Live Hacking CD is a new Linux distribution packed with tools and utilities for ethical hacking, penetration testing and countermeasure verification. Based on Ubuntu this ‘Live CD” runs directly from the CD and doesn’t require installation on your hard-drive. Once booted you can use the included tools to test, check, ethically hack and perform penetration tests on your own network to make sure that it is secure from outside intruders.

 As well as the standard Linux networking tools like ping, wget, curl, telnet and ssh, the Live Hacking CD has tools for DNS enumeration and  reconnaissance as well as utilities for foot-printing, password cracking and network sniffing. It also has programs for spoofing and a set of wireless networking utilities.

DNS Enumeration

DNS is the Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Each time you use a domain name, DNS is used to translate the name into the corresponding IP address. To do the translation DNS holds records for each domain. The Live Hacking CD includes tools specifically designed for working with DNS.

Reconnaissance

Just like in the military the first step to any mission is reconnaissance; exploring the network to gain information. The idea is to map out the target network and systems before trying to find the potential security weaknesses. Included on the Live Hacking CD are a set of tools to help you perform reconnaissance on your network.

Foot-printing

Once the network has been mapped out, you need to gather information about the specific computers on the network. To help you do this the Live Hacking CD includes the tools you need.

Password Cracking

While trying to penetrate your network you will need to test the strength of the passwords being used. The Live Hacking CD has the tools you need to try and crack the passwords used on your network and on your systems.

Network Sniffing

The technique used to monitor and analyze the traffic on your network is called network sniffing (or some times data packet sniffing). Here a packet sniffer captures the packets of data that pass around the network. Within your network you may find that usernames and passwords are being sent in clear text meaning that the information would be viewable to anyone who can capture your network traffic. The Live Hacking CD contains network sniffing tools to enable you to capture, monitor and analyze your network traffic.

Spoofing (or Masquerading)

Spoofing is the creation of network packets in such a way that they appear as if they came from somewhere or someone else. Spoofing is an integral part of many network attacks and the Live Hacking CD has the tools you need to help you create fake network traffic in order to penetrate your network.

Wireless Networking Utilities

Many networks now use Wi-Fi to enable laptops and mobile devices to connect to the network without wires. The strength and simultaneously the weakness of Wi-Fi is that the network traffic is broadcast to every device. The Live Hacking CD is packed with tools to help you monitor and secure your wireless network.

Open Source and Ethical:

The Live Hacking CD is designed for ethical computer hacking, meaning that it contains the tools and utilities you need to test and hack your own network but using the tools and techniques that more malicious hackers would use.

The Live Hacking CD is based on open source technology and uses the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution as its base. All the tools included can be freely found in either the Ubuntu repositories on the Internet. The CD is designed to be a platform to help IT security professionals (as well as those with a general interest in information security) to start, understand and conduct penetration tests and ethical hacking.

Dr. Jahangiri, the world renowned security expert and the brain-child behind the Live Hacking CD, has made it available to the public for free to encourage IT professionals and others to enhance their knowledge and to prepare for the malicious activities of the unscrupulous hacker.

As with all community and open projects, Dr. Jahangiri and his team welcome all comments, and suggestions along with possible cooperation opportunities to make the Live Hacking CD as complete and useful as possible.