Offensive / Track

Penetration Tester

Break things on purpose, then document exactly how you did it.

Penetration testers simulate adversaries against web apps, networks, and cloud environments. The job blends technical exploitation with disciplined reporting clients can actually action — and respecting scope is non-negotiable.

Tools in scope

Burp Suite ProNmapBloodHoundImpacketMetasploit

How different employers interview

Consultancy

Lab assessment is standard — expect a 24-48h HTB-style box plus a report.

In-house red team

More scenario-based: assumed-breach exercises and detection-evasion thinking.

// Sample question

You've found an SSRF on an internal admin panel hosted in AWS. How do you escalate to cloud credentials?

Show strong-answer outline

Confirm the SSRF reaches internal endpoints, then target the IMDS at 169.254.169.254 — IMDSv1 lets you fetch the instance role credentials directly; IMDSv2 requires a token via PUT. Once you have temp keys, enumerate with `aws sts get-caller-identity` and pivot based on attached IAM permissions.

Reading list

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