We are a school offering courses in cyber security by encouraging students to use the same tools, techniques, and mindset as a hacker, we level the playing field for defenders

Offensive Security

Over the years and regardless of their specialization, I have met only a couple of people that didn’t like offensive security operations. But most people, have no idea how such an engagement happens. N.B: In this article (and the subsequent ones in the series) we are only talking about legal engagements, where you have permission to attack a system (or for fun, in your own local vulnerable VMs). Don’t forget that you can be prosecuted if acted against those common sense guidelines. What Is an Offensive Security Engineer? An offensive security engineer is a professional who is responsible for identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in networks, systems, and applications. They conduct penetration testing and other security assessments to find weaknesses in a company’s defenses and provide recommendations for improvement. Also, offensive security engineers work on “ethical hacking projects”, performing simulated attacks to test the security of a company’s systems and networks. They use their skills and knowledge to mimic the actions of real-world attackers and identify potential entry points that could be exploited by malicious actors. High-level Engagement Steps A team of offensive engineers (usually called red team), use a set of steps like the ones below, to perform their engagement. : Determine the scope of the engagement, including what systems and networks are in scope and what types of attacks will be simulated. Scope : Conduct reconnaissance to gather information about the target systems and networks, such as IP addresses, network topology, and software versions. Reconnaissance can be either passive or active. Gather information By passive we mean, searching public information or semi-private ones like social media. Two known tools in the passive recon realm are the Shodan search engine and theHarvester. By active we mean directly probing a system with tools like Nmap or Amass. : Use tools and techniques to identify vulnerabilities in the target systems and networks. This can include scanning for open ports, testing for weak passwords, and looking for unpatched software. Known tools here are Nessus and OpenVAS. Identify vulnerabilities : Attempt to exploit the identified vulnerabilities to gain access to the target systems and networks. Metasploit anyone? Exploit vulnerabilities : Record all findings, including vulnerabilities that were successfully exploited and those that were not, as well as any recommendations for remediating the issue. You thought you will only break machines and go home? 🙂 Document findings and report Who Decides the Minutiae? A company might have an internal or an external red team. An engagement process is usually proposed by cybersecurity organizations like and might be adapted to the team’s needs. An internal team might be affected more by the decision of senior leadership (e.g., the ) than an external team. MITRE CISO Regardless of whether the red team is internal or external, the engagement process should be well-defined and documented to ensure that all parties understand the scope and objectives of the engagement. How Do You Become a Red Team Member? I think the right question is, how to increase your offensive engineering mindset. Becoming a red team member is a by-product of that. In my humble opinion, even though there is a shortage of people with proper cybersecurity skills, the red team area is a bit congested. To start building your offensive mindset, I would suggest the following process: . Yeah, there is no shortcut to that. A good starting point is Coursera’s on the fundamentals of cybersecurity. Learn about cybersecurity foundations course Confidence with programming. Not a deal breaker, but you will need to write your exploit or automate a process, sooner rather than later. . Same as above, not a deal breaker, it will level up your game faster if you do. Confidence with networking . You need to be able to construct an attack route, given a vulnerability. Most of the time, you will have seen something similar before, but sometimes not. And this is where you truly need that skill. Analytical thinking . No escape here either. You can use platforms like and or build your own lab with vulnerable images like Practice, practice, practice tryhackme hackthebox vulnhub . Attend , read industry , and participate in online communities to stay informed. Stay up-to-date conferences publications Conclusion Becoming an offensive security engineer is a challenging but rewarding career path. It requires a combination of education, work experience, certifications, and ongoing learning to stay up to date with the latest security tools and techniques. With the right skills, knowledge, and experience, offensive security engineers play a critical role in protecting organizations from cyber and helping them stay one step of attackers. threats ahead

How to Join the Offensive Security Highs (Part 1 of the Journey)

With the rise in popularity of security-oriented Linux distros like Parrot OS and Kali Linux, complete with their bundles of offensive security tools and no shortage of guides on YouTube and HackForums on how to use them, it seems like anyone can be a “hacker” nowadays. It doesn’t take any skill, or even knowledge, to fire up a tool like Wifite or Fern to try breaking into a poorly secured wifi network, but if you’re dependent upon a handful of tools written by people more knowledgeable than yourself, you won’t be successful on real-life red-team engagements with an actual IDS instead of a router left on default settings by a clueless, underpaid employee. Hacking is an art, the practice of delving deeper, striving to understand things until you know them better than everyone else. The best aren’t reliant on tutorials and pre-built tools; the best tool is one you made yourself. These two principles lead me to build Surgeon, the Binary Pwning Tool (formerly CaveMan; download link at the end). It forced me to understand binary executables to the point that I could decode them and perform the calculations in the registers by hand, if need be, while allowing me to have full control over how to edit an executable file. If you’ve ever wondered how to back-door an executable, either in theory or are ready to get your hands dirty and spend god knows how much time debugging and making sure you’re undetectable, then this is for you. This article is not entry-level material and requires an existing understanding of Assembly and Machine Code. The ELF (Executable and Linkable File) Format ELF is a standard for executable binaries, libraries, and core dumps, and is one of the most common file formats utilized by Linux systems. This guide will focus on ELF files, although Surgeon can also work with PE (Portable Executable) files. Every ELF file begins with what’s called the ELF header, whose first four bytes are always 0x7f 0x45 0x4c 0x46. This is the Magic Number, 0x7f followed by the ASCII values for the letters ELF. This magic number tells machines that can use ELF files that this an ELF file. The ELF header is either 50 or 62 bytes, depending on whether it’s a 32-bit or 64-bit program; the first 24 bytes always indicate the same information, including the architecture. The byte following the magic number signifies the architecture, the byte following that indicates endianness, etc. is The ELF header contains all of the relevant information required to read and execute the file, including the layout of the executable. . The ELF header points to the offsets of the program header table and the section header table, tells us the size of the headers, number of entries in them, and most importantly, the . Since everything, both data and instructions, is made of bytes, we can’t just begin executing bytes at the start of the file; the entry point points to the part of the program where actual, executable instructions are held, and instruction execution should begin. You can find a fantastic, in depth guide by Medium contributor James Fisher on all of the details here entry point Apart from the ELF Header, the other part of interest to us in this guide is the . This table is basically the table of contents of an ELF file, pointing to the various sections, their lengths, their flags, etc. This tells us where to find the .data, .bss, .comment, and .text sections, as well as the PLT (Procedure Linkage Table) and GOT (Global Offset Table), and others. section header table The default behavior of Surgeon, when run without arguments or only with the -f <file> argument, is to parse the ELF Header and Section Header Table for us, and return the relevant information. (It also crawls for code caves in a predefined manner, that will be discussed below). If we take a look above, we can see the parsed header and part of the section header table. Only the sections with an “X” marked under the flags are executable; attempting to execute code in a section marked non-executable will cause the program to SIGSEGV, and may trigger an IDS. We can also see the entry point is at 0x00000440, which corresponds to the offset of the start of the .text section, as we would expect because that holds the compiled instructions. Code Caves and Back Doors With the above information, we can begin to work on pwning a binary. In order to be sure that whatever our payload is will be executed, we need to do 2 things: Find somewhere to store the code we wish to execute.Overwrite the Entry Point to point to our additions. A common and easy, but sloppy method would be to add our own section, mark it executable, add an entry to the Section Header Table, and point the entry to there. This, however, presents a problem: we increase the file size of the executable. (Of course, if one wants to leave the entry point intact, pointing to the proper place, you can overwrite the first instructions with a JMP to your payload, execute it, then run the overwritten instructions before jumping back to the original execution flow.) Let’s say, for example, throughout the course of an engagement, you decide to drop a modified version of a binary onto a target machine, that you intend to have executed. You can use social engineering, or backdoor a program that’s so commonly used, it’s almost impossible that the victim won’t wind up running it. Malware scanners can analyze the binary, and find that there are too many bytes inside of it for what is expected. It can analyze further, see there’s an extra section marked executable that isn’t expected, and flag it for quarantine. Stealth is the name of the game here, there is a better way, and it’s called the code cave. Code caves are essentially a long, continuous string of Null Bytes. Sometimes compilers add code caves for alignment reasons between functions, or they can be used to allocate memory for run-time generated or self-modifying code. Whatever the reason, we can use them to store our code without overwriting existing code, or making the file size larger. Ideally, one should find a section already marked executable with space for our code. Should we be unable to find one, we can use Surgeon to modify the flags set in the Section Header Table to allow execution of our code in the section we put it in. In order to insert our code, we need to code to insert. The easiest, fastest way is to usually write and compile the code you want, so you can pick out the compiled machine code and insert that where you want it. After executing your code, you have a few options: have You can let the program continue, and most likely crash or segfault. This can trip anti-malware software and tip off the user and possibly an admin to your actions. Make a clean exit, and make the syscall to exit(). While a little better, this is only marginally so, because then our pwned program still won’t behave as it’s supposed to and run its own native code. This will also tip off the user to something being wrong. Make a jump in the execution flow back to the original entry point, and run as normal. This is ideal behavior that can leave our presence undetectable if done right. Any instructions you provide will most likely affect various registers and states of the processor. In order to do it all correctly, you should take a look at how the registers look when the program begins execution at the entry point. Any registers that have changed by code will need to be reset to their original values when you are ready to jump back to the original entry point, to ensure proper function. your Editing anything in a compiled program is dangerous, and the smallest of changes can have cascading effects that drastically change how the program behaves. It’s easy to shoot yourself in the foot here. Ready? Let’s try it out. A Simple Example For the following example, I’ve decided to use a simple program I wrote that can act as a CrackMe and as a simple Proof-of-Concept to demonstrate how to trigger a Buffer Overflow and hijack execution flow. Seeing as it’s a compiled ELF executable file, it’ll also work perfectly to demonstrate the proof-of-concept outlined above. Our mission is simple: find a suitable place to insert some code, change the entry point of the program to that spot, and insert some machine code that we can execute. The machine code we will insert will only do one thing: jump to the instructions at the original entry point, so the program can continue as normal. The code is below if you’d like to follow: #include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h> benderdontcare(char* input){
 char name[ ];
 strcpy(name, input);
 printf(“%s? Yeah, I don’t care, meatbag.\n”, name);
}
int main(int argc, char** argv){ (argc != ){
 printf(“That’s now how you interact me, Bender. You need to say something! And you put spaces it, put the whole thing quotes! What am I, an AI language parser? (I’m only percent language parser!)\n”);} {
 int bender = ;
 printf(“I’m Bender, the Magnificent body-stealing robot!\n”); (bender== ){
 printf(“But Inspector said I was perfect!\n”);
 }
 benderdontcare(argv[ ]); 
 printf(“Anything less than immortality is a complete waste time.\n”); ;}
} void 181 if 2 with if in in 40 else 1 if 2 7 1 of return 0 The default actions of Surgeon search for any code caves in all sections (the -A argument) of null bytes (0x00) of at least 64 bytes in length, in all sections rather than only executable ones. A snippet of the default output was shown above, but Surgeon was unable to find any suitable code caves. Since we’ll only need a few bytes, we can specify a lower number of consecutive nulls to find a good cave. To narrow the workable results down, we’ll search for only the executable sections, and need only 8 bytes to find a cave. Lo and behold, one reveals itself, in the Procedural Linkage Table: Okay, we have a place to put our instructions! Since we are only going to perform a JMP, we can simply look up the syntax . We’re lucky because the offset of the code cave is at 0x3e9 and the original entry point is at 0x440, meaning they’re only 0x57 (decimal 87) bytes away from our target! This puts us in range to perform a short jump, requiring the smallest number of bytes for our opcodes, 2 bytes. here According to the above guide on x86 instructions, the opcode for a short jump is 0xEB, followed by the signed byte value (-128/+127) for the position of the jump to make. As a rule, whenever I insert my own code in a code cave, I make sure to leave the first byte as a null byte. Null bytes are often used as terminators, especially when you must use a section that was previously data, not instructions, and not executable. While not always necessary, best practices should be applied consistently. As a result, we will start inserting our code at 0x3ea, instead of 0x3e9. The first byte is 0xEB, telling the processor to perform a short jump. The byte after is located at offset 0x3eb. The next byte would ordinarily be located at offset 0x3ec, which is 0x54 (decimal 84) bytes from our target, the original entry point, 0x440. So, we need to jump 84 bytes forward. The opcodes we need to insert are then 0xeb 0x54, at the offset 0x3ea, like so: Did it work? We can still run the executable with no discernible difference in performance from where we see it, so let’s fire up GDB and step through the instructions! Using the “info file” command, we can see the entry point is located at 0x3ea. However, when the file is actually run, it’ll be loaded at a different spot. Telling GDB to place a breakpoint at 0x3ea will result in it not setting a breakpoint at the start of execution. To determine where we need to set our breakpoint, we need to use the “starti” command. GDB usefully has to let us step into the first instruction, before even _start or main, and stop at a breakpoint. Mine stops at “0xf7fd6c70 in ?? () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2". Using the “info file” command here shows us our true entry point that can have a breakpoint set at it: “Entry point: 0x565553ea.” starti So, we will set a breakpoint at 0x565553ea, and run the program. This will halt execution right at our injected shellcode, allowing us to monitor opcodes as we step through it. The command “disas/r 0x565553ea, 0x565553ec” will force GDB to return to us the opcodes and Assembly code we’re looking for, instead of grumbling about having no function at the specified address . GDB reflects the exact changes we’re looking for: a JMP instruction to 0x56555440, <_start>, our original entry point. Here, we can see that we’ve successfully added our own shellcode to a completed, compiled binary, inside of an available code cave. This shellcode executes exactly as expected, before returning control to the original entry point, allowing our program to work as originally intended while not tipping off an end user to the presence of our code. We did not have to modify the binary by adding our code in a way that changed the file size, nor did we have to modify existing sections that were not marked as executable. This is a perfect Proof of Concept for our pwned file. Surgeon is a work in progress with support for PE Windows files being added. . You and you alone are responsible for what you do with it. In no way should this article be interpreted as an endorsement for any illegal activity; this is meant to empower Red Team members who may not have had knowledge on how to do this, and Blue Team members who need to understand how this works to defend against it. With that said, happy hacking! You can download it for free on github here

Pwning Binaries with Surgeon: A Primer for Offensive Security Professionals

Ethical hacking is a fascinating and important field in cybersecurity, where skilled professionals use their hacking skills to identify and fix security vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and applications. Here's a detailed guide to get you started on the path of ethical hacking: Introduction to Ethical Hacking Definition and Purpose: Ethical hacking involves legally breaking into computers and devices to test an organization's defenses. It's also known as penetration testing or white-hat hacking. Key Differences from Malicious Hacking: Unlike black-hat hackers, ethical hackers have permission to breach systems and do so to improve security, not to harm or steal. Getting Started with Ethical Hacking Basic Requirements: Fundamental understanding of networking, systems, and web technologies. Proficiency in programming languages like Python, JavaScript, and SQL. Familiarity with operating systems, especially Linux. Always have written permission before testing a network or system. Legal Considerations: Learning Resources Look for reputable books and online courses covering ethical hacking basics, tools, and techniques. Books and Online Courses: Consider obtaining certifications like Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) or Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP). Certifications: Common Tools and Techniques Tools like Nmap and Shodan help in gathering information about the target system. Reconnaissance Tools: Tools like Nessus and OpenVAS scan for known vulnerabilities. Vulnerability Analysis: Metasploit is widely used for developing and executing exploit code against a remote target machine. Exploitation Tools: Tools like Burp Suite and OWASP ZAP are essential for testing web applications. Web Application Hacking: Setting Up a Lab Use virtual machines (VMs) to create a safe environment for hacking practice. Virtual Environment: Use deliberately vulnerable applications and systems like OWASP WebGoat or Metasploitable for practice. Practice Targets: Ethical Hacking Methodology Define the scope and goals of a test, including the systems to be addressed and the testing methods to be used. Planning: Gather information to understand how the target works and its potential vulnerabilities. Reconnaissance: Use tools to identify live hosts, open ports, and services running on machines. Scanning: Gaining Access: Exploit vulnerabilities to enter the system or network. Ensure a stable connection to gather as much data as needed for the assessment. Maintaining Access: Analyze the data gathered and report the findings with recommendations for security improvements. Analysis and Reporting: Ethical Considerations Avoid accessing or disclosing personal or sensitive information unless absolutely necessary for the test. Respect Privacy: Clearly communicate findings and suggest remediations to the organization. Transparency and Reporting: Staying Updated The field of cybersecurity is always evolving, so it's crucial to stay updated with the latest developments, vulnerabilities, and tools. Continuous Learning: Conclusion Ethical hacking is a critical component of cybersecurity. By understanding and implementing these practices, you can significantly contribute to the security and integrity of information systems.

A Glimpse into an Ethical Hacker's High-Tech Workspace

এথিক্যাল হ্যাকারের হাই-টেক ওয়ার্কস্পেসের একটি ঝলক

Ein Einblick in den High-Tech-Arbeitsbereich eines ethischen Hackers

Un vistazo al espacio de trabajo de alta tecnología de un hacker ético

Un aperçu de l'espace de travail high-tech d'un hacker éthique

एथिकल हैकर के हाई-टेक कार्यक्षेत्र की एक झलक

エシカルハッカーのハイテクワークスペースを垣間見る

윤리적인 해커의 하이테크 작업 공간 엿보기

Um vislumbre do espaço de trabalho de alta tecnologia de um hacker ético

Взгляд на высокотехнологичное рабочее пространство этичного хакера

Etik Bir Hackerın Yüksek Teknolojili Çalışma Alanına Kısa Bir Bakış

Cái nhìn thoáng qua về không gian làm việc công nghệ cao của hacker có đạo đức

道德黑客的高科技工作空间一瞥

I recently completed the from Sektor7 Institute. Here is my honest opinion about this course, and I will try to provide resources that are at least equal in quality to the mentioned course. RED TEAM Operator: Malware Development Essentials Course I have a problem with the course format, the scripts, and the price. I hope this review will prompt a change in the authors' approach. I don't have a problem with the overall content of the material provided. Positives Don't get me wrong, the course will teach you what they say it will teach you, and it's really good for beginners. The course is a great intro to the Windows API. Even if you never want to create , the material is mostly very high quality, and  I only criticize minor parts. If your employer offers you this course, definitely take it. malware Criticism first, the course contains 4 hours of material in videos. Some parts of these videos only repeat previously mentioned things and do not contain any informational value. For example, the narrator shows the disassembled code several times and spends much time looking for different parts in the assembler. This reflects an actual debugging process, but it is unsuitable for video. If text and screenshots were provided, the material would be much shorter and equally educational. Many things are duplicated, and I don't think the viewer must see run 15 times throughout the course. x64dbg compile.bat The course would benefit if it were in text form or supplemented by short videos explaining the complex parts. Secondly, the code is OK, but the compilation scripts are not broken down to the necessary details and work more automagically. You won't know what they do if you want to do something more custom. On the other hand, the code is broken down to the smallest detail, sometimes to the detriment. I know it is an essential course, but there is no need to explain the elementary operations . The viewer should be able to program; things like functions do not need to be explained. C++ main getchar() I would emphasize learning to search for information in the Windows API documentation and explaining what rights a given user must have to run them. I know this is a personal preference, but why are demos shown inside I prefer to show you how to set the maldev coding environment on Windows properly. Resources on how to get all needed components like compiler, make, required libraries, and how to generate shellcode. note++ And lastly, the price. This is a criticism not only of these materials but also of the certification business in general. The course costs $199, an industry-wide reasonable price for the material. I can see the value if you don't want to put effort into finding your materials and want to get them on a platter, but then I would debate whether you are even capable of learning how to create malware with that mindset. If you are a third-world country citizen, student, or someone who tries to learn it just because of passion for a subject, I don’t think this is a good investment. Providing an alternative To support my arguments, I put together several sources based on the course's table of contents, trying to show that finding the same quality sources is not difficult and all the information contained in the course is freely available. TOC of the Maldev course Portable Executable Droppers Obfuscation and Hiding Backdoors and Trojans Code Injection My alternative resources: - Although this page is designed for learning how to develop cheats for games, it does a great job of explaining how code injection, DLL injection, code caves, and other concepts work. https://gamehacking.academy - This Repo provides simple shellcode dropper exercises and also examples, and it is not limited to `C++` only, You can choose Go, Rust or Csharp. EDR and AV evasion exercises are also provided. https://github.com/chvancooten/maldev-for-dummies/tree/main/Exercises/Exercise%201%20-%20Basic%20Shellcode%20Loader and - This brilliant YouTuber covers a lot of MalDev subjects, and his repo has the following topics covered:   Shellcode Injection, NTDLL, Indirect Syscalls, Direct Syscalls and DLL Injection. https://github.com/cr-0w/maldev https://www.youtube.com/@crr0ww - Another great resource on Trojan malware development, aka embedding a shellcode inside the legitimate binary. https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/code-injection-process-injection/backdooring-portable-executables-pe-with-shellcode These resources are free and cover all sections of the course mentioned above. I hope I have provided only constructive criticism, and nobody will get offended, thank you for reading, and feel free to leave feedback.

Sektor7 - Malware Development Essentials Course Criticism: Proving an Alternative.

Let's learn about via these 61 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Ethical Hacking /Learn Repo 1. How to Hack Someone's Phone Remotely There are many Hackers in this world who may be currently watching your activities daily and will try to snatch your personal information from you. 2. How to Crack a Password Using Hashcat In this article, I discuss the best ways to crack passwords. 3. Everything You Need to Know About a White Hat Hacker White hat hackers find and exploit vulnerabilities within a company's network or system with the intention to provide remediation steps to mitigate these risks. 4. What is URL Masking and How Does It Work? Be careful of the latest engineering technique called "URL Masking", it's quite dangerous. 5. Why Do Ethical Hackers Use Python? In recent years, Python has allowed ethical hackers to create scripts and automate structured processes. Ethical hacking using Python is helping to identify vulnerabilities and potential threats to computer networks. 6. Top Resources to Learn Ethical Hacking In this article, I will list the best resources all over the internet which will help you to be a hacker yourself. 7. Becoming a Bounty Hunter - Carving Success One Bug at a Time Bug bounty programs have been around for over two decades now, but it's only a couple of years since organizations started adopting this on a large scale. The concept of crowd sourcing talent and test security to assess the flaws kicked off well. 8. How to Hack Wifi Like a Pro Hacker In this article of mine, I am going to discuss the best ways you can hack any wifi networks and what to do after hacking wifi, and how you can prevent it. 9. How to Get a Reverse Shell on macOS Using A Flipper Zero as a BadUSB Using a Flipper Zero as an ethical pentesting device to establish a reverse shell on a macOS computer. 10. 3 Flipper Zero Hacks to Wow Your Friends (and How They Work) It is theoretically possible to use these Flipper Zero hacks for nefarious purposes, including the tricks in this article. But you know…don’t do that. 11. What Personality Traits Lead to White Hat, Gray Hat and Black Hat Hackers? [STUDY] Inside the mind of a hacker 12. The Importance Of Bug Bounty Programs A bug bounty program is one of the elements ensuring projects protection against cyberattacks that does not fully substitute other forms of security testing bug 13. Three New Dimensions to Ransomware Attacks Emerge During Pandemic Three significant new trends in cyber-attacks have emerged from the Covid-19 emergency. Firstly, a new generation of attack software which has been developing since last summer has come of age and   been deployed. Secondly, the business model for extracting payment from victims has changed so that there are multiple demands for payments of different kinds, including auctioning off data. Thirdly, the kinds of clients that the gangs are targeting seems to have shifted. 14. Expert Hacking Techniques For Hackers in 2021 Today I will tell you about various types of hacking techniques, and out of these, I will focus more on password hacking. There is no fixed classification of hacking, but I will tell you all the techniques that I remember. It is not possible to tell completely about all Hacking Techniques, so I will give you all the basic knowledge. 15. How Much Does the CEH Exam Cost? EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is one of the most established and recognized offensive security certifications. The certification is ANSI-accredited and DoDD 8140-approved because of which the certification in highly valued by security professionals from both the public and private sectors. Since CEH is the gold standard for validating offensive security skills, the CEH certification cost is around $1,199 and the cost to retake the exam is $450.  This article will cover the various processes you have to go through to earn this certification as well as the associated costs. 16. The Security Vulnerabilities of Smart Devices In 2020, we are now more connected to the internet than ever before, from having smart fridges, smart cars, and even RFID implants that can be placed under our skin. 17. What Is Penetration Testing and How It’s Done Penetration testing (also known as pentesting) is a form of ethical hacking. It involves breaking into a computer system, network, or web application to find security vulnerabilities that could be exposed by hackers. 18. Become a Skilled Cybersecurity Professional with Udacity’s School of Cybersecurity Training for cyber security can help you gain the practical skills necessary to become a cyber security professional. Learn cyber security today with Udacity. 19. Pentests and Log4J: How to Exploit a Vulnerable System In this article, we pentest a vulnerable system. 20. Top Bug Bounty Programmes You Can Participate in Today A curated list of bug bounty programs for bug bounty hunters to help them get first bug bounty on vulnerability report. 21. A Deep Dive Into the Concept of Ethical Hacking A deep dive into the topic of ethical hacking and its place in the cybersecurity ecosystem. 22. Installing KALI LINUX on a Virtual Machine [A Step by Step Guide] There are a number of ways that you can use to run a different operational systems in the same hardware that you currently have. DVDs, USBs and hard disks are some of the options that you could go for. In this tutorial we are going to assume that you do not have a dedicated computer to run Kali Linux (or any other linux distribution), and therefore we will run it from a virtualised environment, which is the equivalent of a "Virtual PC". 23. What Is Security Analytics In Cybersecurity? Cybersecurity is a must to secure your critical assets. Get yourself, your data, and your business secure from cyber attackers. 24. Understanding the background of the Hospital Bed Rental Industry Healthcare organizations that follow HIPAA guidelines must be explicitly aware of security threats. Ethical hacking needs a more critical role in the framework. 25. Learning to Build a Car Using Chrome's Inspect Feature When my papa bought a new car, I got too excited. We went for a long drive and visited some religious places. Visiting temples and getting our new vehicle worshipped and blessed is a ritual in every Indian home. We were feeling in need of some snacks and on hard request, the car took a halt at a nearby restaurant. There lived Sharma uncle a long-lasting friend of papa, a garage owner. He joined us and blessed us for our bright academic records, a very Indian ritual on meeting elderly personalities! 26. A Guide To Web Security Testing: Part 2 - Analyze the Web Application This is the second part of the series, here we are going to discuss about analyzing the web application. In the previous article we had discussed about mapping 27. Getting started with Manual Content Discovery Understanding Robots.txt, Favicon, Sitemap.xml, HTML Headers and the Framework stack 28. Reconstruction Attacks: Examples of Invasion of Your Privacy Without Consent 29. The Importance and Benefits of a Hackathon in 2022 This story will explore the importance and benefits of a hackathon in 2022 30. A Closer Look At Brute Hacking Framework With A Source Code Example hacking framework complete source-code for web, wifi, url, sql-injection and doing a complete web scan for starters. 31. Installing Virtual Box ON Mac OS Let's say that just like myself you are in a situation where all you have is a Mac Book Pro, and you have no idea when you will be getting access to a windows system. You want to run Virtual Box, but it turns out that you come across a few issues before you get up and running. In this article we are gonna cover the main issues that arise when installing Virtual Box  on a Mac OS. 32. Man In The Middle Attack Using Bettercap Framework Man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) is an attack where the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communications between two devices who believe that they are directly communicating with each other. In order to perform man in the middle attack, we need to be in the same network as our victim because we have to fool these two devices. Now lets initiate the attack by running our tools which is bettercap. To run bettercap we can simply open up terminal and type bettercap -iface [your network interface which connected to the network]. To know which network interface is used we can simply type ifconfig and here is what it shows us. 33. 5 Top Programming Languages Every Ethical Hacker Needs To Learn The 21st century is a century of digital citizens as technology has become the most important aspect of our lives. Having the knowledge of programming has become more of a necessity than an option and similar to the growing craze of coding, Ethical hacking has also become extremely popular these days. Everyone wants to become a hacker today especially the youth, but the truth is that hacking and becoming a hacker is not as easy as it is shown in numerous sci-fi movies, in-fact it takes years of practice and programming to become an Ethical hacking expert. There are several Programming languages used for Ethical hacking/ Whitehat hacking that are used extensively. 34. Red Team vs. Blue Team in Cybersecurity: A Quick Crash Course Red and Blue teams are simulated real-world attacks used in organizations to test a company's current security rules. Each team aids in improving the security. 35. Introducing Metasploit The Metasploit Project is a computer security project written in ruby that provides information about security vulnerabilities and aids in penetration testing and IDS signature development. It is owned by Boston, Massachusetts-based security company Rapid7. 36. How to Hack a Windows Machine Like a Pro Hacker In this article, we are going to discuss how we can hack into a windows 10 operating system using some really cool tricks and some highly advanced hardware. 37. A Guide To Web Security Testing: Part 1 - Mapping Contents Beginners guide to web security testing for penetration testers and bug bounty hunters. 38. How to Hack Ethically Ethical hacking's main goal is to find a system's flaws or vulnerabilities and secure it against hackers. 39. Programming a Keylogger in Python A keylogger is a tool designed to record every keystroke on a system for later retrieval. Its purpose is to allow the user to gain access to confidential info. 40. Roadmap and Resources to Become an Ethical Hacker How to become an ethical hacker 41. Ethical Hacking 101: The Basics Introduction to Ethical Hacking 42. A Beginner's Introduction To Ethical Hacking Introduction to ethical hacking, Types of hackers, Skills required for an ethical hacker, ethical hacking tools. 43. What is an SQL Injection Attack? How To Prevent SQL Injection Vulnerabilities The best way to prevent SQL injection vulnerabilities is to use a framework that allows you to construct and parameterize queries safely. An ORM works well. 44. I Hacked My Coffee Shop and Accessed My Data: Hacking Your Application May Be Easier Than You Think I noticed a suspicious behavior on the weekly email from my coffee shop's subscription; it was offering I edit my preferences directly through a dedicated link. 45. Inside a Hacker's Backpack: Gadgets, Tips, and Tricks for Hackers Not ever hack job requires just a laptop and some software to gain privileges into a system. Sometimes, something extra is required to make the job very easy 46. 5 CSRF Vulnerabilities Known For Highest Bounty Rewards If you don’t know, a bug bounty program is a modern strategy to encourage the public to find and report bugs or vulnerabilities in software — especially the security bugs that may be misused by cybercriminals. Most of the big technology companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft employ bug bounties. 47. Ode to 2600 Magazine When I was a kid hacking around BBS's and telenet in the late 1980's, 2600 was the ultimate source, goal, and aspirational destination for anyone that wanted to be heard that was doing something different with computers. 48. Ethical Hacking and Its Relevance To Cybersecurity Ethical hacking, also known as penetration testing or pen testing, is getting legal authorization and access to breaking into computers, applications, etc. 49. Why You Should Consider Becoming an Ethical Hacker in 2021 Ethical hackers are skilled people who are given access to the network, by relevant authorities, and then they report the loopholes in the system. If the ethical hackers realize that there is something that is wrong in the network, they report the happening to the relevant authorities and the necessary action is taken. This is a job that requires people with relevant networking skills such as Social engineering, Linux and cryptography among others. 50. Using Hashcat Tool for Microsoft Active Directory Password Analysis and Cracking Let's conduct a penetration testing on a file with a detailed study analysis of system passwords as part of an ethical hacking engagement. 51. 4 Reasons To Learn Ethical Hacking In the digital world, cybersecurity and ethical hacking are arising as promising career options for IT professionals. 52. Who Will Win the War Between White Hat Hackers and Black Hat Hackers? White Hat Hackers and Black Hat Hackers have always been at odds with one another, but now the war has gotten even more heated. 53. How NOT to Secure Web Payment Systems How to get a Covid test for free | Bugs in covid payment systems are everywhere. This is the story of how I found one of them 54. Ethical Hacking 101: Part 2 Ethical Hacking 101: Part 2 55. An Introductory Guide to Hacking NETBIOS When a hacker spots a system with open ports supporting NetBios, the hopes go high! Let's start by understanding the the nitty-gritty of NETBIOS. 56. How to Create Your Own Dark Website (.onion) on Linux As we know dark websites use .onion for their domain extension. 57. All the Methods You Can Use to Hack into a Website In this article, we are looking into various basic methods of hacking into a user's web account and the website's database itself by using some basic methods. 58. How Do I know if My Phone has been Hacked? Our smartphones are our lives. We do everything on them and
spend a lot of time. All major mobile phone manufacturers and application
developers had to start introducing digital health features to curb our
addiction. 59. How to Map Your Home Networks Using NMAP Here's to learning basics of networking and an awesome tool called NMAP 60. What Happens to Hackathon Code? Most hackathons are commercial endeavors. Organizers pretend it's for fun and honor, but that's not the real reason. To a certain extent that's fine, it's a break from everyday routine, having some fun, show off your skills as a developer. 61. Imagine Yourself Being A Hacker [Beginner's Guide] Make no mistake, the knowledge of hacking is different from a hacker. A hacker is a person, not the skill. And the use of any knowledge is a personal choice and that choice isn’t universal. The same way some politicians are corrupt, some hackers are corrupt. The same way some politicians are good, some hackers are good also. You may be a Satoshi Nakamoto or an Albert Gonzalez, it is your choice. There is nothing wrong with the hacker knowledge. It is all about you. What You’ll Learn Thank you for checking out the 61 most read stories about Ethical Hacking on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

61 Stories To Learn About Ethical Hacking

351 Stories To Learn About Data Security

Let's learn about via these 58 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Cybersecurity Writing Contest /Learn Repo 1. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest 2022: Round 2 Results Announced! Hackers, the Round 2 Results for the Cybersecurity Writing Contest by Twingate and HackerNoon are here! 2. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: A Poem There's still some cases of malware
always-alarmed-and-on, always
large-in-scale in sight and run via
spray pray on-site. 3. Ransomware: Early Signs, Protection, and Staying Ahead In this article, you will learn about the signs of ransomware and how you can identify them. 4. Why I'm Fascinated by Cybersecurity: Interview with Jaspreet Kaur A women-in-tech interview with Jaspreet Kaur; a researcher, faculty, blogger, and consultant in the field of cyber security. 5. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest 2022: Round 3 Results Announced! Hackers, Assemble! Here we are with the third round’s results announcement of the Cybersecurity Writing Contest by Twingate & HackerNoon! 6. Myths and Misconceptions About Private Browsing Many people who use private browsing incorrectly believe they're protected. Private Browsing doesn't make you anonymous. 7. 'Outlaw Hacking Group' Resurfaces A digital forensics by CYE's Critical Cyber Operations group found that the the "Outlaw Hacking Group" may be back. 8. Biting Back Against Phishers How one company learned to deal with Phishing attempts that tried to compromise their cybersecurity system and how they learned to fight back against them. 9. What will IBM's Acquisition of Randori Mean for Cybersecurity? IBM announced plans to acquire a leading attack surface management provider and offensive security company Randori. 10. What I Learned from Teaching a Cybersecurity Class After Passing CompTIA Security+ This is a reflection of what I learned from teaching a cybersecurity class for beginners after I had passed CompTIA Security+ 11. Quick Guide to the Open Source Security Summit The Open Source Security Foundation met for Linux Foundation’s North American Summit, here are highlights to help every developer keep Open Source secure. 12. Top 7 Access Control System Manufacturers Here is a list of the top 7 access control system providers that offer feature-rich security systems for your business/organization. 13. Harmony's Horizon Bridge Attack: How $100M was Siphoned Off By a Hacker The attack was successful because two validators' private keys were suspected to be compromised. 14. Cyber Deterrence is More Important than Nuclear Deterrence Sleep Tight - It Ain’t Gonna Be A Nuclear Fight! 15. Why Bitcoin is Not an "Ideal" Ransomware Currency Bitcoin ain't a ticket to “cyber gangsta’s paradise.” 16. Protect Your Digital Identity— Level One (Mobile) In part one of this guide to protect your digital ID, I will talk about the basics — measures that anyone can use to reduce risks to their devices. 17. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest: Final Round Results Announced! Hackers, Assemble! The final round’s results announcement of the Cybersecurity Writing Contest by Twingate & HackerNoon are now Live! 18. Fetch.ai Releases DabbaFlow: Encrypted File Sharing Platform for Secure Data Transfers DabbaFlow, an end-to-end encrypted file-sharing platform developed by Fetch.ai, a Cambridge-based artificial intelligence lab, was launched recently. 19. Crypto Wallets Exposed "Mnemonic Phrase Vulnerabilities" (4 Already Fixed) MetaMask and Phantom said today that they had patched a security flaw that could, in some cases, allow attackers to obtain mnemonic phrases. 20. The Black Market for Data is on the Rise Once the laughingstock of the Internet, hackers are now some of the most wanted criminals in the world. 21. The Essential Guide to Security and Compliance for the Public Cloud Using an Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider makes it easier to achieve and maintain compliance, but here are some caveats to consider. 22. Is Open Source Software A Practical Alternative? Privacy and cybersecurity have been ongoing concerns in recent years. Open-source software can be a solution to these concerns, is it really the case? 23. Tor: Love and Cybersecurity Thunder Tor and The Guardian (of the Journalistic Galaxy) also took their relationship to the next level. 24. Cybersecurity Threats in Crypto Exchanges Everyone Should Know Cybercriminals have turned to utilizing a variety of tools and strategies aimed to target cryptocurrency exchange customers, steal their money, or steal. 25. How Can I Tell if My Steam Account Has Been Hacked? (and How to Recover It) his time, I would like to focus on Steam account security, which has recently gotten some attention in the community after waves of phishing attacks. 26. How to Avoid Credit Card Skimming: 5 Tips to Keep Your Information Safe Credit card skimming occurs when someone places an electronic device on or near a credit card reader. This device captures and stores your credit card details. 27. The Biggest Cyber Security Threat of 2022 is Social Engineering The biggest threat to cybersecurity in 2022 is social engineering. This type of cybercrime involves manipulating people into giving up sensitive information 28. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest 2022: Round 1 Results Announced! Hackers, Assemble! Here we are with the results announcement of the Cybersecurity Writing Contest! 29. How to Keep Your Mobile Devices Secure Our phones are our lifelines. They hold our prized possessions such as photos, music, and texts from our loved ones. So, why wouldn’t we do everything we can to 30. A Comprehensive Guide to Security Certification for SaaS In this article, we will explore what security certification for SaaS is, its importance, and how to get the best out of it by minimizing the risks. 31. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest by Twingate and HackerNoon Yasssss The Cybersecurity Writing Contest is here! HackerNoon is excited to host the contest in collaboration with Twingate! 32. Fighting the Hydra of DDoS Attacks (Spoiler: They Got Worse) Interview with Link11 regarding their new DDoS report -- the state of DDoS attacks. 33. The Best Cybersecurity Practices for Data Centres Read on to learn about the specifications of data center security and the risks that threaten it. Discover the cybersecurity best practices that you need. 34. How To Protect Copyrighted Digital Content In The Age Of Cyber-Fraud? Today it is a hot topic how to protect copyrighted digital content. The most popular ways are DRM, HDCP, and Denuvo. I`ll shortly discuss them with their cons. 35. ANSI X12 EDI Basics: A Guide to the ANSI X12 Standards ANSI X12 EDI is one of the most important concepts that you must be aware of prior to implementing EDI in your organization. 36. Mobile Banking: 5 Rules of Safety You Should Know How safe it is to use mobile applications and web versions of banks to make payments? 37. How “Predictive Text” Functionality can Reproduce Mnemonic Crypto Wallet Phrases Redditor Andre, an information security practitioner, accidentally discovered that the smartphone's "predictive words" function guessed the mnemonic of his bitc 38. Reverse Social Engineering: A Call to Quit Sharing More Than Necessary Social engineering is the use of a person's sensitive information to launch a targeted cyber-attack on them. Reverse social engineering mitigates the rate... 39. An Intro to Zero Trust Architecture Zero Trust isn’t a new concept. It was first presented in 2009 by John Kindervag, a former principal analyst at Forrester Research. 40. How Blockchain has Improved Detection of Malware Blockchain has not only become the fundamental technology for cryptocurrencies; it has also become a reliable means of detecting malware quickly and accurately. 41. Security Infrastructure and the Multi-Cloud Achieving high-availability cloud architecture requires more than one cloud. From an architecture perspective, there are only three options for mission critical 42. The 5 Things Businesses Need to Know to Stop Online Fraud! The 5 Things Businesses Need to Know to Stop Online Fraud! 43. AI and Data: Balancing Progress, Privacy, and Security With ChatGPT dominating the tech and other news, the concernabout data security might have momentarily taken a back seat. Yet, the expansion of AI/ML technologies' potential impact on Data privacy and security should sound the alarm for organizations and individuals alike. 44. Software Development Tricks Coding for Beginners and More This week on HackerNoon's Stories of the Week, we looked at three articles that covered the world of software development from employment to security. 45. How to Protect your ERP System Against Cyber Attacks How to protect your ERP system against cyber attacks? 46. Blind Attacks: Understanding CSRF (Cross Site Request Forgery) This article contains complete (and step-by-step) information about CSRF attacks. 47. 0-Days are on the Rise and that Means a Lot More Work for SOC Teams In a recent report by the incident response giant Mandiant, which was purchased by Google in March, their researchers found that 2021 was a record year. 48. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest 2022: Round 5 Results Announced! Hackers, Assemble! Here we are with the fifth round’s results announcement of the Cybersecurity Writing Contest by Twingate & HackerNoon! 49. Crucial Cloud Computing Security Threats Everyone Should Know A rundown of the business impact and mitigation measures of the top cloud computing security threats from the 2022 Cloud Security Alliance survey 50. Incomplete Guide for Securing Containerized Environment Write Once, Run Everywhere embraces flexibility of spinning applications up and down for users. Let's find out why and how to secure containerized environment. 51. Hacked: MetaMask User Lost US$81,000 In ETH Crypto investor Jonny Reid shared his experience of stealing encrypted assets in his MetaMask wallet on Twitter.  He is still unable to find the hack. 52. Network Security: Things Most People Don’t Think About There are a lot of things most people do not think about that can dramatically increase the level of security on a network 53. The Cybersecurity Writing Contest 2022: Round 4 Results Announced! Hackers, Welcome back! Here we are again with the fourth round of the Cybersecurity Writing Contest result announcement by Twingate & HackerNoon! 54. Explaining Info-Sec in Layman's Terms [Part I] Understanding the common keywords used in the info-sec industry that are used in conjunction with that complicated OWASP Top 10 WAST 55. What is Credit Card Skimming and How Do You Prevent it? This story describes what credit card skimming is and how to prevent it. 56. A Comprehensive Guide to OpenAPI Specification OpenAPI Specification (formerly Swagger Specification) is an API description format for REST APIs. An OpenAPI file allows you to describe your entire API. 57. An Intro to Multi-Factor Authentication and the Types of MFA This is an introduction to multi-factor authentication in the field of cybersecurity. 58. 5 Ways SaaS Can Help Speed Up Cybersecurity Implementation SaaS is making cybersecurity implementation less expensive and easy, and businesses, especially startups, are now leveraging its tools to drive efficiency. Thank you for checking out the 58 most read stories about Cybersecurity Writing Contest on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

58 Stories To Learn About Cybersecurity Writing Contest

Working in cybersecurity can be a very fulfilling career, but most jobs require some amount of experience or formal training. While there are many great courses and certifications for learning pen-testing out there, it might be the case that they are simply above your budget. But that is totally fine. I think it is still possible to get job-ready knowledge about and pen-testing from free resources. cybersecurity A little warning: While I feel like it is possible to spend no money on your way to the first pen-testing job, it is the case that some paid resources provide knowledge in a condensed and easy-to-digest form. Having access to those resources might accelerate your learning journey. So I will provide some recommendations on which of them are worth it and which are not. I also created a GitHub repo with free cybersecurity resources. Check it out, and feel free to add some: https://github.com/her0marodeur/awesome-free-cybersecurity A few words about my own career I got really lucky in terms of getting a job. My first contact with cybersecurity was back in my teenage years when I Googled “ .” That was back when there were no such resources as HackTheBox and TryHackme. So, a lot of the learning was more theoretical and, in general, kinda slow. How to become a hacker After I finished school, it was time to look for a job. I started out with a student job for a big software company. There, I had the opportunity to work with different security teams. During this time, I did my eJPT certification and got in contact with the internal pen-testing team. They provided me with the opportunity to do an internship and paid for my OSCP. After I finished my Bachelor’s degree, I got offered a full-time job as a pentester. As I mentioned, I got lucky, but I think there are a couple of takeaways from my own story: The demand for pen-testers is currently very high, so many companies are willing to train existing employees. So if you are already working for a company, see if they have an internal pen-testing or security team. The most important characteristics of a pentester (hacker) are willingness to learn and curiosity. Getting them does not cost a penny. One of the mistakes I made was focusing too much on the theory and not getting enough hands-on experience. This is really important, and you should try to get as much practice as possible. The role of certifications and degrees I know you probably want to get into learning right away, but I think we should have a brief discussion about this topic. There is a decade-long ongoing discussion about the difference between and which is better and a lot more. I don’t want to dive into all that stuff. certifications and degrees Generally speaking, a degree or a certification is a verifiable and easy way for employers to assess the skills of an applicant. The OSCP or a computer science degree does show that the candidate has skills and knowledge in a certain area. If you have to filter through hundreds of applications, they give a good orientation. But there are two big things to take into consideration: There are other ways of getting experience and knowledge. I have friends who have maintained Minecraft servers since they were twelve years old, and they have extremely good programming skills, even without having a degree. And their salaries are comparable to some seniors in the industry. Even tho there has been a huge interest in pen-testing in the last couple of years, the demand has skyrocketed as well. That means employers are not getting hundreds of applications. Many times, it is actually the case that pen-testers are getting many job offers just because they have a LinkedIn profile. Paid Certifications to avoid: For some reason, this is still seen as a good certification, but from everything I have heard, they provide a really dry course, and the exam requires you to memorize a lot of stuff. So you can save your money. Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH): I did this one myself, and it was fun; the exam was really hands-on and enjoyable. The reason I don’t recommend it is that I don’t think it is really beneficial in terms of getting a job because I don’t feel like employers are valuing it. eLearning Security Junior Penetration Tester (eJPT): Paid Certifications you can do (if you have the money): I don’t hold this certification myself, but I did Heath Adams courses back in the day. The content is just great and really well explained. It covers a lot of topics. The exam is more relaxed than the OSCP, and it has industry recognition at the lowest price. Practical Network Penetration Tester (PNPT): The OSCP has its pros and cons, and I wouldn’t recommend that you take a loan to do it or bust your bank account. But in a situation where you can really afford to do it (considering money AND time), I have to admit it has a great course, and it is basically a job guarantee. If you want to learn more about it, check out my blog here: Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP): https://infosecwriteups.com/methodology-and-mindset-for-passing-the-oscp-d609592a7dcb Getting the knowledge To know where you should start, you have to know where you stand. It is a big difference if you already have fundamental IT knowledge or if you are coming from a different profession because it is absolutely necessary to understand basic computer science concepts like networking and how programs, web pages, and computers are built and running. Since I suspect that many readers of this article will have this knowledge, I will not talk too much about learning all that stuff. has some really cool courses to learn the basics, and I think installing your own web server and learning the basics of Python really helps a lot. There are also basic computer science courses on sites like . TryHackMe Coursera TryHackMe and HackTheBox As well as for basic knowledge, I think you should really start with for learning the basics of pen-testing; they have some really good paths for this. Sadly, some of them might be only accessible via a paid membership. I think the paid membership is really one of the best investments you can make because it is quite cheap and provides access to a lot of knowledge. TryHackMe If you are thinking about what kind of pen-testing (mobile, web, network, Red Teaming, etc…) to learn first, I suggest you go with web pen-testing because there are many resources about it, and when we talk about Bug Bounty later, most of the targets are available in this area. But if you feel like doing something else, do it; all of this is just my opinion. Additionally, to do the learning path, you should also do some of their boxes that don’t give you any hints about how to solve them. Also, check out for this; they also have some great boxes, but beware of their rating system. I recommend you really start with easy boxes. HackTheBox When solving boxes, I recommend you give yourself a time limit. I recommend something like this: If you don’t have the initial foothold after 30 minutes, you should check a writeup. Afterward, you try 30 mins for privilege escalation, and if you don’t get it, check the writeup again. It might be true that there is no writeup in a real pentest, but doing boxes is about getting as much knowledge as possible. Also, start pushing yourself as soon as possible and increase the difficulty. It may mean that you might need a write-up for almost every step, but it also means you learn something new with every box. Free certifications: This one is a must-have. It is just the right mix between great course content and realistic and challenging exercises. APISec University: This one is not really about pen-testing but covers a lot of the basics of cybersecurity. But these topics are important for pen-testers as well because they always have to see the bigger picture of cybersecurity. The course and exam are free, but it requires an annual maintenance fee. ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC): : Another one that is not directly about pen-testing. It explains one of the essential policies of cybersecurity, and employers would like knowledge about this one. Skillfront ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Associate™ If you love certifications as I do and want some more for free, please check out my GitHub Repo over here: https://github.com/her0marodeur/awesome-free-cybersecurity Getting the experience By now, you already hacked some machines and websites, but all of them were in a simulated environment and left vulnerable by design. While this provides valuable experience and gives you the ability to learn how to exploit vulnerabilities, it is not necessarily the experience employers are looking for. Therefore, I recommend you try your skills against some real-world targets (in a legal way). Luckily, Bug Bounty platforms allow you to do this and maybe earn some money. Bug Bounty Platforms You can check out the following platforms: https://www.bugcrowd.com/ https://www.hackerone.com/ https://www.intigriti.com/ https://yeswehack.com/ Look at their programs and get familiar with the general topic of Bug Bounty (try to avoid the Twitter and Medium hustler bubble; there is some really bad stuff out there). I suggest you start by looking at Katie Paxton-Fear’s stuff ( ). She has some great videos that are really for beginners. But don’t stress too much about all of it; sign up for a platform, pick a program, and hunt. This is what life as a pentester is going to be like. Also, be careful and don’t bother too much about all of the tools, oneliners, and scanners. Learn about the recon fundamentals ( ) and start hunting. https://insiderphd.dev/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krCsMZfbuB4 If you get one or the other bug, it is great for your CV because it shows you know how to apply your pen-testing knowledge to real-world targets. Synack Red Team https://www.synack.com/red-team/ This one really depends on how much time you want to spend before getting a job as a pentester. I am not part of it, but I heard really good stuff about it. It basically is a closed Bug Bounty platform, but they additionally offer some fixed pay jobs like checking default credentials or OWASP Top 10. However, you have to apply to them, and this process can take a while. But it gives you the chance to have some experience with a real-world job application. It offers great hands-on experience and looks good on your CV. So check it out and see if it is for you. Getting the job If you are following this blog (btw. please read more resources than just this one; there is a lot of great career advice out there), I hope you don’t think of it as something that has to be done in chronological order. You can skip things and do them in parallel, or however it feels right for you. Writing a CV Before you go out and look for a job, you should write a CV. This really should focus on showcasing skills that you can apply to your pen-testing job. So if you have worked in another job, think about how you can translate the skills you gained to pen-testing. If you are a programmer, tell them you have a deep understanding of technology and for sure you had to implement security measures in your code, and probably you know how developers think and fail. If you have worked as an executive assistant, you have probably done a lot of writing and have clear communication skills, which is also really beneficial for pen-testing. By now, you have done at least some certifications and courses, but be careful what you include in your CV. I think, if you have done the three free certs I mentioned, you should include all of them, as they really showcase skills and knowledge needed for your job. But you want to be careful not to include every little thing. Rather than including the certificate of completion for every TryHackMe track you did, you should just include your TryHackMe profile. And for bug bounty profiles, you only want to mention the sites where you have at least one accepted submission. If you put too much basic stuff in there, it probably seems desperate. For writing the actual CV, you should not get too creative. It is best to either download a Word template and fill it in with your experience and skills or use one of the online generators (consider privacy implications). Be aware that your CV is often times read by machines, so make it “machine-readable.” Getting yourself out there Being visible can be really helpful if you want to get a job. I think having a is crucial. So create one, put a nice photo and some experience on it, and maybe include “aspiring pentester” in your bio to make yourself visible when recruiters search for possible candidates in this area. well-maintained LinkedIn profile You can also do a little bit more to increase visibility. A nice thing to do is to start a blog. Like this one, you are just reading. Even tho you might not have a lot of expert knowledge; you can talk about your journey and experiences or write a tutorial for a tool or a writeup for a box you did. But please don’t go down 1337 Hacker Road. I don’t think that blogs like “Hack a webcam with only three steps,” “Hacking Instagram password,” and other clickbait help find employment. Other things you can do are contribute to GitHub projects (for example, Nuclei and Spiderfoot allow you to contribute new rules and templates), create your own tools, or speak at a conference. All of these things will increase your network and look great on a CV. Applying for jobs Go for quality over quantity. The job has to be a match for you as much as you have to be a match for the job. So, really try to find jobs that match your expectations. While I say that, it is also true that it is probably easier to pivot from one pen-testing job to another than getting into the industry, but I feel bad advising anyone to take a job they don’t enjoy. I highly recommend you reach out to recruiters/headhunters. You can easily find them on LinkedIn, add them to your network, and ask if they have a role that fits your profile. It will not cost you a penny because the employers are paying them. They will also be a big help with streamlining a lot of the process. They know their clients and where you have a good chance of getting hired and, most of the time, allow you to skip steps like writing a cover letter. Even if they are not able to offer you something right away, they will add you to their contact list and reach out in the future. Interviews There are just better resources than I am, so I will link to them: The Cyber Mentor- Mock Job Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDpjaS6OYPU The Cyber Mentor — What to Expect in an Ethical Hacking Job Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrewE1mLlaU Security Interview Questions: https://github.com/justinltodd/security-interview-questions Conclusion While it should be entirely possible to get a pen-testing job without spending a dollar, it will still require a lot of work. Spending at least some money can make the process if you spend it right. I also have to mention that all of this is just my personal experience and perspective. Your mileage may vary. If you liked this blog post, you can follow me on Twitter @Secbyaccident or read my other stuff over at . https://security-by-accident.com/ And if you have read this far, I want to offer you a little Thank You. My DMs on Twitter are open, and you can reach out to me if you want me to review your CV, help you with some studying, or set you up with some recruiters. I will do all of this for free, but expect a little delay in response time. Also published here.

OFFENSIVE SECURITY

offensive-security.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

OFFENSIVE SECURITY

EVERGREEN INDEX #7344

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Offensive Security WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

OFFENSIVE SECURITY

offensive-security.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

OFFENSIVE SECURITY

EVERGREEN INDEX #7344

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT OFFENSIVE SECURITY

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Offensive Security WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!