The AWS marketplace link in this post has been updated in 2021 to point towards the newer Kali release 2020.4

There are times when I’m either away from home, having a slow day at work, or my machine’s limits are already being pushed by other processes but I still need (CTF’s get addicting!) to run Kali. Alas the perfect solution has been right in front of me all along! For some time now I’ve been using the AWS EC2 free-tier to host an Ubuntu server running TinyProxy to keep my personal traffic separated from untrusted networks. So why not host a Kali image? Luckily Kali Linux is already an available free-tier OS on the AWS Marketplace! It’s simple as SSH or remote desktop in and now I can feed my new addiction, HackTheBox.eu, during my lunch breaks instead of Arby’s.