White Glove Linux - Dr. Fred Cohen

White Glove Linux is a small, pocket-sized distribution developed by Dr. Fred Cohen (http://www.all.net). The CD runs a minimalist but usable Blackbox X interface and has a number of useful network audit tools that allow you to check the integrity of, and audit systems. Everything from file system checks, executable file validation and log checking, to finding graphical images on the target system are addressed by White Glove.

One of the important aspects of White Glove, especially with regard to the network tools, is that the CD is a “known source” distribution. This means that there are discrete sets of tools on the disk that have been reviewed and are tested and supported by Dr. Cohen. Larger public distributions (Knoppix, for example) attempt to get as much software on one disk as possible. We cannot always be certain that what each program advertises is the limit of what it does unless we are willing to test each tool or read the source code for ourselves.On the other hand, White Glove is a thoroughly tested and known source of network tools.