A Passage to Penetration Testing! EC-Council Cyber Research This paper is from EC-Council s site. Reposting is not permitted without express written permission.
What Is Penetration Testing? A penetration test or pen test is the process of evaluating the security infrastructure within a controlled environment to safely attack, identify, penetrate and exploit vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may exist in network, applications, database, processes, services, operating systems, server, etc. These vulnerabilities may exist due to negligent acts by the end-user or improper configurations. Penetration testing is also valuable while defining the processes, verifying the end-user performance, and validating the effectiveness of defensive mechanisms. Penetration testing goes beyond vulnerability scanning to use multistep and multivector attack scenarios that first find vulnerabilities and then attempt to exploit them to move deeper into the enterprise infrastructure. Since this is how advanced targeted attacks work, penetration testing provides visibility into aggregations of misconfigurations or vulnerabilities that could lead to an attack that could cause serious business impact. - Gartner Who Is a Penetration Tester? A Penetration Tester exploits the security vulnerabilities present in web applications, mobile applications, networks, and systems. In other words, a penetration tester is a legal hacker who is paid to hack and exploit cyber vulnerabilities to help an organization understand the security loopholes to fix them properly. The task is performed using pentesting tools, techniques, and methodologies which are predetermined or specifically designed to stimulate a real-time cyber attack. Importance of a Penetration Testing Credential Being a licensed penetration tester can help bring recognition and value to your resume. The rapid evolution of attack techniques has embarked the need for strategies to keep data secure and the systems without any vulnerabilities. This can be achieved by testing your own system and exploiting the vulnerabilities in the same manner that any black-hat hacker would to find, analyze, and fix loopholes. The execution of a penetration test is a highly technical task and requires ethical conduct, communication skills, good writing abilities, a constant approach, and perseverance. Few become penetration testers through self-study and trial and error methods. Though it is not impossible to selfstudy, without a recognized certification it could be a tough task to prove your capabilities to potential clients. Having attended a qualified training in penetration testing adheres you to the ethical code of conduct, creating meaningful reports, and other required skills that help put employers minds at ease when they are allowing someone to hack their systems. 02
The Best Three-Step Penetration Testing Program Step 1 Certified Network Defender (C ND) https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-network-defender-cnd/ The Certified Network Defender program elaborates on network administration with a focus on protecting, detecting, and responding to the threats on the network. This is the most advanced Certified Network Defense course that include 14 of the latest network security domains that any CND professional would know. C ND is an online, lab-intensive and vendor-neutral program which is based on NICE framework and is also mapped to global job roles and responsibilities as well as Department of Defense (DoD) job roles related to network or system administration. Certified Ethical Hacker (C EH) https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-ethical-hacker-ceh/ The Certified Ethical Hacker gives you exposure to achieving optimal information security in the organization in an entirely different way hacking. The C EH program covers 340 unique attack technologies commonly used by hackers for an ethical purpose. The program encapsulates five different ways to approach your target and break it successfully Reconnaissance, Gaining Access, Enumeration, Maintaining Access and Covering Your Tracks. The other core-strengths of the program are 140 labs that to make you capable of tackling real-time scenarios 2200 hacking tools that are commonly used by the hackers 1685 graphical-rich slides to help you learn complex security concepts C EH is accredited by ANSI, is recognized by DoD 8570 and is a GCHQ Certified Training (GCT). To add to the above, the program is developed 100% in compliance with the NICE 2.0 Framework s Protect and Defend specialty area. Certified Ethical Hacker (C EH) Practical https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-ethical-hacker-ceh-practical/ The Certified Ethical Hacker Practical is the advanced step to C EH. To test their efficiency limits in assessing vulnerabilities across major operating systems, databases and networks. C EH Practical is a six-hour rigorous exam that expect you to demonstrate your abilities of network scanning, OS detection, vector identification, system hacking, mobile app hacking, etc. It is the world s first ethical hacking industry readiness assessment that is hundred-percent verified, online, proctored and live. 03
Step 2 EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA) https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-security-analyst-ecsa/ The ECSA program is a fully hands-on program with labs and exercises to give real-world experiences with seamless learning progress which is beyond the C EH program. The program enhances your ethical hacking skills by using the tools and technologies that were learned in the C EH. The practical approach of the program is achieved effectively through the ilabs Cyber Range which allows you to access a host of preconfigured virtual machines with vulnerabilities, tools, exploits, and scripts. The ECSA program has a globally accepted hacking and penetration testing class which enables testing of modern infrastructures, application environments, and operating systems. At the same time, it improves your document writing and penetration testing report writing skills too. EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA) Practical https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-security-analyst-ecsa-practical/ The EC-Council Certified Security Analyst Practical is a twelve-hour rigorous online, proctored, and live exam that test your penetration testing skills. The ECSA Practical is aimed to test your ability to perform threat and exploit vulnerabilities, customize payloads, write own exploits, and make crucial decisions that can make or break the whole assessment. The candidate has to demonstrate the skills of pentesting methodology application and perform a comprehensive security audit of an organization, similar to real-time consequences. Step 3 Licensed Penetration Tester (Master) https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/licensed-penetration-tester-lpt-master/ Here comes the real thing! LPT (Master) is the ultimate credential for penetration testers. EC-Council gives you a real-world challenging environment to test your pen-testing skills to prove your abilities to become a master penetration tester. Being an LPT (Master) means having been through a threestep level, broken down into three challenges under each, by stimulating a complex network of a multinational organization in real time. The LPT (Master) examination consists of a Fully online, remotely proctored examination 18 hours of examination, categorized into three levels of 6 hours each, to test your perseverance and concentration skills. The program is developed with SMEs and core-practitioners across the world The exam demands that you think on your feet and not depend on traditional methodologies. It even insists that you develop and execute self-methodologies using the available tools and techniques. It constantly pushes you to outperform in the most adverse real-world scenarios. 04
The LPT (Master) program makes you build on the technical skills learned in the C EH program, picks-up the repeated and documentable methodologies practices in ECSA program and applies the entire methodical approach to penetration testing. The practical exam exclusively tests the application of the penetration testing process and lifecycle knowledge that even the reviewers have found it to be extremely challenging. EC-Council VAPT track is a gateway to the unbeatable credential of Penetration Tester which is recognized world-wide. It will expose you to the real-time challenges that will not only test your penetration testing skills but assures you experience not meant for the weak hearted. If you have been looking for a program that can make you a great penetration tester, then here is a chance to begin with VAPT track. 05