The need for a technologically advanced set of computer security tools in the world today is not something that just popped up overnight. There weren’t a couple of college students who decided to hone their coding skills out of boredom between classes. No – the idea of security for computing technology is a concept that evolved in parallel with the technologies themselves.

If you wanted to, you could probably find some historical parchment with ancient hieroglyphics or other language painted on it telling stories of the abacus. It might detail how someone, somewhere, managed to trick the ancient Mesopotamians by some art of visual misdirection toward the accountants and then move a bead or two on the abacus. We’ll let the historians determine and tell those stories. We are going to focus on the security of modern computing.

During the 1960s and 1970s, computer security was mostly security in the traditional sense of physical protection –...

The offensive security aspect hails from the red team side of the Purple family. Because it is the defensive toolset that sets Kali Purple apart from the rest, we will only highlight the offensive portion as it relates to use cases and testing the defensive setup of Purple. You will want to learn or at least have a basic understanding of offensive security to get the most robust rewards from Kali Purple. You will gain an understanding of enough offensive security and red team tools and techniques that you’ll be able to effectively test your defensive setup. That will also allow you to develop live presentations and proof-of-concept activities that you can use to train others or even play with yourself. This, by far, is not an exhaustive instruction or reference point for anyone who is exclusively or primarily interested in offensive security. It has only been included to make your Kali Purple journey proper and complete.

It’s expected that most who...

The uniqueness of Kali Purple is how it adds defensive tools to the Kali Linux distribution for blue team operators so that they may train junior analysts and/or otherwise do their jobs. Of course, to fully grasp where these tools might fit into an organization’s security posture, it might be helpful to know some of the terms associated with cyber defense. Here, we will go over some of the more commonly used terms and highlight the cyber defense concepts needed to navigate this book. We will talk more directly about what it means to be a blue teamer and gain an understanding of what the information security/CIA triad, SOC, SOAR, SIEM, IDS/IPS, and other concepts are. In the process, we will focus on how these items relate to Kali Purple.

If you’ve ever studied for a technology certification or any aspect of cybersecurity, you have likely been introduced to the information security triad, also known as the CIA triad. The three components –...

In this chapter, we discovered a solid base of actions and knowledge that led to the cybersecurity stage as we see it today. We were able to follow a brief history of security developments and events that created the protective needs businesses have today. In doing so, we examined Stuxnet, one of the world’s first uses of modern computing technology for weaponization and cyberwarfare. From there, we looked at a cyberattack that affected individuals in the masses with the Target attack of 2013. We saw how these two attacks led to much of the technology we are about to work with throughout the rest of this book.

As we navigated both the red and blue team tools included in the Kali Purple distribution or made available to add to it, we started to piece together the full picture of a well-rounded cybersecurity system. We were able to begin seeing the greater potential of Kali Purple and watch it slowly emerge as a comprehensive one-stop-shop capable of providing a great...

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of this chapter:

1. What is a SOC?
   1. Special operations command
   2. Standard of operational conduct
   3. Security operations center
   4. A piece of fabric someone wears on their foot
2. What is the primary difference between Hydra and John the Ripper?
   1. Hydra’s focus is on password cracking from a hash list and John the Ripper’s is on brute-forcing with network applications
   2. John the Ripper’s focus is on password cracking from a hash list and Hydra’s is on brute-forcing with network applications
   3. Hydra has many heads whereas John the Ripper only has one
   4. All the above
   5. None of the above
3. What is the downside of being known for having top-tier security?
   1. You become a target for adversaries looking to prove their mettle
   2. Your security budget is outrageous
   3. You’re so protected that your own mother cannot contact you
   4. Everybody expects you to share your secrets
4. Which pocket-sized tool was used to deliver sabotage...

To learn more about the topics that were covered in this chapter, take a look at the following resources:

• Kali Linux and Kali Purple release page: https://www.kali.org/blog/kali-linux-2023-1-release/
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework: https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework
• Metasploit Framework home page: https://www.metasploit.com/
• Mastering Kali Linux for Advanced Penetration Testing: Become a cybersecurity ethical hacking expert using Metasploit, Nmap, Wireshark, and Burp Suite, 4th Edition, by Vijay Kumar Velu: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Linux-Advanced-Penetration-Testing/dp/1801819777/ref=nav_custrec_signin?crid=2OKNCSTWE085&keywords=kali+purple&qid=1694494113 &s=books&sprefix=kali+purple%2Cstripbooks%2C134&sr=1-1&