Operating Systems - Kali Linux Security tools for Information Gathering

The Operating System(OS) acts as a middle man between the Computer hardware and software. The operating system is a software which every other software that runs on users machine are built upon. Major operating systems are Windows, Linux, Unix etc. Also, there are other kind of Operating Systems called drivers. They are software that makes it possible for the main Operating system to communicate with any other hardware connected to the computer.

Kali Linux like the name implies is a variation of Linux Operating System. It comes along with a lot of security tools for Network Information gathering, penetrating testing tools, etc.
For some specific tools such as  DNS ENUM, DMITRY, NMAP allows a user to gather information(eg IP address, mac address, port numbers) across an organizations network.
Network information gathering tools are powerful tools, because for a successful network test(ethical hacking i must say), its best to gather as much information as possible about the targets machine.

With Network mapping tools such as NMAP, it is possible for an attacker to know the following about a targets pc

• current Operating System a target is using.
• If the machine is active
• all services running on the targets pc
• All ports and services they are associated to
• and most importantly all open ports(the ports that are not in use)
• etc

Seeing how important the Operating System is to the PC(it can be called the heart of the computer), it is important to maintain best security practices with your PC. Most common ways to protect your OS from attack is do the following.

• Install good anti-virus
• Turn on the firewall(for windows, it comes along with the pc, for Mac users third party firewall applications are available)
• close all unused port
• Turn on Windows Update(though it can annoying most times)

Keep your machine safe by keeping your OS safe.