Parrot is a security-oriented GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian, which focuses on penetration testing, digital forensics, programming, and privacy protection. On January 28, Parrot released version 3.11, which is now available for download. Compared with the previous version, this new version contains many improvements and security fixes. Now, it contains all currently available security patches for Meltdown and Spectre and the new version of the Linux 4.14 kernel by default .
In addition, the new "Car Hacking" menu now contains many useful open source tools in the automotive industry to test real-world cars or simulate CANBus networks. Metasploit and PostgreSQL have been patched to work perfectly in live mode. Other important updates include: Firefox 58, the installer stability enhancement, many security tool updates, some important graphics-related improvements. Parrot Studio has been reintroduced and brought many improvements. This special Parrot derivative is designed as an improved version of Parrot Home for workstations for multimedia production and includes many pre-installed productivity tools.
Details or other changes can be found in the project’s release record .
Parrot includes a fully portable laboratory that can be used by security or digital forensics experts, but it also includes everything needed to develop software or protect the privacy of users while surfing the web. It is based on Debian Testing, so it is naturally a rolling update release. Its desktop environment is Mate, and the default Display Manager is LightDM. It supports x86, x86_64 and ARM architecture.
The project goals are:
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Security: Contains a complete library of security tools;
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Privacy: a secure and sandboxed system for surfing or secret communication;
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Development: A complete development stack that includes the "best" editor, language and technology out of the box.
Its characteristics are:
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Security: Always update, frequently release new versions, completely sandboxed, everything is under complete control;
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Freedom: GPL authorized and always respect user freedom;
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Lightweight: Concerned about resource consumption, the system is extremely lightweight and can run extremely fast even with very old hardware or very limited resources.
Official website: https://www.parrotsec.org ;
Download address: https://www.parrotsec.org/download.fx ;
Project Wiki: https://docs.parrotsec.org/doku.php