In this section of the course,
we're going to show you everything involved
in a traditional penetration test from start to finish.
Penetration testing, or PenTesting,
involves simulating cyber-attacks
to identify and exploit vulnerabilities
in a system, network, or web application
to improve its security
by identifying and fixing these vulnerabilities.
This practice is important
for maintaining a strong security posture
and compliance with industry security standards.
This section is solely focused
on giving you a realistic understanding
of a penetration test from start to finish
so you will know what to expect in the real world.
This section provides an overview of a penetration test,
covering topics that may be beyond those specific
to any single domain or objective.
If your focus is solely on preparing
for the CompTIA PenTest+ exam,
you may choose to skip this section
as it includes additional content
not directly related to the certification.
Now, with that being said,
let's get into what will be covered in this section.
First, we'll start with Planning the Engagement,
where you will learn about the initial steps
in a penetration testing engagement,
including defining the scope,
objectives, and rules of engagement
to ensure a clear understanding
and agreement on the test boundaries.
Next, we'll cover Information Gathering.
This stage involves collecting
as much information as possible about the target environment
to identify potential vulnerabilities
using techniques such as OSINT,
network enumeration, and social engineering.
Following that, Attacks and Exploits will be covered.
This lesson focuses on various methods and tools
used to exploit the vulnerabilities
found during the information gathering phase,
including social engineering,
system hacking, and web application attacks.
Post-Exploitation will be examined next,
which looks at what can be done
once a system has been compromised.
Reporting will be discussed next,
outlining how to document the findings,
methodologies, and recommendations.
This final step is important for letting the client know
about the vulnerabilities discovered,
the exploits completed, and remedial actions necessary
for the client to improve their security landscape.
Our last lesson will provide a hands-on overview
of a PenTest.
This comprehensive demonstration
will walk you through a simulated penetration test
from start to finish, giving you practical insights
into how the theoretical concepts are applied
in real-world scenarios.
Finally, we will take a short quiz,
just to see what you learned
during this section of the course
and review each of those quiz questions
to fully ensure that you can explain
why each answer was right.
Again, this section is designed
to give you a general overview of a penetration test
and the things that you're likely to see in the real world.
Highly recommend it
that if you have relatively little experience
that you complete this section,
but feel free to skip
to a specific certification objective at any time.
So if you're ready to dive deep
into the methodologies, tools, and stages
of an effective penetration test,
let's get started with this section of the course.