Top 10 Best AI Penetration Testing Companies in 2025

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AI, cyber security, Cyber Security News, Top 10

AI is no longer just a buzzword; it’s a fundamental part of business operations, from customer service chatbots to complex financial models. However, this adoption has created a new and specialized attack surface.

Traditional penetration testing, which focuses on network and application vulnerabilities, is insufficient to secure AI systems.

AI penetration testing involves adversarial machine learning, prompt injection, and data poisoning to identify and exploit weaknesses unique to AI models and the infrastructure they run on.

In 2025, these services are crucial for ensuring the security, reliability, and ethical use of AI.

Why We Choose AI Penetration Testing

AI systems are vulnerable to a new class of attacks that can corrupt their data, manipulate their behavior, or exfiltrate sensitive information.

Attack vectors like prompt injection, where malicious input is crafted to bypass safety filters, or model poisoning, where training data is manipulated to introduce backdoors, are not addressed by conventional security tools.

AI penetration testing provides a proactive way to discover these vulnerabilities and build resilient, trustworthy AI systems, protecting against financial, reputational, and regulatory risks.

How We Choose It

To compile this list, we evaluated each company based on three key criteria:

Experience & Expertise (E-E): We focused on companies with deep research capabilities in AI security, a track record of discovering novel AI vulnerabilities, and teams composed of both security experts and data scientists.

Authoritativeness & Trustworthiness (A-T): We considered their market leadership, their contributions to AI security frameworks like OWASP, and the trust they have earned from enterprise clients.

Feature-Richness: We assessed the breadth and depth of their service offerings, looking for capabilities in:

Adversarial AI Testing: The ability to test for vulnerabilities like data poisoning and evasion attacks.

LLM Red Teaming: Specialized testing for Large Language Models (LLMs) to find prompt injection and data exfiltration flaws.

“Shift-Left” Integration: The ability to integrate security into the AI development lifecycle (MLSecOps).

Comprehensive Coverage: Testing for vulnerabilities in the entire AI stack, from data to model to application.

Comparison Of Key Features (2025)

Company	Adversarial AI Testing	LLM Red Teaming	Shift-Left Integration	Comprehensive Coverage
CalypsoAI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HiddenLayer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mindgard	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lakera	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Protect AI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Robust Intelligence	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prompt Security	No	Yes	No	No
SplxAI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HackerOne	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Trail of Bits	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

1. CalypsoAI

CalypsoAI is a market leader in AI security, with a platform built to test and defend against attacks on AI models.

Its flagship product, the Inference Red-Team solution, automates the discovery of vulnerabilities through real-world attack simulations.

The company’s expertise is highlighted by its CalypsoAI Security Leaderboard, which ranks major AI models on their security performance, providing a transparent, data-driven view of risk.

Why You Want to Buy It:

CalypsoAI offers a unique, automated red-teaming capability that identifies hidden weaknesses and provides a quantifiable security score for AI models.

This allows organizations to build governance and compliance into their AI systems from the very beginning.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Automated red-teaming for real-world attack simulations.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Specializes in testing for vulnerabilities in GenAI and agents.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Integrates into the SDLC for continuous security testing.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Secures the full AI lifecycle, from development to production.

Best For: Enterprises that need a purpose-built platform to test and secure mission-critical AI applications and agents against advanced, automated attacks.

Try CalypsoAI here → CalypsoAI Official Website

2. HiddenLayer

HiddenLayer is a specialized AI security company focused on MLSecOps, the practice of integrating security into machine learning operations.

Its platform provides a robust detection and response capability by monitoring models at runtime.

HiddenLayer’s AI threat landscape reports and research demonstrate a deep understanding of evolving threats, including adversarial attacks and data poisoning, making it a key player in the space.

Why You Want to Buy It:

HiddenLayer provides a critical layer of defense for live AI systems. Its platform can detect and respond to attacks that bypass pre-deployment testing, ensuring the integrity and security of models once they are in production.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Specializes in detecting adversarial attacks.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Provides red-teaming services for generative AI.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Part of the MLSecOps workflow.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Protects AI systems from development to production.

Best For: Organizations with mature ML teams that need a dedicated platform to monitor and protect AI models at runtime against adversarial attacks.

Try HiddenLayer here → HiddenLayer Official Website

3. Mindgard

Mindgard is a leader in AI Security Testing, a category recognized by Gartner as an emerging innovation.

Founded in a leading UK university lab, the company’s platform, DAST-AI, is designed to find AI-specific vulnerabilities that traditional AppSec tools miss.

Mindgard’s expertise is built on over a decade of rigorous AI security research and a vast threat intelligence database of attack scenarios.

Why You Want to Buy It:

Mindgard offers a solution that is built from the ground up to address the unique challenges of AI security.

Its DAST-AI platform reduces testing times from months to minutes, enabling security teams to continuously identify and mitigate risks throughout the AI lifecycle.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	DAST-AI identifies AI-specific runtime vulnerabilities.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Specializes in testing LLMs and agentic AI.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Integrates seamlessly into existing CI/CD pipelines.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Covers a wide range of AI models, including image and audio.

Best For: Forward-looking security teams that need a dedicated, purpose-built platform for offensive security testing of AI systems, from chatbots to complex agents.

Try Mindgard here → Mindgard Official Website

4. Lakera

Lakera offers a comprehensive platform for securing GenAI applications. Its solution is divided into two parts: Lakera Red, for automated red teaming during development, and Lakera Guard, for real-time runtime protection.

The company’s contributions to the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs (2025) and the AI Vulnerability Scoring System demonstrate its deep involvement in shaping the industry’s security standards.

Why You Want to Buy It:

Lakera provides an end-to-end security solution for GenAI, ensuring that vulnerabilities are uncovered before deployment and that live applications are protected against real-time threats like prompt injection and data leakage.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Lakera Red simulates real-world attacks.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Automated and continuous LLM testing.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Integrates with development workflows.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Covers development and runtime stages.

Best For: Organizations that need to secure GenAI applications with a two-pronged approach: proactive testing during development and robust protection at runtime.

Try Lakera here → Lakera Official Website

5. Protect AI

Protect AI is a key player in AI security, offering a comprehensive platform to discover, manage, and protect against AI-specific security risks.

Its solutions focus on securing the entire AI development lifecycle, from model scanning to GenAI runtime security and posture management.

The company’s expertise has led to its recent acquisition by Palo Alto Networks, which will integrate Protect AI’s capabilities into its Prisma Cloud platform.

Why You Want to Buy It:

Protect AI’s platform provides end-to-end security for AI systems, helping businesses meet enterprise requirements for model scanning, risk assessment, and posture management, ensuring they can deploy AI with confidence.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Specializes in AI-specific security risks.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Covers GenAI runtime security.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Secures the AI development lifecycle.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	End-to-end security from development to runtime.

Best For: Organizations that want an enterprise-grade AI security solution with a strong focus on securing the entire AI development and deployment lifecycle.

Try Protect AI here → Protect AI Official Website

6. Robust Intelligence

Robust Intelligence is an AI security and red-teaming company that specializes in making AI models resilient and trustworthy.

Their services are designed to address the unique fallibility of generative AI systems, which can be vulnerable to prompt injection, data leaks, and model manipulation.

The company’s approach is similar to traditional security audits, but with a specific focus on the unique vulnerabilities of AI.

Why You Want to Buy It:

Robust Intelligence provides a highly specialized and methodical approach to AI security, adopting an attacker’s perspective to uncover hidden vulnerabilities.

This is essential for organizations deploying AI in sensitive sectors like finance and healthcare.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Expert-led AI red-teaming.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Specializes in testing generative AI.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Tests are integrated into the SDLC.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Audits the entire AI system, from data to model.

Best For: Organizations that need a dedicated team to conduct in-depth, expert-led AI red-teaming and security audits.

Try Robust Intelligence here → Robust Intelligence Official Website

7. Prompt Security

AI security platform — **Prompt Security**

Prompt Security is an AI security firm that specializes in the unique challenges posed by Large Language Models. Their services focus on AI red-teaming to identify vulnerabilities in homegrown AI applications.

The company’s insights and predictions for 2025 highlight the rapid evolution of the security landscape, with AI-powered malware and new attack vectors becoming a critical concern.

Why You Want to Buy It:

Prompt Security offers highly focused expertise in LLM security, providing a direct solution for a major new attack vector. Their specialization ensures a deep understanding of the unique vulnerabilities that exist within LLM-based applications.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	No	Focus is primarily on prompt injection.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Specializes in LLM and agentic AI.
Shift-Left Integration	No	Focus is on testing, not full SDLC integration.
Comprehensive Coverage	No	Highly focused on LLMs.

Best For: Organizations whose primary concern is the security of their large language models and the risks associated with prompt injection and data exfiltration.

Try Prompt Security here → Prompt Security Official Website

8. SplxAI

SplxAI offers a platform that empowers organizations to adopt AI with confidence by proactively testing, hardening, and monitoring AI systems against advanced attacks.

The company’s services include automated red-teaming for AI assistants and agents, as well as real-time monitoring. SplxAI’s solutions are designed to be integrated into the CI/CD pipeline, ensuring continuous security throughout the AI lifecycle.

Why You Want to Buy It:

SplxAI’s platform allows for continuous risk assessments, ensuring that AI apps remain protected against emerging attack vectors. It helps teams uncover and remediate vulnerabilities before launching GenAI apps into production.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Provides automated risk assessments and red teaming.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Specializes in testing GenAI assistants and agents.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Integrates into the CI/CD pipeline.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Covers the entire AI application lifecycle.

Best For: Organizations that need a platform to perform automated, continuous security validation on their AI applications and agents.

Try SplxAI here → SplxAI Official Website

9. HackerOne

AI vulnerability assessment — **HackerOne**

While best known for its bug bounty platform, HackerOne has become a key player in AI security by offering a managed service for AI red teaming.

The company leverages its vast community of security researchers to find and fix AI vulnerabilities, including prompt injection, data leakage, and training data poisoning.

Their platform provides a streamlined workflow for managing findings and collaborating with researchers.

Why You Want to Buy It:

HackerOne’s platform provides a scalable and efficient way to conduct AI red teaming. By tapping into a global network of specialists, organizations can get a comprehensive test for a wide range of AI vulnerabilities in less time.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Leverages a community of security researchers.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Offers managed services for LLM testing.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Provides a platform for vulnerability management.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Covers both AI and traditional application security.

Best For: Companies that want to leverage the power of a crowdsourced community of elite hackers to find AI-specific vulnerabilities.

Try HackerOne here → HackerOne Official Website

10. Trail Of Bits

Trail of Bits is a highly respected cybersecurity firm known for its deep technical expertise and research-driven approach. The company has a strong reputation for securing some of the world’s most critical systems, including blockchain and AI.

Its AI security services combine high-end research with a real-world attacker mentality to find and fix fundamental vulnerabilities in AI models and the infrastructure they rely on.

Why You Want to Buy It:

Trail of Bits’s expertise goes beyond standard testing. They are not just finding vulnerabilities; they are fixing the underlying software and architecture.

Their ability to uncover critical flaws in hardened systems makes them a trusted partner for securing high-value AI assets.

Feature	Yes/No	Specification
Adversarial AI Testing	Yes	Research-driven and highly technical.
LLM Red Teaming	Yes	Conducts in-depth security assessments.
Shift-Left Integration	Yes	Supports secure software development.
Comprehensive Coverage	Yes	Specializes in securing the entire AI stack.

Best For: Organizations that need a deep, technical security assessment from a firm with a world-class reputation for research and ethical hacking.

Try Trail of Bits here → Trail of Bits Official Website

Conclusion

As AI becomes more integrated into our digital infrastructure, AI penetration testing is rapidly becoming an essential component of a robust security strategy.

The companies on this list represent the top tier of a new and growing industry, combining cutting-edge research with practical, real-world testing.

Companies like CalypsoAI, Mindgard, and Lakera stand out for their purpose-built, automated platforms that are specifically designed to address the unique threats to AI systems.

Meanwhile, established players like HackerOne and Trail of Bits are leveraging their existing expertise and reputation to provide world-class AI security services.

The right choice depends on your organization’s needs: whether you need a specialized platform for continuous testing, an expert-led assessment for a mission-critical model, or a scalable, crowdsourced solution.

All of these providers, however, offer the necessary expertise to protect your AI investments from the next generation of cyber threats.

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10 Best Web Application Penetration Testing Companies in 2025

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cyber security, Cyber Security News, Top 10, vulnerability, Web Applications, Web Server Pentesting

Securing web applications is a top priority for businesses in 2025 as they’re a primary attack vector for cybercriminals. Web application penetration testing goes beyond automated scanning to use human expertise and a hacker’s mindset to find complex vulnerabilities that automated tools miss, such as business logic flaws and multi-step exploits. A great pen-test provides […]

The post 10 Best Web Application Penetration Testing Companies in 2025 appeared first on GBHackers Security | #1 Globally Trusted Cyber Security News Platform.

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Noisy Bear Targets Kazakhstan Energy Sector With BarrelFire Phishing Campaign

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A threat actor possibly of Russian origin has been attributed to a new set of attacks targeting the energy sector in Kazakhstan. The activity, codenamed Operation BarrelFire, is tied to a new threat group tracked by Seqrite Labs as Noisy Bear. The threat actor has been active since at least April 2025. “The campaign is targeted towards employees of KazMunaiGas or KMG where the threat entity

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Critical Argo CD API Vulnerability Exposes Repository Credentials

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cyber security, Cyber Security News, vulnerability, Vulnerability News

A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Argo CD that allows API tokens with limited permissions to access sensitive repository credentials.

The flaw in the project details API endpoint exposes usernames and passwords, undermining the platform’s security model by granting access to secrets without explicit permissions.

The vulnerability stems from an improper authorization check in the Project API, specifically the /api/v1/projects/{project}/detailed endpoint.

According to the vulnerability details, API tokens with standard project-level permissions, such as those for managing applications, can retrieve all repository credentials associated with that project.

The expected behavior is that any request for sensitive information, like secrets, would require explicit, elevated permissions. However, the actual behavior allows tokens with basic access to fetch this data.

Exploitation

This issue is not confined to project-specific roles. Any token holding project get permissions is considered vulnerable, including those with broader global permissions like p, role/user, projects, get, *, allow. This widens the potential attack surface significantly, as more general-purpose tokens could be used to exploit the flaw.

Exploitation is straightforward. An attacker in possession of a valid API token with the necessary permissions can make a simple authenticated call to the detailed project API endpoint.

The resulting JSON response will incorrectly include an repositories object containing plaintext username and password credentials for the repositories connected to the project. This allows an attacker to easily harvest credentials that can be used to access private source code repositories.

The consequences of this vulnerability are severe, as exposed credentials could lead to source code theft, malicious code injection into the CI/CD pipeline, and further compromise of development infrastructure.

The Argo CD development team has addressed the issue and released patches. Administrators are strongly advised to upgrade their instances to one of the following secure versions immediately to mitigate the risk:

v3.1.2
v3.0.14
v2.14.16
v2.13.9

Upgrading to a patched version will ensure that the API endpoint properly enforces permission checks and prevents the unauthorized disclosure of repository credentials.

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“GPUGate” Malware Abuses Google Ads and GitHub to Deliver Advanced Malware Payload

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cyber security, Cyber Security News, Malware, Threats

A sophisticated malware campaign, dubbed “GPUGate,” abuses Google Ads and GitHub’s repository structure to trick users into downloading malicious software.

The Arctic Wolf Cybersecurity Operations Center, the attack chain uses a novel technique to evade security analysis by leveraging a computer’s Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

The campaign appears to be the work of a Russian-speaking threat actor and is actively targeting IT professionals in Western Europe.

The attack begins with malicious advertising, where attackers place a sponsored ad at the top of Google search results for terms like “GitHub Desktop.” This ad directs users to what appears to be a legitimate GitHub page.

Google search results for GitHub Desktop

In reality, the link leads to a specific, manipulated “commit” page within a repository. This page looks authentic, retaining the repository’s name and metadata, but contains altered download links that point to an attacker-controlled domain.

This “trust bridge” exploits the user’s confidence in both Google and GitHub to deliver the malicious payload.

What makes GPUGate particularly notable is its unique evasion method. The initial installer is a large 128 MB file, designed to bypass security sandboxes that often have file size limits.

Its most innovative feature is a GPU-gated decryption routine. The malware will only decrypt its malicious payload if it detects a real, physical GPU with a device name longer than ten characters, Arctic Wolf said.

This is a deliberate tactic to thwart analysis, as the virtual machines and sandboxes used by security researchers often have generic, short GPU names or no GPU at all. On such systems, the payload remains encrypted and inert.

The primary goal of this campaign is to gain initial access to organizational networks for malicious activities, including credential theft, data exfiltration, and ransomware deployment.

By targeting developers and IT workers, individuals likely to seek tools like GitHub Desktop, the attackers aim for victims with elevated network privileges.

Once executed, the malware uses a PowerShell script to gain administrative rights, create scheduled tasks for persistence, and add exclusions to Windows Defender to avoid detection. The campaign has been active since at least December 2024 and represents an evolving and significant threat.

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Malicious npm Packages Impersonate Flashbots, Steal Ethereum Wallet Keys

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A new set of four malicious packages have been discovered in the npm package registry with capabilities to steal cryptocurrency wallet credentials from Ethereum developers. “The packages masquerade as legitimate cryptographic utilities and Flashbots MEV infrastructure while secretly exfiltrating private keys and mnemonic seeds to a Telegram bot controlled by the threat actor,” Socket researcher

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Kali Linux vs Parrot OS – Which Penetration Testing Platform is Most Suitable for Cybersecurity Professionals?

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cyber security, Cyber Security News, CyberSecurity Research, Hacking Tools

Penetration testing and ethical hacking have been dominated by specialized Linux distributions designed to provide security professionals with comprehensive toolsets for vulnerability assessment and network analysis.

Among the most prominent options, Kali Linux and Parrot OS have emerged as leading contenders, each offering unique approaches to cybersecurity operations.

This comprehensive analysis reveals that while Kali Linux maintains its position as the industry standard with superior community support and extensive documentation, Parrot OS presents compelling advantages in terms of resource efficiency, user-friendliness, and privacy-focused features that make it increasingly attractive for both beginners and professionals working with limited hardware resources.

Understanding Kali Linux

Kali Linux represents the gold standard in penetration testing distributions, developed by Offensive Security as a Debian-based system specifically engineered for cybersecurity professionals.

The distribution emerged as the successor to BackTrack OS and has maintained its reputation through consistent updates and comprehensive tool integration.

The latest Kali Linux 2025.2 update demonstrates the distribution’s commitment to staying current with emerging threats, incorporating 11 new tools, including goshs, graudit, hekatomb, and netexec, which address modern attack surfaces and cloud security challenges.

The system’s architecture prioritizes functionality over aesthetics, utilizing XFCE as the default desktop environment to maintain resource efficiency while providing a robust platform for security operations.

This design choice reflects Kali’s philosophy of creating a professional-grade environment that prioritizes performance and tool accessibility over visual appeal.

Kali Linux ships with over 600 pre-installed penetration testing tools, carefully curated to cover the complete spectrum of security assessment activities.

The toolset spans multiple categories, including network scanning, vulnerability analysis, exploitation frameworks, digital forensics, and post-exploitation utilities. Notable tools include the Metasploit Framework for exploitation testing, Burp Suite for web application security assessment, Nmap for network discovery, and Wireshark for protocol analysis.

The distribution’s strength lies in its comprehensive coverage of penetration testing methodologies, with tools organized into logical categories that align with industry-standard testing procedures.

The inclusion of cutting-edge tools such as Sqlmc for SQL injection testing, Sprayhound for password spraying integrated with Bloodhound, and Obsidian for documentation purposes demonstrates Kali’s commitment to addressing evolving security challenges.

Kali Linux demands substantial system resources to operate effectively, requiring a minimum of 2 GB RAM with 4 GB recommended for optimal performance. Storage requirements are equally demanding, with 20+ GB needed for a complete installation. The distribution requires modern hardware capabilities, including graphics acceleration for certain operations, making it less suitable for older or resource-constrained systems.

Despite these requirements, Kali Linux has made efforts to optimize performance, including the transition from GNOME to XFCE in 2019 to reduce resource consumption. The system supports various deployment scenarios, from bare metal installations to virtual machine environments, providing flexibility for different operational needs.

Understanding Parrot OS

Parrot OS emerged in 2013 under the leadership of Lorenzo Faletra, positioning itself as a security-focused distribution that balances comprehensive functionality with resource efficiency. Unlike Kali’s singular focus on penetration testing, Parrot OS adopts a broader approach, integrating security tools with privacy protection, digital forensics capabilities, and development environments.

The distribution utilizes the MATE desktop environment as its default interface, providing an intuitive and lightweight experience that remains accessible to users across different skill levels. This design choice reflects Parrot’s commitment to creating a user-friendly environment that doesn’t sacrifice functionality for ease of use.

Parrot OS distinguishes itself through its holistic approach to cybersecurity, offering not only penetration testing tools but also integrated privacy and anonymity features.

The distribution includes over 600 tools covering penetration testing, digital forensics, cryptography, and privacy protection. Key privacy tools include Tor Browser, AnonSurf for traffic anonymization, and Zulu Crypt for encryption operations.

The system’s tool selection mirrors much of Kali’s functionality while adding unique capabilities focused on privacy protection and secure communications. Tools like ExifTool for metadata analysis, Maltego for intelligence gathering, and Volatility for memory forensics provide comprehensive coverage of modern security assessment needs.

One of Parrot OS’s most significant advantages lies in its exceptional resource efficiency. The distribution requires only 320 MB RAM minimum, with 2 GB recommended for optimal operation. Storage requirements are equally modest at 15+ GB, making it suitable for deployment on older or resource-constrained hardware.

This efficiency extends to its overall performance characteristics, with Parrot OS demonstrating superior performance on systems with limited resources while maintaining full functionality.

The distribution’s ability to operate effectively on older hardware makes it particularly attractive for educational environments and organizations with budget constraints.

Direct Performance and Feature Comparison

System Resource Analysis

The most striking difference between these distributions lies in their resource consumption patterns. Kali Linux demands significantly more system resources, requiring 2 GB RAM minimum compared to Parrot OS’s 320 MB minimum. This disparity becomes more pronounced in storage requirements, with Kali needing 20+ GB versus Parrot’s 15+ GB.

Performance testing reveals that Parrot OS consistently outperforms Kali Linux on identical hardware configurations, particularly on systems with limited resources. This efficiency advantage makes Parrot OS particularly suitable for virtual machine deployments where resource allocation is constrained.

Tool Coverage and Specialization

Both distributions offer comprehensive tool coverage with over 600 pre-installed applications, but their focus areas differ significantly. Kali Linux concentrates primarily on penetration testing and security auditing tools, with recent updates adding specialized tools for emerging attack vectors and cloud security. The distribution’s tool selection reflects its professional focus, with each tool carefully vetted for reliability and effectiveness in security assessments.

Parrot OS provides similar penetration testing capabilities while expanding coverage to include privacy tools, cryptographic utilities, and digital forensics applications. The distribution’s unique privacy-focused tools, including AnonSurf and integrated Tor functionality, set it apart from Kali’s more traditional approach.

Community Support and Documentation

Kali Linux benefits from extensive community support backed by Offensive Security’s professional development team. The distribution’s documentation is comprehensive, covering everything from installation procedures to advanced exploitation techniques. The large user base ensures rapid problem resolution and extensive third-party resources.

Parrot OS maintains an active but smaller community focused on collaborative development and user support. While the community is enthusiastic and responsive, the resource base is more limited compared to Kali’s extensive ecosystem. Documentation quality is good but less comprehensive than Kali’s extensive knowledge base.

Security Professionals Usage

Kali Linux maintains its position as the industry standard for professional penetration testing, with many cybersecurity certifications specifically requiring Kali proficiency.

The OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) certification, widely regarded as a premier penetration testing credential, mandates Kali Linux usage throughout the examination process.

Professional security teams consistently choose Kali Linux for formal assessments due to its reputation, comprehensive documentation, and industry acceptance. The distribution’s regular updates and professional backing provide confidence in enterprise environments where reliability is paramount.

Kali Linux presents a steeper learning curve, requiring significant technical expertise to utilize effectively. The distribution’s command-line intensive approach and extensive tool selection can overwhelm beginners, making it more suitable for experienced professionals.

Parrot OS offers a more accessible entry point for cybersecurity education, with its user-friendly interface and intuitive organization making it ideal for students and professionals transitioning into security roles. The distribution’s emphasis on usability doesn’t compromise its professional capabilities, providing a balanced learning environment.

Kali Linux excels in formal penetration testing scenarios, professional security assessments, and environments where industry-standard compliance is required. Its comprehensive tool coverage and regular updates make it ideal for security consultants and enterprise security teams.

Parrot OS demonstrates superior performance in resource-constrained environments, privacy-focused operations, and educational settings. The distribution’s lightweight nature and privacy tools make it particularly suitable for research activities and situations requiring operational security.

The cybersecurity landscape continues evolving with new attack vectors, cloud security challenges, and IoT vulnerabilities requiring specialized tools and approaches. Kali Linux 2025.2 addresses these challenges with new tools specifically designed for modern threat landscapes, including hekatomb for credential extraction and netexec for large network exploitation.

Parrot OS responds to privacy concerns and surveillance issues by strengthening its anonymity features and secure communication tools. The distribution’s focus on privacy protection aligns with growing concerns about digital surveillance and data protection.

Modern cybersecurity operations increasingly rely on virtual environments, cloud deployments, and resource-efficient solutions. Parrot OS positions itself advantageously in this trend through its exceptional resource efficiency and virtual machine optimization.

The distribution’s ability to operate effectively on minimal resources makes it ideal for cloud-based security operations and containerized deployments.

Kali Linux addresses these trends through improved virtualization support and ARM architecture compatibility, though its resource requirements remain higher than those of alternatives.

Recommendations

The choice between Kali Linux and Parrot OS ultimately depends on specific operational requirements, available resources, and user expertise levels.

Kali Linux remains the definitive choice for professional penetration testers, security consultants, and organizations requiring industry-standard compliance. Its comprehensive tool coverage, extensive documentation, and professional backing make it indispensable for formal security assessments and certification preparation.

Parrot OS presents a compelling alternative for educational environments, resource-constrained operations, and privacy-focused activities. Its lightweight architecture, user-friendly interface, and comprehensive privacy tools make it particularly suitable for students, researchers, and professionals working in sensitive environments.

For experienced cybersecurity professionals working in enterprise environments, Kali Linux provides the reliability, tool coverage, and industry acceptance necessary for professional operations. For beginners and privacy-conscious users, Parrot OS offers an accessible entry point with powerful capabilities and resource efficiency.

Organizations with mixed requirements might benefit from deploying both distributions, utilizing Kali for formal assessments and Parrot for research and development activities.

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Army picks startup Rivet to build AI-enabled soldier glasses

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Business

The future of soldier “super goggles,” designed to give frontline troops an AI-enabled view of the battlefield and voice command over drone swarms, is unlikely to look like the bulky, Star Wars-style face computer that might come to mind. Instead, the new tech may look more like the glasses you could see on patrons in a Brooklyn coffee shop, according to the company chosen to make them.

The Army has awarded a $200 million contract to a startup called Rivet to develop prototype computers, goggles, and watches to give soldiers a battlefield intelligence edge, as part of the Soldier Borne Mission Command program. A joint team from tech giants Anduril and Meta will also design a prototype for consideration under a similar contract, according to people familiar with the matter.

Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril, hasn’t been shy about his hopes to become the supplier of hands-free augmented reality kits for soldiers and, from there, build out an entire human-machine “ecosystem” to connect operators to drones and AI aides. And as the creator of the Oculus virtual-reality game system, he has something of an advantage. A February blog post featured him with a lab prototype of the Anduril system that looks like something out of science fiction.

But Rivet’s offering looks very different. Dave Marra, Rivet’s founder, told Defense One on Friday that his approach boils down to four words: “comfort, organization, utility, and compliance.”

He sees his company’s prototype as a jumping-off point to connect soldiers with a wide array of AI capabilities through simple voice or other commands, as well as to connect logistics professionals, maintainers, and others with AI-enabled tools.

“These kinds of natural language interactions are the most critical element to enable,” Marra said. “So you think, ‘I have to control robots, and I have to do it without significant training and learning. I want to recognize nouns on the battlefield that could be a target: that could be a good guy, a bad guy, or another noun on the factory floor. I want to identify anomalies, more importantly, correlate in these data sets.’"

The end result is real-time predictive intelligence delivered directly to the eye—information about how the battlefield is changing and might change, or, in another context, which part might break next and what to do about it. Eyewear that sees probabilities in the future.

The project is part of the Army’s broader pursuit of soldier-borne smart systems, going back more than a decade, before even the Integrated Visual Augmentation System program, which essentially became SBMC. But prototypes from those efforts have faced a number of setbacks.

Now, Rivet has created what it calls an “integrated task system.” It features a small computer soldiers carry, as well as glasses capable of night vision, map display, and a wide array of applications. They look like something you could buy at the mall. That’s part of the point. They were engineered to be useful in conditions where earlier soldier vision displays failed.

“If you’re wearing a pair of glasses on your face, they’ve got to conform to compliance measures for eye protection—not only from a ballistics perspective, but also adversarial lasers. You’re not going to be able to get that at Best Buy,” Marra said.

The system also runs on Android, to better allow operators to configure features to suit their needs. That flexibility reflects the Pentagon’s new approach of pushing more command and purchasing authority down to individual units—the people actually using the equipment who need to adjust it for rapidly changing conditions.

Marra said the company is working directly with soldiers to understand those conditions, beyond scheduled touch points.

“We’ve gone out and tested it at a high frequency with operational units at scale,” he said. “Over the next 18 months, we’re going to do exactly that. In fact, we’ve programmed every 45 or 90 days, we’re going to be out with a minimum of a squad’s worth of systems, a dozen systems, and we’re going to go do soldiering with the soldier. We’re going to hang out with them every minute of that 72-hour mission, or every minute of that training evolution, and take your feedback and put it into the next iterative loop of hardware and software development.”

By contrast, Anduril’s offering is bolstered by the Lattice platform, an AI-powered software system that combines thousands of data streams into a single 3D interface. Lattice—more than the headset—is core to Luckey’s vision of building out the “human-machine ecosystem.”

But Anduril is not alone in that space. Palantir has its own suite of battlefield data-integration products. Marra, who previously worked at Palantir, described that company as a “strategic partner.”

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Trump orders up ‘secondary’ name for DOD: Department of War

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Policy

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War.

Just before Trump signed the order in the Oval Office late Friday afternoon, he and Pete Hegseth, the secretary in charge of the department, who stood next to Trump during the signing, said the renaming reflected their intention to return to a more aggressive mindset for the military.

“It's restoring, as you've guided us to, Mr. President, restoring the warrior ethos,” Hegseth said. “The War Department is going to fight decisively, not endless conflicts. It's going to fight to win, not not to lose. We're going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We're going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.”

The text of the order calls "Secretary of War" a "secondary" title for Hegseth. "The Secretary of Defense is authorized the use of this additional secondary title — the Secretary of War — and may be recognized by that title in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch," reads the order.

The Department of War and the Department of the Navy were Cabinet departments from the nation's founding until 1947, when Congress combined them, along with the Department of the Air Force, into a new National Military Establishment. Congress changed that name to the Defense Department two years later.

Trump said Friday that renaming 76 years ago revealed a “political correctness” in the military that contributed to poorer results on the battlefield. The U.S. has not won a major war since the reorganization, he said.

“We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey, and we just fight forever and then, we wouldn't lose, really, we just fight to sort of tie,” he said. “We never wanted to win wars that every one of them we would have won easily with just a couple of little changes or a couple of little edicts.”

Because the department’s name came from an act of Congress, it’s unclear if Trump has the power to rename it with an executive order.

The president said Friday he didn’t know if it would be necessary for Congress to be involved, but that he would ask lawmakers to approve the change.

“I don't know, but we're going to find out,” he said when asked if Congress would codify the renaming. “But I'm not sure they have to … There's a question as to whether or not they have to, but we'll put it before Congress.”

Trump added that the cost of replacing signage and other materials associated with the department would be minimal.

The order says: "Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of War shall submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, a recommendation on the actions required to permanently change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. This recommendation shall include the proposed legislative and executive actions necessary to accomplish this renaming."

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chair of the Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the department who has often clashed with Trump, including on defense spending, said on social media that the name change was not meaningful without greater financial investment.

“If we call it the Dept. of War, we'd better equip the military to actually prevent and win wars,” the former Senate Republican leader wrote. “Can't preserve American primacy if we're unwilling to spend substantially more on our military than Carter or Biden. ‘Peace through strength’ requires investment, not just rebranding.”

This story was originally published by Stateline.

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New Report Claims Microsoft Used China-Based Engineers For SharePoint Support and Bug Fixing

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cyber security, Cyber Security News, Threats

A recent investigation has revealed that Microsoft employed China-based engineers to maintain and support SharePoint software, the same collaboration platform that was recently compromised by Chinese state-sponsored hackers.

This revelation raises significant concerns about cybersecurity practices and potential insider threats within critical infrastructure systems used by hundreds of government agencies and private companies.

The cybersecurity incident, which Microsoft disclosed last month, involved sophisticated attacks on SharePoint “OnPrem” installations beginning as early as July 7, 2025.

Chinese hackers successfully exploited vulnerabilities in the on-premises version of SharePoint, gaining unauthorized access to computer systems across multiple high-profile targets, including the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

The attack demonstrated advanced persistent threat capabilities, with hackers maintaining access even after Microsoft’s initial security patch on July 8.

ProPublica analysts identified the concerning operational structure through internal Microsoft work-tracking system screenshots, revealing that China-based engineering teams had been responsible for SharePoint maintenance and bug fixes for several years.

This discovery adds a troubling dimension to the security breach, as the same personnel tasked with maintaining the software’s integrity may have inadvertently created vulnerabilities that adversaries could exploit.

The technical scope of the vulnerability was extensive, with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirming that the exploits enabled attackers to “fully access SharePoint content, including file systems and internal configurations, and execute code over the network.”

The attack vector allowed for remote code execution, effectively granting hackers administrative privileges over compromised systems.

Persistence and Evasion Mechanisms

The SharePoint exploit demonstrated sophisticated persistence tactics that allowed attackers to maintain access even after initial remediation efforts.

When Microsoft released the first security patch on July 8, the threat actors quickly adapted their methods to bypass the new protections, forcing the company to develop additional “more robust protections” in subsequent patches.

The persistence mechanism likely involved embedding malicious code within SharePoint’s configuration files and leveraging the platform’s extensive file system access capabilities.

Attackers could establish backdoors by modifying authentication modules or creating hidden administrative accounts within the SharePoint infrastructure. This approach enabled sustained access to sensitive government and corporate data while remaining undetected by standard security monitoring tools.

Microsoft has acknowledged the security implications and announced plans to relocate China-based support operations to alternative locations.

The company emphasized that all work was conducted under U.S.-based supervision with mandatory security reviews, though experts question whether such oversight measures adequately mitigate the inherent risks of foreign personnel handling sensitive system maintenance.

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The post New Report Claims Microsoft Used China-Based Engineers For SharePoint Support and Bug Fixing appeared first on Cyber Security News.

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