BackTrack
Linux distribution
BackTrack was a Linux distribution that focused on security, based on the Knoppix Linux distribution aimed at digital forensics and penetration test use. In March 2013, the Offensive Security team rebuilt BackTrack around the Debian distribution and released it under the name Kali Linux.
History
The BackTrack distribution originated from the merger of two formerly competing distributions which focused on penetration testing:
WHAX: a Slax-based Linux distribution developed by Mati Aharoni, a security consultant. Earlier versions of WHAX were called Whoppix and were based on Knoppix.
Auditor Security Collection: a Live CD based on Knoppix developed by Max Moser which included over 300 tools organized in a user-friendly hierarchy.
On January 9, 2010, BackTrack 4 improved hardware support, and added official FluxBox support. The overlap with Auditor and WHAX in purpose and in collection of tools partly led to the merger. The overlap came about as Backtrack 5, released on May 10, 2011. This version also seen the base OS changed from Slackware to Ubuntu.
Tools
BackTrack provided users with easy access to a comprehensive and large collection of security-related tools ranging from port scanners to Security Audit.
The public source identifies “BackTrack” as linux distribution. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around BackTrack, Linux and distribution.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q319307. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2010 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “BackTrack” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.