Question

One of the first things I do as a habit is update Kali Linux every single time I open it up. Offensive Security pulls updates from Debian four times a day. This ensures patches and updates are getting incorporated into Kali Linux on a daily basis. Keep your system up‐to‐date and make it part of your routine. As soon as the OS loads, open a terminal, and run apt‐get update , as shown in Figure 14.15 . When that process completes and you get your command prompt back, run apt‐get dist‐upgrade (also shown in Figure 14.15 ).

Figure 14.15 : Updating Kali Linux through a terminal

Next, think about the credentials you used to log into this VM of Kali Linux. Those are root credentials. This book has cautioned you with a discussion on least privileges. Adding a nonroot user to Kali Linux is pretty easy. You can still use the root/toor credentials as needed. As you can see in Figure 14.16 , the commands to add a user and password are simply useradd ‐m nt ‐G ‐s /bin/bash and passwd nt , respectively.

Figure 14.16 : Adding a nonroot username and password

You will probably want to use your name or initials, not mine (even though mine are pretty awesome considering I'm in IT). Be cognizant of using any information or credentials that someone else could use nefariously.

You also might want to consider disabling the screen lock feature. The easiest and fastest way to disable the screen lock feature is to navigate the menu on the left to the very bottom. There is an icon of nine dots, which is your Show Applications icon. At the top of the window is the Search field. Type Settings , navigate toward the bottom of the page, and choose Power. Like you see in Figure 14.17 , choose Never as the Blank Screen option.

Figure 14.17 : Turning off the Blank screen saver

The next feature you might want to disable is the Automatic Screen Lock. You will find this under Privacy in the Settings menu, as shown in Figure 14.18 .

Figure 14.18 : Configuring Automatic Screen Lock