Network Penetration Testing Essentials (PEN-200)

Security teams need repeatable penetration testing skills to find exploitable weaknesses before they become incidents, audit findings, or emergency contractor work. This advanced PEN-200 course fits IT Practitioners moving into offensive security, security engineers who support vulnerability validation, and Team Leads building an internal red-team capability. The visible curriculum alone is about 33 hours, plus additional skills, so IT Directors should plan roughly a full training week per learner and allow extra practice time for OSCP+ readiness.

Because the course covers offensive tooling and techniques — including Metasploit, password attacks, antivirus evasion, tunneling, and exploitation of Windows, Linux, and web applications — assign it within clear rules of engagement and approved lab or test environments. CBT Nuggets Playlists can help Training Managers sequence the rollout, while Team Reporting helps leaders track progress across assigned learners.

IT teams complete this training to turn vulnerability data into actionable security validation. The curriculum moves from reconnaissance and scanning into exploitation, post-exploitation, enumeration, tunneling, and web application assessment, giving security teams a practical workflow for controlled penetration testing.

• Validate exposure with tools and methods such as Nmap scanning, Nessus active scanning, OpenVAS, and passive vulnerability discovery.
• Assess web applications for common attack paths, including XSS, directory traversal, file inclusion, command injection, and SQL exploration.
• Investigate Windows and Linux systems through enumeration, insecure services, file permissions, DLL injection concepts, and library file abuse.
• Practice controlled exploitation workflows with Metasploit, payloads, post-exploitation, password attack methodology, port forwarding, tunneling, and traffic inspection.

Knowledge

• Penetration testing lifecycle concepts, including reconnaissance and vulnerability discovery.
• How exploit resources, Metasploit fundamentals, payloads, and post-exploitation fit into an authorized test.
• Differences between active scanning, detailed Nessus scanning, OpenVAS usage, and passive scanning approaches.
• Common web application weaknesses, including XSS, directory traversal, file inclusion, command injection, and SQL-related issues.
• Windows and Linux enumeration concepts, including services, file insecurity, library files, and DLL injection topics.

Ability

• Run structured reconnaissance and scanning activities using tools covered in the course, including Nmap, Nessus, and OpenVAS.
• Use Burp Suite and other web assessment tools to investigate web application attack paths.
• Apply Metasploit workflows for exploitation, payload handling, automation, and post-exploitation practice in authorized environments.
• Evaluate password attack methodology and related tools, including physical attack considerations.
• Analyze tunneling, port forwarding, deep packet inspection, antivirus evasion, and memory corruption exploit concepts.