Kali Linux Revealed Book

[digip]

Kali Linux Revealed book is now online. So back in 2013, there was this thread about kali documentation and a PDF e-book to go along - 

Which still holds true today. The docs.kali.org site is still up, and will be updated as changes happen.

However, some of you may have heard, or not, so I wanted to update everyone, if you want to learn Kali Linux (not penetration testing, but the OS itself) more in depth, from customizing your own kernel and ISO deployments, to pre-loading drivers needed for installation on work machines and your own compatible/incompatible hardware to work as needed, deploy your own repositories with tools not already on the Kali repo, create attack appliances like the Evil Kali AP, then you will probably want to check out the Kali Linux Revealed book.

Now, this might sound really spammy. And if I was only promoting the book to have you buy it, I would agree with you(I debated on whether I would ever post this here, but I know a lot of the hak5 community uses it alongside their other Hak5 tools and Pineapples) - but, we have taken the book, and converted it to a website, that we have given away FREE to the community. That is to say, the entire book is in web form, for free, search-able text, and we offer a PDF version for download from our new child site.

Check out https://kali.training/ if you weren't already aware of it. 

I worked on converting the book from the HTML draft to create the wordpress version of the site which is linked above. A lot of man hours went into creating not only the book, but the site, and also material that was recently showcased at BlackHat for those who took the Kali Revealed class. It's an introduction to Kali and Linux, and a good primer for anyone who also might be thinking about the OSCP. Again, this is NOT a pentesting book, but if you do use Kali for learning pentesting and CTF's, this will still be a valuable resource for everyone.

As Kali evolves and the Kali Team makes changes to the OS, the site will also update to reflect this over time, with new volumes released on the site as well.

The book is also a mini-primer for Linux in general, so if you want to learn Linux and were always afraid to make Kali your first distro, this would be a great place to go and get your feet wet (I know a lot of people have always said don't start with Kali - personally I think that doesn't hold true today with it's Debian roots and would recommend it to anyone - my kids and wife use it as the family living room desktop, so it works fine for every range of user, n00b to l33t haxor...cough..).

I'll admit, having worked on the site and reading only parts of it in full while converting it from the book the site, I myself am still a n00b when it comes to a lot of things Linux related in general, and while I use Kali for "fun" with CTF's, I am by no means fluent with it. I still have to sit down and read it in full myself, but I'm familiar with the topics in it and know that I need to brush up on a lot of the fundamentals.

Just a reminder, this is not a Penetration Testing book. It's a Kali Linux OS book for sysadmins and InfoSec folks who need to deploy for their own use, or need to use and get familiar with, but it also is a complete walk-through from setup for new users, to more technical admin side towards the end of the book for anyone already in the field with a lead in for assessments.

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by digip

[Forkish]

Holy shit. That is a boss thing od you to do. Not just content that people love but if it's someting that you are pationate about (which free content is often a derivative of) thencit's also going to be a great read.  Thank you for your efforts and time.

[Just_a_User]

Thanks for your time, effort and  sharing.

[digip]

Thank the Authors, Offsec and the Kali team. They made it possible.

[Dave-ee Jones]

Nice, I didn't know about this before but it definitely looks good. I've been procrastinating from learning Kali as it's just a "for fun" thing and I've never been bothered with learning on it but this might get me into it a bit more passively. Thanks very muchly :)

[UnLo]

Have been enjoying my copy for the last couple of weeks. 

[Decoy]

I just picked this up myself. I love Johnny Long and saw he made some contributions.

[digip]

34 minutes ago, Decoy said:

I just picked this up myself. I love Johnny Long and saw he made some contributions.

Yeah, Johnny wrote the preface, helped proofread and also helped teach the recent class at BlackHat. He's now working with us as well. He has in the past, back when Offsec did some classes in the Caribbean, might have still been backtrack back then, and recently joined us full time when he came back to the states. Johnny is a great guy and a great contributor to the InfoSec community in general, not to mention his work on HFC.

[Dave-ee Jones]

1 hour ago, digip said:

Yeah, Johnny wrote the preface, helped proofread and also helped teach the recent class at BlackHat. He's now working with us as well. He has in the past, back when Offsec did some classes in the Caribbean, might have still been backtrack back then, and recently joined us full time when he came back to the states. Johnny is a great guy and a great contributor to the InfoSec community in general, not to mention his work on HFC.

Just to be clear - you are part of Kali's developers right?

No wonder your whole family uses it..Not bias or anything :P

Edited August 8, 2017 by Dave-ee Jones

[digip]

1 hour ago, Dave-ee Jones said:

Just to be clear - you are part of Kali's developers right?

No wonder your whole family uses it..Not bias or anything :P

I work for Offsec, but I am not a kali developer(or programmer). Offsec used to be one of my clients when I had my own web and grpahic design business, but went to work full-time for them in 2015.

If you been to the conferences, I design all our artwork, the banners, stickers, tee shirts, logos, challenge coins, some of the slide templates for presentations and the Dojo classes,etc.

I also create the wallpapers in Kali(and previously some of BackTrack stuff before i started workign for them full time) as well as missing icons as needed, the boot screen splash and live disc screens, lock screens, some of which you might have seen used on Mr. Robot when they used Kali on the show, which used some older wallpapers I had designed not shipped in Kali, but were down-loadable online in various places on our sites or my own. 

I also designed the book cover for the new book, and converted the book's html files from the author's source, and moved it all over to wordpress for the new Kali.training domain. Like I said in my top post, I'm a n00b when it comes to Linux in general. I can use it, and sure, can root a few CTF's here and there with Kali, but I'm by no means a programmer or developer on the Kali team. I don't work with the pentest team or anything like that, just take care of the face of the sites and artwork.

[Dave-ee Jones]

30 minutes ago, digip said:

I work for Offsec, but I am not a kali developer(or programmer). Offsec used to be one of my clients when I had my own web and grpahic design business, but went to work full-time for them in 2015.

If you been to the conferences, I design all our artwork, the banners, stickers, tee shirts, logos, challenge coins, some of the slide templates for presentations and the Dojo classes,etc.

I also create the wallpapers in Kali(and previously some of BackTrack stuff before i started workign for them full time) as well as missing icons as needed, the boot screen splash and live disc screens, lock screens, some of which you might have seen used on Mr. Robot when they used Kali on the show, which used some older wallpapers I had designed not shipped in Kali, but were down-loadable online in various places on our sites or my own. 

I also designed the book cover for the new book, and converted the book's html files from the author's source, and moved it all over to wordpress for the new Kali.training domain. Like I said in my top post, I'm a n00b when it comes to Linux in general. I can use it, and sure, can root a few CTF's here and there with Kali, but I'm by no means a programmer or developer on the Kali team. I don't work with the pentest team or anything like that, just take care of the face of the sites and artwork.

Sounds like they're wasting some pentesting skill if all they are using you for is cosmetic design and marketing. Still, I know how much responsibility you have when you're managing a website and other artwork. Something happens to the website everyone looks straight at you, and you're like "It wasn't me! The DNS peeps broke it!"

[bashincajun]

Thank you @digip, I saw something about the book on twitter but totally forgot about it, so thank you again for sharing it.  I personally don't use Kali that often anymore as i started using Ubuntu exclusively a year or so ago.  with that said i have wanted to work on my on kernel.

As a  side question am i the only technologically inclined person that prefers the physical book to digital?  

For some reason i seem to do better if i can physically read the book, maybe it is because the book doesn't have games on it

[digip]

1 hour ago, Dave-ee Jones said:

Sounds like they're wasting some pentesting skill if all they are using you for is cosmetic design and marketing. Still, I know how much responsibility you have when you're managing a website and other artwork. Something happens to the website everyone looks straight at you, and you're like "It wasn't me! The DNS peeps broke it!"

Yeah, I can't really discuss all that, but we have people for the backend and sysadmins for all that, just like any company has their own IT department, we have ours too. Like I said, web and graphic design are my side of the fence. I'm more like the gardener of the place.I do the pruning and keeping the plants watered, just one of the many cogs who are part of a much bigger picture. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes I have no involvement with and I'm cool with that. 

[digip]

1 minute ago, bashincajun said:

Thank you @digip, I saw something about the book on twitter but totally forgot about it, so thank you again for sharing it.  I personally don't use Kali that often anymore as i started using Ubuntu exclusively a year or so ago.  with that said i have wanted to work on my on kernel.

As a  side question am i the only technologically inclined person that prefers the physical book to digital?  

For some reason i seem to do better if i can physically read the book, maybe it is because the book doesn't have games on it

Yeah, I'm still waiting for my copy to fully dive into it. I can read online, but I like having a real book in my hands as well and finding a quiet place to read. Computer can be a distraction at times.

One thing we did try to make sure of with the site, is it's ease of use to read on phones and tablets though. I tried to make sure the fonts were legible in all formats and resizing didn't cause anything to go off screen. It resizes nicely and is pretty easy to read on smaller screens and I have read some of it on my kids tablet. The website reads really well on a tablet.