Python courses - Decisions.. OSCP Prep

Mooseboost

My time for the OSCP lab is up and due to personal and work constraints - I did not make enough use of it. So before I spend the time and money on renewing my labs, I want to address some weaknesses that came up during the PWK course and lab. My lack of scripting ability became quite clear. By no means do I intend to become a developer but to further myself in my OSCP pursuits and security in general, I feel that my coding skills need a serious overhaul. By overhaul, I mean they need to be built from the ground up. This leaves me with two potential choices:

Code School:

https://www.codeschool.com/

Pentester Academy:

Python for Pentesters

I have heard both mentioned here before. Code School seems to be filled through Pluralsight, which will give me access to other courses. Pentester Academy likewise has things outside of python.

ottucsak

When in doubt, always go with Pentester Academy. Vivek's courses are amazing both in quality and in price. I'm currently doing his buffer overflow in x86 Windows training and it's really easy to understand and fun as well.

yoba222

Interested in Pentester Academy myself, but concerned that the material is now getting stale and outdated. I'd bet money it's all Python 2. Looking at a video sample, Vivek is teaching stuff using Ubuntu server 11.10, as in the 2011 version of Ubuntu server. Blowing the dust off that one.

Maybe the actual content is newer.

the_Grinch

I'd actually argue that with OSCP you could focus on BASH scripting and be fine. In defense of Vivek, while most modules have been converted to Python3, there are still a number that are Python2. Also, any books on the subject of hacking with Python use version 2. When you look at the overall picture, there aren't huge difference between 2 and 3 especially given what you will be using it for. I do highly recommend the CodeSchool course and credit it with my serious job into Python.

LonerVamp

+1 to the above. Honestly, other than editing a few Python scripts/exploits that were already created, I did not code anything automated in my time in the lab or exam, nor invented anything that wasn't already packaged into Kali. During my prep, I watched a couple 4-6 hour courses on Python Fundamentals on PluraSight. That allowed me to at least read some python, which was enough for me. As far as coding being useful, Python is wonderful, but I'd also say some knowledge of web stuff (html, php, and javascript) are a bit more useful for the OSCP directly. Plus the tastes of Java and C and Python and Perl you get from the materials and EDB exploits and Kali scripts.

Mooseboost

Thanks for the feedback guys!

someperson49

Btw Humblebundle have some Python Dev kit on sale right now. Maybe useful.

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/python-dev-kit-bundle