Whenever a new version of BackTrack is released, older versions will lose support and services from the BackTrack development team. No version of BackTrack is currently supported.
BackTrack Linux contains more than 300 security tools and utilities, all of which are open source. Many security experts prefer them over expensive commercial programs. And, hackers certainly like hundreds of such free, premium apps. One reason for BackTrack's popularity is its anonymity. You do not have to register (registration is optional). No name, bank account or user account associated with obtaining ISO image. In addition, no spyware is reported to any vendor.
The distribution is a live DVD, capable of booting and about 2GB capacity. If you decide to install it onto your hard drive or USB, the installation will expand to almost 7GB. BackTrack is perfectly suited for installation on USB, so it is more portable and discreet than installing a hard drive. 16GB USB can accommodate installation and there is still plenty of room to save files or data.
Remember that you will need to save your data from the crawl to be able to write security test reports for customers. Live DVD is powerful but significantly slower than a hard drive or USB. If you use a DVD, use a mounted USB or hard drive partition to store the collected information.
The BackTrack distribution includes the following main types of tools:
Under each main title, you will find subheadings. For example, in the first selection, Information Gathering, you have Network Analysis, Web Application Analysis, Database Analysis and Wireless Analysis . Under each subhead, you have many types of analysis. Network Analysis contains an extensive list of network analysis types, from DNS analysis to VPN analysis.
At the final level, you will find many options for each type of analysis. For example, in Network Scanners, you have a list of 11 different network scanning tools to choose from.