Change Install Theme in Kali Linux - GTK 3 themes

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Change Install Theme in Kali Linux - GTK 3 themes


Kali Linux default GNOME Theme is very boring and plain. The reason it is like that is because Kali Linux Dev team wanted to make a fast and reliable environment so that you can boot your system quickly and ge to work. But work (or hacking?) is just part of it. Like you, I sometimes get bored looking into the same old desktop over and over again and feel like having a new desktop or change color here and there. If you have a decent enough graphics card and processor (and RAM??) you might want to change or install theme in Kali Linux (this guide applies to any Kali version, so don't worry which version you have). As Kali uses GNOME3 (GDM) Window Manager, so we will stick with GTK3 themes. The whole process takes only a few minutes and by the end of that, you should be able to:

1. Install theme in Kali Linux
2. Change default theme in Kali Linux
3. Most importantly, roll back your changes and get same old Desktop back.

I'm a big fan of being able to roll back your changes so that if you mess up things, at least you will know where to go back and how to roll back. This saves a lot of trouble for later uses. Some themes are poorly made and throws errors all over your terminal. In that case, rolling back and using a different theme is the best idea. At the same time, you would also like to remove that erroneous theme or clean up theme directory. I guess that's sound good, so let's get on with it.
Before we start, there's two different ways you can change theme.

1. Manually install theme
2. Install theme via PPA repository.

I will show both because both got their own merits and the only way you learn enough is by trying every possible corners on anything.

Choice A: Manually install theme

A lot of people wants to manually install theme and there's nothing wrong with it. Takes a few more minutes, but in this way you learn how theme works in Linux rather than just blindly typing in few commands and install themes.

Step A.1: Install gnome-tweak-tool in Kali Linux

To install themes manually, we need to install a tool called Gnome Tweak Tool. But before you do that, please ensure you have the correct Kali Repositories added. You can follow my guide on adding official repositories in Kali Linux.

Read the rest of it here: Change Install Theme in Kali Linux - GTK 3 themes

Install Skype in Kali Linux and rollback changes while meeting dependency requirements for both 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (amd64) installation

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Install Skype in Kali Linux and rollback changes while meeting dependency requirements for both 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (amd64) installation

Skype is a freemium voice-over-IP service and instant messaging client, currently developed by the Microsoft Skype Division. The name was derived from “sky” and “peer”. Skype was first released in August 2003. It was created by by Janus Friis (Denmark) and Niklas Zennström (Sweden) in cooperation with Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn (Estonia), who supplied the backend which was also used in Kazaa. Skype had 663 million registered users as of the end of 2010. It was bought by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Microsoft’s Skype division headquarters is in Luxembourg, but most of the development team and 44% of the overall employees of the division are still situated in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.

The service allows users to communicate with peers by voice using a microphone, video by using a webcam, and instant messaging over the Internet. Phone calls may be placed to recipients on the traditional telephone networks. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free of charge, while calls to landline telephones and mobile phones are charged via a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features, including file transfer, and videoconferencing. Competitors include SIP and H.323-based services, such as Linphone and Google Hangouts.

Unlike most other VoIP services, Skype is a hybrid peer-to-peer and client–server system. It makes use of background processing on computers running Skype software, and this is reflected in Skype’s original proposed name of Sky Peer-to-Peer.

Some network administrators have banned Skype on corporate, government, home and education networks, citing reasons such as inappropriate usage of resources, excessive bandwidth usage, and security concerns.[Source:Wikipedia]

Microsoft released Skype for Linux users (interesting that Microsoft, the rival for Linux released Linux package which just shows how powerful and demanding Linux communities has became).

You should be able to download Skype from Official website.

But that’s nothing compared to what you have to go through to install it. I’ve seen too many posts in Kali Forum and other blog sites that explains how to install Skype. Every one of them says to use apt-get -f install or in short, to force your installation cause none of them managed to do a clean install and forcing dependencies was the only way to complete their installation. Now, we all know by doing that you will end up with broken dependencies. Also you should know how to roll back your changes (remove Skype and dependency packages). In this post I will show you the followings:

1. Install Skype from Microsoft’s official skype-install.deb package using MultiArch (i386).
2. Remove Skype
3. Clean your broken dependencies
4. A complete rollback of MultiArch and clean aptitude for remaining files.

Sound’s good and fair? Because this post is going to be long, you’ll have to be patient and read to the last line. I also suggest to do it in Virtual Environment in case you’re afraid to do it in your main installation. Personally, I installed it in my main Kali Linux installation and nothing broke, I managed to do a complete installation and rollback meeting every dependency for Skype. So let’s move on to the instructions for how to Install Skype in Kali Linux and rollback changes with meeting dependency requirements for both 32-bit and 64-bit installation.

Install Skype in Kali Linux

To install Skype in a 64-bit Kali Linux installation, you will need to enable MultiArch. For 32-bit (i386) it’s much easier. Please note that I’ve tested this in a 64-Bit Kali Linux installation, so those who are using 32-Bit Kali Linux installation, instructions might be slight different, in fact easier.

MultiArch is the term being used to refer to the capability of a system to install and run applications of multiple different binary targets on the same system. For example running a i386-linux-gnu application on an amd64-linux-gnu system.

Those who are using 64-bit Kali Linux installation, start from Step 1. Those who are using 32-Bit (i386) Kali Linux installation can start fromStep 2.

Step 1: Enable MultiArch in 64-bit Kali Linux

Enabling MultiArch is rather easy in Kali Linux. One thing to remember, you need to have the Official Kali Linux Repository added. In case you messed up your /etc/apt/sources.list file, following instructions on adding official Kali Linux repositories.

Now assuming you’re using 64-Bit Kali Linux Installation, type in the following in your terminal:

root@kali:~# dpkg --add-architecture i386

Read the rest of it here: Install Skype in Kali Linux and rollback changes while meeting dependency requirements for both 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (amd64) installation

Kali Linux add PPA repository add-apt-repository

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Kali Linux add PPA repository add-apt-repository

A Personal Package Archive (PPA) is a special software repository for uploading source packages to be built and published as an APT repository by Launchpad or a similar application. While the term is used exclusively within Ubuntu, Launchpad host Canonical envisions adoption beyond the Ubuntu community.
Debian allows users to add and use PPA repositories by an application named add-apt-repository however, Kali Linux didn't include this in their default package list. With Kali, because this is a special purpose application and certain modifications were made to make it work for what it does best (Penetration Test), there's a chance that by adding untested and unsupported PPA repositories and application you might end up breaking your installation.
However, PPA is a powerful tool to have and a lot of the specific applications that are not available in repositories are available via PPA repositories. Users should take extra care before adding unknown and random repositories as it might very well break other things. I mean, how do you know the PPA owner didn't add some harmful code in their system? Generally, you don't. Then again, how do you know that Linux Kernel doesn't have something that's spying on your activity? But I guess that doesn't matter, your ISP would be happy enough to hand over your online activity to NSA anyway ... I could go on and on, but let's not waste more time and move to actual post "Kali Linux add PPA repository add-apt-repository" .. so here goes ..

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Install AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6

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Install AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6

I have tested the following applications after I’ve implemented this change and they worked just fine:

• Metasploit
• SQLmap
• Burpsuite
• Aircrack-ng
• Wireshark
• nmap
• owasp-zap
• maltego
• wpscan
• john
• hydra
• wifite
• pyrit
• oclhashcat
• beef
• Armitage
• Setoolkit

Following instructions are for Kali Linux 1.0.6

lsb_release -a

Output:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux Kali Linux 1.0.6
Release: Kali Linux 1.0.6
Codename: n/a

Step 1 (add official Kali Linux Repositories)

Check your /etc/apt/sources.list. If it’s anything different to the following, you need to fix it. You can follow this guide to add official Kali Linux Repositories if you’re not too sure on how to do it. For the sake of clarity I will keep things simple here.


Read the rest of it here: Install AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6

Notable Penetration Test Linux distributions of 2014

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Notable Penetration Test Linux distributions of 2014

A penetration test, or the short form pentest, is an attack on a computer system with the intention of finding security weaknesses, potentially gaining access to it, its functionality and data. A Penetration Testing Linux is a special built Linux distro that can be used for analyzing and evaluating security measures of a target system.
There are several operating system distributions, which are geared towards performing penetration testing. Distributions typically contains pre-packaged and pre-configured set of tools. This is useful because the penetration tester does not have to hunt down a tool when it is required. This may in turn lead to further complications such as compile errors, dependencies issues, configuration errors, or simply acquiring additional tools may not be practical in the tester’s context.
Popular examples are Kali Linux (replacing Backtrack as of December 2012) based on Debian Linux, Pentoo based on Gentoo Linux and BackBox based on Ubuntu Linux. There are many other specialized operating systems for penetration testing, each more or less dedicated to a specific field of penetration testing.

Penetration tests are valuable for several reasons:

1. Determining the feasibility of a particular set of attack vectors
2. Identifying higher-risk vulnerabilities that result from a combination of lower-risk vulnerabilities exploited in a particular sequence
3. Identifying vulnerabilities that may be difficult or impossible to detect with automated network or application vulnerability scanning software
4. Assessing the magnitude of potential business and operational impacts of successful attacks
5. Testing the ability of network defenders to successfully detect and respond to the attacks
6. Providing evidence to support increased investments in security personnel and technology

The new pentest distroes are developed and maintained with user friendliness in mind, so anyone with basic Linux usage knowledge can use them. Tutorials and HOW TO articles are available for public usages (rather than kept in closed community). The idea that pentest distroes are mainly used by network and computer security experts, security students and audit firms doesn’t apply anymore, everyone want’s to test their own network, Wireless connection, Website, Database and I must say most of the distribution owners are making it really easy and offering training for interested ones.
Now lets have a look at some of the best pentest distroes of 2014, some are well maintained, some are not, but either way they all offer great package list to play with:



Read the rest of it here: Notable Penetration Test Linux distributions of 2014

Linux Easter eggs - What to do when you're bored!!!

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Linux Easter eggs - What to do when you're bored!!!

Every once in a while I get bored and try to find something funny in Linux. I found few Linux Easter eggs, you might find them funny or just to pass sometime while you’re thinking of something else … So here goes …

Firefox/IceWeasel Robots

Type “about:robots” in the Firefox or IceWeasel address bar to find out what the robots are upto.

Read the rest of it here: Linux Easter eggs - What to do when you're bored!!!