Background Information

Parrot OS is a Debian-based Linux distribution that is geared toward various cybersecurity tasks with an emphasis on security, privacy, and development. Developed by Lorenzo "Palinuro" Faletra, of the Parrot Dev Team, Parrot OS was released on April 10, 2013.

Security Edition

The Security Edition of Parrot OS is designed for both Penetration testing and Red Team Operations. The OS comes equipped with a wide variety of pentesting tools and privacy features.

Workstation Applications

The Security edition of Parrot OS comes preloaded with many workstation software, however, more can be installed through the Synaptic Package Manager. Some compatible applications are...

  • LibreOffice (Pre-installed)
  • VLC (Pre-installed)
  • GIMP (Pre-installed)
  • OBS (Installable)
  • Blender (Installable)
  • Kdenlive (Installable)
  • Krita (Installable)

Privacy Features

Parrot OS Security Edition also features various anonymity tools and various cryptography features including...

  • AnonSurf
  • TOR
  • Firefox
  • Zulucrypt
  • Sirikali
  • Pre-installed Ad-blockers
  • Full Disk encryption

Development Tools

Parrot OS is also equipped with various development tools for both Pentesting and regular coding. These applications also include...

  • Powersploit
  • Scapy
  • Rizin
  • VSCodium
  • Geany

Minimum Hardware Requirements

  • Processor: Dual Core CPU
  • Graphics: N/A
  • Memory: 1 GB of RAM
  • Storage: 20 GB

Home Edition

Parrot Home Edition is a general-purpose operating system with the standard Parrot look. This is meant to be a daily drive operating system that promotes privacy and software development. In addition, Parrot OS' tools can be manually installed to assemble a custom lightweight pentesting environment.

Advanced Framework Support

This operating system features support for several different programming languages and frameworks including, but not limited to...

  • Go
  • Rust
  • Python

Minimum Hardware Requirements

  • Processor: Dual Core CPU
  • Graphics: N/A
  • Memory: 1 GB of RAM
  • Storage: 16 GB

HTB Edition

Also known as Pwnbox, the Hack the Box Edition of Parrot OS is a customized hacking cloud-based operating system based on the Security Edition of Parrot OS. This operating system can be installed onto a personal computer or can be tried online through the Hack The Box Academy.

Use Cases

This Edition of Parrot OS is meant to help new pentesters to learn how to use Parrot OS' tools without requiring the hardware to run the OS on your personal device.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

  • Processor: Dual Core CPU
  • Graphics: N/A
  • Memory: 1 GB of RAM
  • Storage: 20 GB

Cloud Edition

Cloud Edition of Parrot OS is two separate operating systems meant to be run in cloud environments, virtual machines, or other special deployments. The different editions of the Cloud Edition are the Architect Edition and the Docker Images.

Architect Edition

The Architect Edition is the standard Parrot OS that has nothing pre-installed, but can have any software installed manually.

Docker Images

The Images for Docker allow users to take advantage of all of Parrot's tools on top of other operating systems or within cloud environments.

Raspberry Pi Image

Parrot OS is also compatible with Raspberry Pi Two, Three, and Four. Theses images are available in Core, Home and Security editions and are fully customizable.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

  • Processor: ARM Quad-Core
  • Graphics: N/A
  • Memory: 512 MB of RAM
  • Storage: 8 GB SD Card

Additional Information