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BackTrack4TheDefinitiveGuide

Introduction ..............................................................................................................................2
Behindthecurtains.................................................................................................................2
BackTrackBase ................................................................................................................................. 2
BackTrackKernel............................................................................................................................. 2
PackagesandRepositories............................................................................................................ 3
Metapackages.................................................................................................................................... 4
MetaMetaPackages......................................................................................................................... 4

InstallingBackTracktoDisk................................................................................................5
UpdatingBacktrack ................................................................................................................5
CustomizingBackTrack.........................................................................................................6
CreatingyourownLiveCDMethod1...................................................................................... 6
CreatingyourownLiveCDMethod2...................................................................................... 6
InstallingBackTracktoUSB.......................................................................................................... 6
InstallingBackTracktoUSBPersistentchanges ................................................................ 6

WorkingwithBackTrack ......................................................................................................7
KDE3Quirks ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Updatingtoolsmanually ................................................................................................................ 7

Thisdocumentisaworkinprogress.
ItisaquickattempttocoverthemostcommonlyaskedquestionsaboutBackTrack,
inoneplace.Checkonthispagefrequentlyforupdates.

Introduction
BackTrack is the worlds leading penetration testing and information security
auditingdistribution.Withhundredsoftoolspreinstalledandconfiguredtorunout
of the box, BackTrack 4 provides a solid Penetration testing platform from Web
applicationHackingtoRFIDauditingitsallworkinginonceplace.

Behindthecurtains
BackTrackBase
There have been many changes introduced into BackTrack 4 most notably, our
movetoanUbuntuIntrepidbase.Wenowmaintainourownfullrepositorieswith
modifiedUbuntupackagesinadditiontoourownpenetrationtestingtools.
Anothersignificantchangeistheupdatedkernelversion,currentlyat2.6.29.4.This
new kernel brought an onset of internal changes, which have greatly changed the
structureofBackTrack.

BackTrackKernel
Wenolongeruselzmaenabledsquashfsasourlivefilesystem,whichononehand
results in larger ISO size, but on the other hand, frees us from having to maintain
ourownkernelpatches.Thisisespeciallypainfulthesedays,assquashfsisslowly
movingintothemainstreamkernel(atthetimeofthiswriting).
BackTrack 4 uses squashfstools version 4.0 (which is not backward compatible
withpreviousversions),andtheinbuiltsquashfskernelmodule,whichispresentin
2.6.29.4.AUFSisusedastheunificationfilesystem(aufs2.x).
Several wireless driver injection/optimization patches have been applied to the
kernel, as well as a bootsplash patch. These patches can be found in the kernel
sourcespackage(/usr/src/linux/patches).

These changes mean that much of what you were used to in BackTrack 2/3 has
changedintermsofbootcheatcodesandsuch,asthiskernelshiftalsomeansweno
longerusethelivelinuxscriptstocreateourimages(weusecaspernow).

PackagesandRepositories
OneofthemostsignificantchangesintroducedinBackTrack4aretheDebianlike
repositories available, which are frequently updated with security fixes and new
tools.ThismeansthatifyouchoosetoinstallBackTracktodisk,youwillbeableto
getpackagemaintenanceandupdatesbyusingaptgetcommands.
Our BackTrack tools are arranged by parent categories. These are the categories
thatcurrentlyexist:

BackTrackEnumeration

BackTrackTunneling

BackTrackBruteforce

BackTrackSpoofing

BackTrackPasswords

BackTrackWireless

BackTrackDiscovery

BackTrackCisco

BackTrackWebApplications

BackTrackForensics

BackTrackFuzzers

BackTrackBluetooth

BackTrackMisc

BackTrackSniffers

BackTrackVOIP

BackTrackDebuggers

BackTrackPenetration

BackTrackDatabase

BackTrackRFID

BackTrackPython

BackTrackDrivers

BackTrackGPU

Metapackages
Anicefeaturethatarisesfromthetoolcategorization,isthatwecannowsupport
BackTrack meta packages. A meta package is a dummy package which includes
several other packages. For example, the meta package backtrackweb would
includealltheWebApplicationpenetrationtestingtoolsBackTrackhastooffer.

MetaMetaPackages
Wehavetwometametapackagesbacktrackworldandbacktrackdesktop.
backtrackworld contains all the BackTrack meta packages, while backtrack
desktop contains backtrackworld, backtracknetworking and backtrack
multimedia. The latter two meta packages are select applications imported from
Ubunturepositories.

UpandrunningwithBackTrack
WevemadeashortmoviecalledupandrunningwithBackTrackshowingsome
common and not so common features. A good place to start in order to grasp the
newchangesinBackTrack4.
http://www.offensivesecurity.com/videos/backtracksecuritytrainingvideo/up
andrunningbacktrack.html

InstallingBackTracktoDisk
BackTrack 4 (both barebones and full version) now contains a modified Ubiquity
installer.Theinstallshouldbestraightandsimple.Foravideotutorial,check
http://www.offensivesecurity.com/videos/installbacktrackharddisk/install
backtrackharddisk.html

UpdatingBacktrack
KeepingBackTrackuptodateisrelativelysimplebyusingtheaptgetcommands.
aptgetupdatesynchronizesyourpackagelistwithourrepository.
aptgetupgradedownloadsandinstallsalltheupdatesavailable.
aptgetdistupgradedownloadsandinstallsallnewupgrades.

CustomizingBackTrack
CreatingyourownLiveCDMethod1
CreatingyourownflavorofBackTrackiseasy.
1. DownloadandinstallthebarebonesversionofBackTrack
2. Useaptgettoinstallrequiredpackagesormetapackages.
3. Useremastersystorepackageyourinstallation.

CreatingyourownLiveCDMethod2
DownloadtheBackTrack4iso.Usethecustomizationscripttoupdateandmodify
yourbuildasshowhere:
http://www.offensivesecurity.com/blog/backtrack/customisingbacktracklivecd
theeasyway/

InstallingBackTracktoUSB
The easiest method of getting BackTrack4 installed to a USB key is by using the
unetbootinutility(resentinBackTrackin/opt/).

InstallingBackTracktoUSBPersistentchanges
AVideotutorialcanbefoundhere:
http://www.offensivesecurity.com/videos/backtrackusbinstallvideo/backtrack
usbinstall.html

WorkingwithBackTrack
KDE3Quirks
BackTrack 4 contains an imposed KDE3 repository, alongside the KDE4 Ubuntu
Intrepidrepositories.SinceBackTrackusesKDE3,itsimportanttorememberthat
KDE3packagescontainakde3postfix,whichmakesthemeasilyidentifiable.
Forexample,ifyouwantedtoinstalltheprogramKDEprogramkate,youshould
aptget install katekde3 (install the KDE3 version of kate) rather than aptget
installkate.(installtheKDE4versionofkate).

Updatingtoolsmanually
Our BackTrack repositories will always strive to keep updated with the latest
versions of tools, with the exception of a select few. These special tools get
updatedbytheirauthorsveryfrequently,andoftenincludesignificantupdates.We
feltthatcreatingstaticbinariesforthesetypesoftoolswouldnotbebeneficialand
users were better of keeping these tools synched with the SVN versions
respectively.ThetoolsincludeMSF,W3AF,Nikto,etc.

You can find our forums at http://forums.remoteexploit.org. Feel free to post


bugfixes,suggestions,toolrequests,etc.
Wehopeyouenjoythisfinerelease!

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