19.Laptop Bed2

The developers of specialized security-testing distro Kali Linux have released the first version of 2023, which marks the project's tenth anniversary… but only in this incarnation.

The new version, release 2023.1, appears exactly one decade after version 1.0 was released on March 13th 2013. Kali Linux is a rebuild of an earlier distro called BackTrack, first rolled out 17 years ago, which was based on WHAX, first out 18 years back, which is in turn based on Whoppix. Suffice to say, it goes back a long while. 

Kali rates highly on Distrowatch – it's currently at number 18, pop-pickers – which we ascribe mainly to its appearances on TV show Mr Robot and the consequent perception that this is a cool tool for élite hackers penetration testers and other security professionals.

For the type of people it targets, it's a handy time-saver. It has a bewildering variety of tools, and when installing, you can choose whether you want them all built in, or just a core set. Frankly, the Reg FOSS desk is not an élite hacker and has never worked as a pen-tester – although he has warned some large companies about holes in their network security before now.