Introduction
Security of information systems and operating systems is an important aspect that needs to be undertaken with any information system. Kali Linux operating system assesses the risk level of an information system. When an information system is installed, there is a need to assess that information system to see if they meet some baseline and standards. Standards are rules which are mandatory while baselines are the minimal requirements that information systems should follow in order to be considered to be safe. Baselines are the acceptable levels of security for an information system. Standards and baselines get some form of consistency in the process of undertaking security implementation. These procedures are sometimes specific to some industries, processes, and technologies.
Research question:
This paper will be guided by the following research question:
How effective is Kali Linux in undertaking vulnerability assessment?
Vulnerability assessment is an important aspect in information systems today. Given the current state of computer security, Vulnerability assessment is required to ascertain the state of the system. VA determines the security situation in a system and give recommendations. This process can be done through penetration testing and vulnerability scanning. Penetration scanning takes care of the networks ports that are susceptible to attacks. Vulnerability scanning, on the other hand, is directed to the susceptible hosts and applications, therefore, protecting the system.
First principles Vulnerability Assessment have four phases that include Architectural analysis, Resource Analysis, Privilege Analysis and Component Analysis. It is true that Architectural analysis probes the contents of the system while Resource Analysis looks at the resources the system utilizes. Privilege Analysis identifies the trust and access issues while Component Analysis probes the software components of the whole system. As stated, vulnerability assessment is always carried out at the deployment stages to determine the state of security. Any instance of hardware or software change including an attack should be followed by vulnerability assessment (Kirsch, 2013).
Features of Kali Linux that support vulnerability assessment
Unlike penetration testing, a vulnerability assessment testing will give all the steps that should be undertaken to remedy the system that is under threat. Penetration testers will not attack the vulnerability to test if it is genuine. This is the main difference between the two systems. There is also the provision of threats and risks that are associated with the vulnerability that has been identified. This is an important aspect that needs to be understood in the process. Kali Linux is an important development in vulnerability assessment. The assessment is based on the type of operating systems that is being assessed, the ports that are open at a given time, and other means that can be assessed. The effectiveness of this assessment is the main purpose for undertaking this research. There are many types of vulnerability assessment which includes white, grey or black assessment. This will depend on the nature of the assessment that will be undertaken.
One of the letdowns of much vulnerability assessment for many programs and operating systems is that there is lack of risk calculation. There is the lack value in terms of knowing the exact risk that has been added to a given system. The scan results should have risk calculations so that there is enough information about the given vulnerability. Many scanners of vulnerability have false positives or get vulnerabilities which are non-existent. This is because the process that is undertaken in the vulnerability assessment is wrong. Most of the processes are undertaken with the wrong procedure.
Vulnerability assessment analysis in Kali Linux
Kali Linux does the assessment of the vulnerability by understanding the target. After the reconnaissance has been undertaken to know the environment that the target object operates from, the next step would be to evaluate the target. This is an important step in vulnerability assessment. This is one of the steps that Kali Linux does to evaluate the vulnerabilities that are found in a target. Since Kali Linux is designed to optimally perform web testing, there is a need to have some features and procedures that will be used to test for vulnerabilities in this process. One way to achieve this would be to check the internet services that are used, to check the open ports that are used in the system and to check the types of services that are used in the process. This is the conclusive phase of vulnerability assessment and security audit (Hogg, 2013).
Kali Linux use of Nessus for vulnerability scanning
Kali Linux comes with Nessus for undertaking vulnerability assessment. There is the provision of unified security monitoring. Kali Linux uses this tool to undertake vulnerability assessment in software that is installed in servers. They are also used to detect cgi programs and check for vulnerabilities. All these are integrated in a process of network testing of vulnerabilities. This allows for fuzzing of cgi programs. The programs can be configured easily. The tool is also able to test for web servers and apps which are vulnerable (Strom, 2013).
With Kali Linux, there are also tools which are used for undertaking auditing of local patches. With this process, Kali Linux is able to detect missing patches for most operating systems. Nessus enables the use of timers so that the control of scanning for vulnerabilities is enabled. Without the use of timers, it will take long to undertake scanning of web applications. One of the advantages of Kali Linux over Back Track is that it has more updated tools. The tools have been streamlined with the repositories of Debian and the synchronization takes place four times a day. This translates to having more updated security fixes in the system. The new Kali Linux filesystem that is compliant means that the tools can be run from any location in the system. It makes security processes easier. Other security features that have been enhanced with Kali Linux are the customization, installation which is unattended and desktop environments which are flexible. These are the strongest features that come with Kali Linux.
Conclusion
References
Hogg, S. (2013). Kali Linux: The next BackTrack. Retrieved on 22 Nov 2013 from http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/kali-linux-next-backtrack
Kirsch, K. (2013). Metasploit now supports Kali Linux, the evolution of Back Track. Retrieved on 22 Nov 2013 from https://community.rapid7.com/community/metasploit/blog/2013/03/13/metasploit-now-supports-kali-linux-the-evolution-of-backtrack
Strom, D. (2013). Why Kali Linux should be in your security toolkit. Retrieved on 22 Nov 2013 from http://news.dice.com/2013/09/27/kali-linux-security-toolkit-068/
