Parrot OS vs Kali Linux vs BlackArch

Dear Community,
I want to install a Linux dist on my new computer for pen testing and I would like to know the Pros and Cons of the Operating Systems.
Which one would you recommend for a Beginner/Intermediate user?
Thank you in advance

Well, I can tell you that Kali isn't secure. I'm not sure so much about the other two. I'm pretty sure that Parrot is way more secure than Kali. I've never used BlackArch, so I'm not sure.

Kali Linux Is a very good starting point.

There's some excellent video tutorials on this

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For beginner and intermediate use, ParrotOS might be your best bet. It has an easier default GUI and is simpler to understand. You can find almost any default tool you need for basic pen-testing and there are some nice functions, for example the "anonymous search" function which basically forces connections through Tor (summing it up, obviously).
Once you feel more comfortable with these tools and methods of thinking, going onto Kali Linux can help since most books and/or courses base the information off of this OS. Of course you can apply the same theory and install the same tools on any other Linux-based OS but hey, that's obvious. BlackArch isn't what I'd recommend to people starting out since it's based on ArchLinux which already by itself is hard to understand, add that you really need to know how it works to actually pen-test on it and you're better off just installing one of the other two. This one is for the more "Linux nerd-hats" if you may.

(04-10-2018, 03:15 PM)Synthx Wrote:

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Well, I can tell you that Kali isn't secure. I'm not sure so much about the other two. I'm pretty sure that Parrot is way more secure than Kali. I've never used BlackArch, so I'm not sure.

If you're pentesting, then the security of your own OS isn't important. Pen testing distributions are all live cd tools. You show up with a laptop, boot from the cd, do your tests, then you go home. You shouldn't be installing any of these to your hard disk.

Secondly, the concept of "Black Arch" is just nauseating... The entire focus of Arch Linux is that it comes with NOTHING and you build your own OS. the only thing that cleanly sets it apart from LFS is you don't have to compile it all yourself (most of the time).

(04-10-2018, 10:29 PM)phyrrus9 Wrote:

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(04-10-2018, 03:15 PM)Synthx Wrote:

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Well, I can tell you that Kali isn't secure. I'm not sure so much about the other two. I'm pretty sure that Parrot is way more secure than Kali. I've never used BlackArch, so I'm not sure.

If you're pentesting, then the security of your own OS isn't important. Pen testing distributions are all live cd tools. You show up with a laptop, boot from the cd, do your tests, then you go home. You shouldn't be installing any of these to your hard disk.

Ah, that makes 100% sense.

I personally run arch i3 as my main distro to do coding and pentesting.

None of these should be installed.
The point of Kali is too be a live-bootable on-field OS, not for installation. Just boot it on site. I you need a specific tool, install it, I can garuntee that you won't use every tool in any of these distros, so you're just wasting space.

(05-16-2018, 06:54 PM)Ender Wrote:

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None of these should be installed.
The point of Kali is too be a live-bootable on-field OS, not for installation. Just boot it on site. I you need a specific tool, install it, I can garuntee that you won't use every tool in any of these distros, so you're just wasting space.

You don't even use most of the shit you install on your regular desktop pc, so why gum it up with even MORE bloatware.

(05-16-2018, 07:05 AM)Mimiakira Wrote:

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I personally run arch i3 as my main distro to do coding and pentesting.

"Arch i3", yeah now that's amusing.
I assume you mean Arch Linux using X11+i3, like what I use:


Secondly, that's not even what this post was about. This is a thread about the (stupid) choices between Black Arch (basically kali built on Arch, defeating the whole point) and Parrot