Whats the best plateform of linux for ethical hackers?

maximus1u2 · 02-20-2005, 02:00 PM

mjrich · 02-20-2005, 02:16 PM

Why, Debian, of course

Cheers,

mj

Tinkster · 02-20-2005, 02:27 PM

Define "ethical hacker" ... a hacker (by definition in
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/index.html) *IS* "ethical".

His platform will obviously be whatever he works on.

Cheers,
Tink

KimVette · 02-20-2005, 03:46 PM

ethical hacker?

Do you mean someone who writes interesting code, spends spare time investigating computer technology and new ways to apply it, or investigating security holes and how to patch them?

Or do you mean cracker, of which there is not a single ethical one? Cracking others' computers is not ethical in any case, other than in the case of war when you're fighting an enemy and using computers as a reconnaissance tool.

If you mean hacker, and not cracker, the best platform is any platform with a good integrated development environment and compiler.

kornerr · 02-21-2005, 11:27 AM

Type:
man "best linux platform for an ethical hacker"
What does it tell you???
No such...

Hikaru79 · 02-21-2005, 06:24 PM

Most "hackers" (and by hackers I mean skilled programmer) tend to prefer Slackware and Gentoo for the level of control it gives them over everything. Personally, I prefer Debian (and Debian-based distros such as Ubuntu)

BSD and Solaris have quite a following too, though...

SocialEngineer · 02-21-2005, 06:31 PM

I'm a slackware fan, but I also enjoy playing with the *BSDs.

Alex_jacobson · 02-21-2005, 07:08 PM

Like slack too.. LFS would be fun tho

frob23 · 02-22-2005, 05:35 AM

I think, as most people have mentioned, the distribution you pick is less important than the tools you have available on it. Almost any distro (and FreeBSD -- good to see some others have already sung its praises) could make a great development environment for a hacker. Just make sure it comes with all your favorite development tools (vi[m]/emacs or both, compilers, interpreters, IDEs, documentation for all of the above and more, etc.) and you will have a great system for a hacker.

If you are talking about crackers... then I highly recommend Windows. Not only is it the target for most attacks... it often tends to be the vector as well -- best to know your system by using it. Oh... and it isn't distro-related... but keep in good shape and well trimmed. There is nothing worse than an ugly mug-shot photo haunting you for years.