Penetration testing and ethical hacking distribution Matriux

Matrix is a penetration testing Linux distribution based on Debian with the GNOME window manager. The download is a huge 3GB and you can run it as a live DVD or install it in your computer or USB thumbdrive. The tools Matrix comes with have been specially created for ethical hackers, penetration testers and computer forensic experts. I can’t imagine anybody using Matrix as their every day desktop unless they work in this field.

The default username is matriux and password is toor. The only main stream software you will find is an archive manager to pack files, all of the other tools are computer security related. To install this distribution a “Matriux Disk Installer” shortcut in the desktop can be clicked on but it will not partition your hard drive, you will have to prepare the drive and create a Swap partition on your own with a different tool, I suggest GParted.

PEN testing distribution Matrix

Matriux comes with two browsers, Firefox, including the Adblock Plus and NoScript addons, and Epiphany, a lightweight GNOME desktop browser. The tools you need for hacking are all nicely classified inside the “Arsenal” tab. You can find multiple scanners to test cross site scripting exploits in websites, Nmap and Angry IP scanners to scan a whole network and search for open ports and services where to infiltrate.

The forensics sections of Matrix has every single piece of software you will possibly need for your job, orderly divided into “Acquisition“, “Analysis” and “Metadata extractors“, without leaving out tools to analyse Android mobile phones. Other crows in the jewel incorporate steganographic tools, Bluetooth hacking, VoIP hacking software, DNS attack tools, debuggers, hacking frameworks like MetaSploit, Mantra or Inguma. For those who don’t know, each framework contains further discovering, gathering, scanning, bruteforcing and exploit tools, you can spend months just learning about how to operate the software.

I liked that Matriux comes with my favourite zsh shell and a marvelous semi transparent terminal colouring scheme that makes you real look geeky when people look at the screen even if you haven’t got a clue of what you are doing. I could not see anything missing in the cyberarsenal, from the basic Truecrypt and Tor to the more dark open source intelligence and forensics application Maltego.

With over 300 hacking tools in a single DVD at the touch of your fingertips, Matriux is a good alternative to Kali Linux and should be a must have hacking distribution for all security professionals, students and hobbyists.

Visit Matriux homepage