Backtrack 4 Forensics Capabilities

When you first boot up the new Backtrack 4, you may have noticed something slightly different. So what is this “Start BackTrack Forensics” option about?

Live CDs and Forensics

For a long time now, Linux Live CDs have been very useful for forensic acquisition purposes in instances where for one reason or another you can’t utilize a hardware write blocker. When configured not to automount drives, and a little bit of know how, a Linux Live CD can be a wonderful software write blocker. For a Linux live CD to be considered for this purpose however, it is of the utmost importance that the use of the live CD in no way alters any data in any manner. In the past, this ruled out the use of Backtrack for forensic purposes. Backtrack would automount available drives and utilize swap partitions where available. This could cause all sorts of havoc, changing last mount times, altering data on disk, and so on. Well, no longer! The Backtrack 4 Live CD has incorporated changes to allow a boot mode which is forensically clean. This is great news, as with Backtrack being such a popular live CD, a copy can often be found close at hand.

How?

So, lets have the scoop. Forensic people are often detail oriented and very conservative, so how do we know it is safe to use? Well, first off the Backtrack 4 Live CD is based off of Casper, and contains no filesystem automount scripts at all. The system initialization scripts have been altered in the forensic boot mode so that Backtrack 4 will not look for or make use of any swap partitions which are contained on the system. All those scripts have been removed from the system.

Verification

To test this functionality, we have tested this boot mode with multiple hardware configurations. For each test, we took a before MD5 snapshot of the system disks, booted BT4 in forensic boot mode, verified no file systems were mounted and swap was not in use, did a number of activities on the system, then shut the system back down and took an after MD5 snapshot. In comparing the two MD5 snapshots, in every case they were a match, demonstrating no changes on the disks has been made. So, can you trust Backtrack 4 for your forensic purposes? Well, not until you verify it as well! Just like any forensic tool, its negligent to just take someone else’s word that any tool works properly. Its up to you to independently verify the tool before you use it. We expect your results will match ours, and you will find Backtrack 4 is a great addition to you tool set. (And, if your results find a problem, please let us know ASAP and include details as to how you conducted your testing. As, that would be a real problem.)

Usage

When you utilize Backtrack for forensics purposes, be sure you don’t let it go through an unattended boot. Default boot for Backtrack is standard boot mode, which will use swap partitions if they are present. There is a nice long delay however, so you will have plenty of time to select the proper boot mode. Also, please remember, this is a Linux distribution. It is highly suggested that you become familiar with Linux before use this, or any other Linux Live CD for any forensic purpose. Also, be sure to check out the additional forensic tools added to Backtrack 4. We have concentrated on the addition of imaging and triage tools, but if you find that one of your favorite utilities is not in place please let us know so we can look into having it added.

Customizing the BackTrack Image

Customizing the BackTrack iso is simple, using a pre-made script. Ideally, you should be editing the ISO file *on a BackTrack install* to ensure correct versions of squashfs, etc. Otherwise your mileage will vary. Please note that the script is very basic, and will need some modification (such as the hardcoded iso filename, etc). Make sure to look through it before running it. For more information, check the following blog post : http://www.offensive-security.com/blog/backtrack/customising-backtrack-live-cd-the-easy-way/

Install BackTrack in VMWare

Follow the basic install instructions here to get BackTrack installed in a VMware machine.

1. Log into BackTrack. To install the VMWare drivers, the kernel source and headers need to be in place. By default in the BackTrack 4 final release, the kernel (denoted by {version} ) is configured and ready. However in some cases, you might need to make sure you have the latest kernel sources by typing in:
apt-get update apt-get install linux-source cd /usr/src tar jxpf linux-source-{version}.tar.bz2 ln -s linux-source-{version} linux cd linux zcat /proc/config.gz > .config make scripts make prepare
2. Now that your kernel sources and headers are in place, run the “Install VMWare tools” for the specific guest VM.
3. Mount the VMWare tools virtual cd, copy over the VMWare tools package and run the installer:
mount /dev/cdrom3 /mnt/cdrom cp /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-{version}.tar.gz /tmp/ cd /tmp/ tar zxpf VMwareTools-{version}.tar.gz cd vmware-tools-distrib ./vmware-install.pl
4. Complete the VMWare tools installation as required. Run “fix-splash” to reintroduce the green framebuffer console. Reboot.

BackTrack Live USB Install

This method of getting a live install to a USB drive is the simplest available using Unetbootin. Note that we will format the USB drive and erase its contents.

1. Plug in your USB Drive (Minimum USB Drive capacity 2 GB)
2. Format the USB drive to FAT32
3. Download Unetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
4. Start Unetbootin and select diskimage (use the backtrack-final ISO)
5. Select your USB drive and click “OK” for creating a bootable BackTrack USB drive
6. Log into BackTrack with the default username and password root / toor.

BackTrack Dual Boot Install with Windows (Tested on Win 7)

This method of installation is the simplest available. The assumption is that the you have a Windows installation taking up all the space on your drive, and you would like to resize and repartition your drive to allow a BackTrack install alongside your Windows. BACK UP YOUR WINDOWS INSTALLATION FIRST.

1. Boot BackTrack on the machine to be installed. Once booted, type in “startx” to get to the KDE graphical interface.
2. Double click the “install.sh” script on the desktop, or run the command “ubiquity” in console.
3. Select your geographical location and click “forward”. Same for the Keyboard layout.
4. The next screen allows you to configure the partitioning layout. The assumption is that we are resizing the Windows 7 partition and installing BackTrack on the newly made space.
5. Accept the installation summary and client “Install”. Allow the installation to run and complete. Restart when done.
6. Grub should allow you to boot both into BackTrack and Windows.
7. Log into BackTrack with the default username and password root / toor. Change root password.
8. Fix the framebuffer splash by typing “fix-splash” ( or “fix-splash800″ if you wish a 800×600 framebuffer), reboot.

Install BackTrack to Hard Disc

BackTrack Clean Hard Drive Install

This method of installation is the simplest available. The assumption is that the whole hard drive is going to be used for BackTrack.

1. Boot BackTrack on the machine to be installed. Once booted, type in “startx” to get to the KDE graphical interface.
2. Double click the “install.sh” script on the desktop, or run the command “ubiquity” in console.
3. Select your geographical location and click “forward”.  Same for the Keyboard layout.
4. The next screen allows you to configure the partitioning layout. The assumption is that we are deleting the whole drive and installing BackTrack on it.
5. Accept the installation summary and client “Install”. Allow the installation to run and complete. Restart when done.
6. Log into BackTrack with the default username and password root / toor. Change root password.
7. Fix the framebuffer splash by typing “fix-splash” ( or “fix-splash800″ if you wish a 800×600 framebuffer), reboot.

Backtrack 4 Linux Introduction to BTS readers-Hack professionally

Back Track 4-The OS known for Hacking/Penetration Testing.

Back Track 4 - Ethical Hacking Tutorials(BTS)

BackTrack is Linux Based Penetration Testing Operating system which help the security professionals to test the security of the system. The Special thing the about this OS is that no need to install. You can run the Backtrack directly from CD,Flash/Pen Drive.(you can install the backtrack as main operating system also).

 BackTrack4 is developed from the earlier linux distribution namely Whoppix, IWHAX, and Auditor.
BackTrack is funded by offensive Security.

New Features in BackTrack 4 r2 
* Kernel 2.6.35.8 – *Much* improved mac80211 stack.
* USB 3.0 support.
* New wireless cards supported.
* All wireless Injection patches applied, maximum support for wireless attacks.
* Even *faster* desktop environment.
* Revamped Fluxbox environment for the KDE challenged.
* Metasploit rebuilt from scratch, MySQL db_drivers working out of the box.
* Updated old packages, added new ones, and removed obsolete ones.
* New BackTrack Wiki with better documentation and support.
* Our most professional, tested and streamlined release ever.

Download:
http://www.backtrack-linux.org/downloads


If you have any queries ,this link will clarify you :

http://www.backtrack-linux.org/wiki/index.php/FAQ

You can install the backtrack in all possible ways.  i mean you can install along with windows,inside windows, inside linux, in external hard drive,pen drive, in hard drive, in virtual box(there are more options)

Lines From Backtrack4-Linux.org:

Whether you’re hacking wireless, exploiting servers, performing a web application assessment, learning, or social-engineering a client, BackTrack is the one-stop-shop for all of your security needs.

More details and tutorials coming soon..!!!