Hacking usually involves system infiltration and stealing data by means of unauthorized access. Ethical hacking is a means to counter hackers, by filling any loopholes in the back doors of computer systems. Ethical hacking is a great way to counterattack illegal hackers.

Have you ever wanted to learn ethical hacking, and needed an OS to get started? You’ll be happy to know most hackers use open source operating systems for their programming experiments.

Open source operating systems are free, contain the developer and debugging tools, and in general are perfect for the budding multi-programmer and hacker.

Here are the top three operating systems ideal for ethical hacking aspirants.

Kali Linux: Kali Linux comes packed with 600 penetration testing programs and is based on the Linux distribution package known as Debian. The OS is specially designed for digital forensics and penetration testing. It can be installed on a hard drive, and live USB/CD. it can even operate as a virtual machine using virtualization software. Kali supports the use of various developmental bones like Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Odroid, CuBox and much more. Kali Linux offers tools for password attacks, exploitation, and vulnerability testing. It can help users access the target machine for running back door tests in the operating system.

BackBox: BackBox is aimed at ethical hackers and penetration testers wanting to test out security assessments. It is based on one of the Linux distribution packages and is open-source. You can use BackBox if you’re looking for a fast, efficient, and easily operable OS which comes with a minimalist user interface. The BackBox comes packed with 70 testing programs for web analysis. These include snuffing, stress testing, network analysis, vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, forensics, and exploitation. You can use BackBox if you need an OS which supports Cloud-based penetration testing. Or, it is ideal when you need regular automated configuration backups, and need an OS which supports old configuration systems.

Parrot Security Operating System: Parrot Security is based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution package which is combined with Frozenbox OS and Kali Linux. This OS provides users with the real world of penetration testing and security assessments in real world environments. This makes it the perfect OS for the budding ethical hacker.

The Frozenbox OS integrated into the Parrot Security OS makes it useful for carrying out security assessments, anonymous web browsing, vulnerability assessment and mitigation processes. It makes use of the Kali Linux repositories and the MATE desktop environment. It does this by using the LightDM display manager, which uses an easy to use GUI and a decent lightweight environment in the OS. You can use this OS for running cyber forensics tests and for ethical hacking. The most notable feature about the Parrot Security OS is that it’s easily customizable and features a strong community support. This is different from other open source distribution packages.