, and now the system has a cloud platform.
You can find more details about this release in the official announcement. You can also download the ISO images for BackBox Linux 4.0 from Softpedia and give it a try. It's a Live CD and works very well in VirtualBox.