Book Image

Kali Linux Cookbook

Book Image

Kali Linux Cookbook

Overview of this book

In this age, where online information is at its most vulnerable, knowing how to execute the same attacks that hackers use to break into your system or network helps you plug the loopholes before it's too late and can save you countless hours and money. Kali Linux is a Linux distribution designed for penetration testing and security auditing. It is the successor to BackTrack, the world's most popular penetration testing distribution. Discover a variety of popular tools of penetration testing, such as information gathering, vulnerability identification, exploitation, privilege escalation, and covering your tracks. Packed with practical recipes, this useful guide begins by covering the installation of Kali Linux and setting up a virtual environment to perform your tests. You will then learn how to eavesdrop and intercept traffic on wireless networks, bypass intrusion detection systems, and attack web applications, as well as checking for open ports, performing data forensics, and much more. The book follows the logical approach of a penetration test from start to finish with many screenshots and illustrations that help to explain each tool in detail. The Kali Linux Cookbook will serve as an excellent source of information for the security professional and novice alike!
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Kali Linux Cookbook
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Installing, configuring, and starting OpenVAS


OpenVAS, the Open Vulnerability Assessment System, is an excellent framework that can be used to assess the vulnerabilities of our target. It is a fork of the Nessus project. Unlike Nessus, OpenVAS offers its feeds completely free of charge. As OpenVAS comes standard in Kali Linux, we will begin with configuration.

Getting ready

A connection to the Internet is required to complete this recipe.

How to do it...

Let's begin the process of installing, configuring, and starting OpenVAS by navigating to its directory via a terminal window:

  1. OpenVAS is installed by default and it only needs to be configured in order to be utilized.

  2. From a terminal window, change your directory to the OpenVAS directory:

    cd /usr/share/openvas/
    
  3. Execute the following command:

    openvas-mkcert
    

    What we are performing in this step is creating the SSL certificate for the OpenVAS program:

    1. Leave the default lifetime of the CA certificate as it is.

    2. Update the certificate lifetime to match...