ROOTCON Blog

What's a BackTrack Linux 5r2-PenTesting Edition Lab? What's with the edition thingy? Isn't BackTrack 5 a pentesting distro already? Why make a pentesting edition?

Maybe these are some of the questions you have in your mind after reading the title and because of that, I would like to give some few points about this edition.

BackTrack Linux 5r2-PenTesting Edition Lab is still the same BackTrack 5 r2 with the same pentesting tools pre-installed in the distribution and has KDE as its Desktop Environment although in backtrack-linux.org you can also choose if you want Gnome or KDE. The only difference is that it includes all of the hosts, network infrastructure, tools, and targets necessary to practice penetration testing for the CPLT or Certified PenTest Laboratory course which is brought to you by PenTest Laboratory and the guys behind PenTest Magazine. 

This edition is a modified version of NETinVM which has a predefined User-mode Linux (UML) based penetration testing targets. When started, this builds an entire network of machines within the VMware virtual machine. The BackTrack Linux distribution is used to provide the tools necessary for completing the lab scenarios. Thus, It is an an all-in-one penetration testing lab environment that pre-configured with:

- A master (base) host utilizing BackTrack Linux 5r2

- A DMZ network with two hosts (targets)

- An “internal” network with one host (target)

- A pre-configured firewall

This pentesting lab is available for free to non-CPLT course students which can be downloaded here. 

Here are some of targets you can attack or play with:

- 10.5.0.1

- 10.5.0.254
- 10.5.1.10

- 10.5.1.254

As a programming student, security researcher and a blogger; I always keep up to date about what is happening in cyber space by reading infosec articles and magazines. Magazines I usually read have niches or themes like Information Security, Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage, Penetration Testing and Hacking. And so here are 8 Hacking and Information Security Magazines that I like to share to all of you guys:

1. Hakin9 - Hakin9 Magazine is a payable magazine devoted to IT security and covers techniques of breaking into computer systems, defense and protection methods, tools and latest trends in IT Security. It has 4 different editions every month: Hakin9 – main issue, Hakin9 Extra – every issue is devoted to one topic only, Exploiting Software magazine – Partition Analysis, Stack Overflow and many more, and Mobile Security – hacking and securing of mobile systems and applications.

2. PenTest Magazine - PenTest Magzine is a payable magazine which focuses on Penetration Testing. It features articles by penetration testing specialists, enthusiasts, and experts in vulnerability assessment and management. The PenTest Magazine features 48 issues in a year – 4 issues in a month. Different title is published every week; PenTest Regular, Auditing & Standards PenTest, PenTest Market, and Web App Pentesting. Their team is also behind the Certified PenTest Laboratory Tester (CPLT) Certification.

3. ClubHack Magazine - ClubHack Magazine or CHmag is India's 1st Hacking Magazine and one of the media partners of ROOTCON. Their magazine is free to download and is divided into the following sections: Tech Gyan,  Legal Gyan, Tool Gyan, Mom's Guide, Matriux Vibhag, and Code Gyan. I also contributed one article to this magazine which is about Decoding ROT using the Echo and Tr Commands in your Linux Terminal. They are also the organizers of ClubHack Conference.

4. (IN)SECURE Magazine - (IN)SECURE Magazine is a free digital security publication discussing  information security topics by Help Net Security which has been a prime resource for information security news since 1998.. They also accept guest authors and has a lot of subscribers.

5. Phrack Magazine - Nothing beats the old school! Nobody messes with the Phrack Magazine which is an online ezine for hackers and by the hackers. Phrack was first released on November 17, 1985 which until now became the largest computer underground ezine. In fact, The Hacker’s Manifesto was also published in this online ezine on the 7th issue. Truly an old yet awesome archive which takes you to the old days of the hacker culture in the 80′s. The current issue is 68 and I thought it will end on issue number 63 but the good thing is it is still alive and kicking.



6. 2600: The Hacker Quarterly - 2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a publication that focuses in publishing information about subjects like phreaking, infosec, hacking, the computer underground, anarchist issues, and many more. 2600 has established the H.O.P.E. (Hackers On Planet Earth) conferences as well as monthly meetings in some countries.



7. Hacker5 - Hacker5 is a monthly magazine from India which provides you with some of the latest happenings in the Cyber world. Their team is composed of journalists and ethical hackers. Some of their magazines are free to download and some are payable. In their website, they also have a dedicated page for the hackers, security professionals and developers that they interviewed.



8. Hacker Monthly - Hacker Monthly is the print magazine edition of Hacker News which is a known social bookmarking news website and popular among programmers, SEO Specialists, Link Builders, developers, geeks and startup founders.Every month they select from the top voted articles that are bookmarked on Hacker News website and print them in magazine format but it is not for free anymore.