14 DAY TRIAL // Today, December 20, 2016, the developers of the Arch Linux-based BlackArch Linux operating system targeted at ethical hackers and penetration testers proudly announced the release of new ISO respins.
BlackArch Linux 2016-12-20 ISO images are now available for download for both 64- and 32-bit deployments. They ship with a new kernel from the Linux 4.8 stable series, version 4.8.13, over 100 new tools for all of your ethical hacking needs, and several other improvements.
"Today we released new BlackArch Linux ISOs (2016.12.20)! Over 1600 tools, newest kernel, over 6GB per ISO and more! We wish to thank all of BlackArch's users, mirrors, and supporters. Thanks for your help," reads the announcement page, where you'll also find the full changelog.
Here's what's new in BlackArch Linux 2016.12.20
Among the improvements included in BlackArch Linux 2016.12.20, we can mention that all the in-house built BlackArch tools have received new versions, a reboot and shutdown issue with the LXDM display manager was resolved, and most of the pre-installed packages are now at their latest versions.
Furthermore, the menus of several of the included window managers, such as Openbox, Fluxbox, and Awesome, have been updated, and some maintenance was done for the userland.
Last month, the team announced the availability of a bunch of new tools in the BlackArch Linux repositories. These include the dracnmap tool to exploit the network, opendoor OWASP directory access scanner, wafninja for attacking web application firewalls, smalisca static code analysis tool for Smali files, hoper for tracing URL jumps across the rel links, and novahot, a webshell framework for penetration testers.
With these, and many others, there are now over 1,600 tools available in the BlackArch Linux repositories. You can download the BlackArch Linux 2016.12.20 ISO images right now from the distribution's website, but they're only for new deployments. Existing users are urged to update their installations at their earliest convenience.