PWK - Quality of Course

g33k3r

For those who have taken the PWK course, what are your comments regarding the quality of the course? Do you feel like it adequately prepared you for the OSCP? Or did you need to supplement the material to be able to succeed at the exam? I have a great deal of respect for the Offensive Security people, but wondered if I should pre-study before signing up for the course so I don't get bogged down in areas where I have little experience.

Thanks!

BlackBeret

You absolutely will have to supplement the material. Part of the courses teaching method is to give you enough information to understand something at a basic level, but require you to research the information to get it to work, present it in different scenarios, combine it with other attacks, leverage information you collected from other hosts, etc. Having taken the course as both PWB 3 and PWK I'll say the tools might change over time, but the methodologies and general knowledge doesn't.

If you want a very good introduction to the same things taught in the PWK course I highly recommend "Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking" by Georgia Weidman.

Sch1sm

Honestly I was really disappointed with the material. You basically have to google everything and do your own research to get things to work. I'm not convinced the labs are representative of the exam either but it's still an unbelievably good course.

g33k3r

BlackBeret wrote: »

If you want a very good introduction to the same things taught in the PWK course I highly recommend "Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking" by Georgia Weidman.

I just ordered this book. I'll probably read it first before signing up for the course. Thanks for the feedback!

deyavi

That book is great to prepare before the course. I'd also recommend to do some boot2root VMs from vulnhub

diggitle

https://www.cybrary.it/course/advanced-penetration-testing/

g33k3r

Thanks diggitle. I used cybrary for the CISSP. I'll check it out.

Sheiko37

Without question, the PWK course material on its own is nowhere near enough to pass the OSCP challenge.

towentum

Sheiko37 wrote: »

Without question, the PWK course material on its own is nowhere near enough to pass the OSCP challenge.

You seem to be on a crusade against the OSCP these last couple of days. They provide substantial material to get you started and fully expect you to go and learn more on your own. The test is more a demonstration of ones aptitude to learn independently and research something they don't understand in order to accomplish the job. They teach a mentality because there are no ABCs to hacking.

Sheiko37

I don't see how what I said is in conflict with anything you just said.

towentum

Sheiko37 wrote: »

I don't see how what I said is in conflict with anything you just said.

Allow me to redact that statement. I had just woke up and was thinking of a different individual. I apologize.