Kali Linux 2.0 Released — Most Powerful OS for #Security Researchers and Hackers

Offensive Security, the creators of Swiss army knife for Security researchers, Penetration testers and Hackers have finally released the much awaited and most powerful version of Kali Linux 2.0.

Kali Linux 2.0 (Codename ‘Kali Sana’), an open-source penetration testing platform brings hundreds of Penetration Testing, Forensics, Hacking and Reverse Engineering tools together into a Debian-based Linux distribution.

Kali Linux 2.0 offers a redesigned user interface for streamlined work experience, along with a new multi-level menus and tool categories options.

Kali Linux 2.0 is now a rolling distribution, means users will receive tools and core system updates frequently.

Kali Linux 2.0 Features:

• Runs on Linux kernel 4.0, 
• use full Gnome 3 Desktop instead of gnome-fallback, 
• improved hardware and wireless driver coverage, 
• support for a variety of Desktop Environments, 
• updated desktop environment and tools, 
• Featuring new cutting-edge wireless penetration tools, 
• Kali Linux now added desktop notifications, so that you do not miss anything, 
• Support Ruby 2.0, which will make Metasploit will load much faster, 
• Kali 2.0 added inbuilt screencasting tool so that you can record desktop.

Sadly, Kali team has removed the Metasploit Community and Pro packages. Instead, now just offers open-source Metasploit-framework package pre-installed.

Video Teaser:

Upgrade to Kali 2.0

Kali Linux users can upgrade their Kali 1.x to Kali 2.0 without reinstalling whole operating system from scratch. To do this, you will need to edit your source.list entries, and run a dist-upgrade as shown below. 

cat << EOF > /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://http.kali.org/kali sana main non-free contrib
deb http://security.kali.org/kali-security/ sana/updates main contrib non-free
EOF

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade # get a coffee, or 10.
reboot

Download Kali 2.0 Penetration Testing Platform

Kali Linux 2.0 is available to download in following flavors...

• Kali Linux 64 bit
• Kali Linux 32 bit
• Kali Linux VMWare or VirtualBox images
• Kali 2.0 for ARM architecture

…from the official website. You can download it either from direct download link or using Torrents.

A New Company Called Alphabet Now Owns Google; Sundar Pichai Becomes New CEO

Well, this was a very unexpected move by Google.

Google Co-Founder Larry Page announced a restructuring of the whole company, revealing the creation of the umbrella "Alphabet" corporation.

But, don’t worry… Google isn’t dead! Rather, Google will become part of Alphabet.

Why Google Rebrands As ‘Alphabet’

Over time, Google, the Mountain View company has become a lot more than just a Search Engine.

Google created and acquired a large number of other popular Internet services, including Android, YouTube and Gmail, that makes too much difficult for a single company to manage all of them effectively.

According to Google Founders, it’s time, when different projects require different leaders, different company cultures, and different types of resources.

"Our model is to have a strong CEO, who runs each business, with Sergey and me in service to them as needed," Page wrote.

So the founders decided to create an all new parental brand that will manage both Google as well as its other far-flung projects — called ‘Alphabet’, going to be the biggest tech company most people have never heard of.

As a part of the new structure, Alphabet will manage Google and all of its other products, including:

Google

• Calico, an anti-aging biotech Research Division
• Nest, Google's Smart-Home project
• Sidewalk, a company, focused on Smart Cities
• Fiber, Company for High-speed Internet services
• Investment arms, such as Google Capital and Google Ventures
• R&D unit, such as Google X, developing Self-driving cars and Drones.

Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, and shareholders will get one Alphabet share for every Google share they previously owned.

G is for 'Google' and 'Sundar Pichai 'is New CEO

Google’s senior vice president Sundar Pichai (Pichai Sundararajan), currently senior vice president of products, will be the new CEO of the Search Engine.

Google is now a more coherent company than it was previous. Google will now include the company's core businesses, including:

• Search Engine
• Advertising, Adwords, and Adsense
• Google Maps
• YouTube, the Video Service
• Android, Mobile operating system
• Chrome operating system
• related technical infrastructure.

And the current CEO Larry Page will become Alphabet’s CEO. Co-founder Sergey Brin will be its president, and Eric Schmidt will be the executive chairman of Alphabet.

"It is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google," Larry Page wrote in the open letter announcing the creation of Alphabet.

"Google itself is also making all sorts of new products and I know Sundar will always be focused on innovation—continuing to stretch boundaries. I know he deeply cares that we can continue to make big strides on our core mission to organize the world's information."

The 43-year-old Sundar Pichai rose quickly at Google, from working with the Chrome team to lead both the team as well as Android as senior vice president of Products.

The Launch of Alphabet Inc. will not affect you at all, but Good news… the company’s shares jumped 6 percent after hours, adding tens of billions of dollars to its value.