Well, I have been on Cloud 9 all day. This morning, I woke up to THE email
Its been a long road. Although I had already done the CREST CRT (so had some good base knowledge anyway), I started reading up properly for OSCP around this time last yr. I would have liked to keep a regular blog of my journey on here/elsewhere, but with work, etc, I knew I wouldnt be able to keep it up...sooooo here is my all-in-one entry.
As mentioned, I started reading up for OSCP this time last yr. As most know, the OSCP is unlike any other certification, in that they dont provide any public syllabus before you start the course. With this in mind, I just started reading up on all the books I could find. These would include:
- Penetration Testing by Georgia Weidman (recommended!!)
- The Web Application Hackers Handbook
- The Hacker Playbook
- Hacking Exposed Windows
- Red Team Field Manual (great for quickly putting your hands on for a command)
- Learn Powershell in a Month of Lunches (not a great, but gives you exposure to PS)
- I also tried picking up alittle Python just before I started the course, but I found myself bouncing between various books, and this didnt go too well. On the good side, although Python would serve you well on the course, its not a necessity.
I signed up for the three months option, and officially started the course at the end of Apr.
As most will know, they supply you with a large PDF containing course notes/exercises. I would love to say I went the proper route, and worked through the exercises first, before attempting the labs. I didnt. As soon as my VPN came on, I was nmap-ing away (and not very well, might I add). For anyone considering the OSCP, take my word for it - do the exercises first!
Month 1 went so fast. Full steam ahead, I was able to get most of the low-hanging fruit quite quickly. I kept notes/screenshots of the boxes I was scanning/hacking in OneNote (there may be better solutions, but this worked for me). However, I wasnt really taking in what I was doing. It was just Bang, Box down, onto the next one. Hard to put into words, but I wasnt really working on technique or procedures - I was just doing it off the top of my head.
Then Offsec went and re-did the IP addressing scheme, which set back my progress in that I had to re-do all the previous machines. I hated this (although later realised it was a good learning opportunity!).
About 6 weeks or so into the course, I started hitting brick walls. Be aware if you do the course, this will happen to you. The number of times I thought to myself "Maybe I've taken on too much, maybe I dont have enough knowledge/experience, maybe I dont have the right mindset for this after all, etc etc". Its unreal how you can go from that, to "Whooooooo I can do it!!!!!" in 2 secs, with simply gaining a low-privileged shell on a Linux box.
Month 2 flew by. It was all ups and down - hitting walls, then smashing through. I was eventually. able to get access to some of the other networks.
Towards the end of Month 2, I realised I had barely touched the exercises, and had to start on them. Off Sec made it public that students will gain 5 points for the lab report, 5 points for the exercises, for a total 10 points before starting the exam - I didnt want to tempt fate by not doing them, so I hit the PDF for a few weeks.
By the end of Month 3, I was burning out. I had gone at the course hard since Day 1. Getting into work an hour and a half early to read up/practice, at it every evening til late, and every weekend til late hours. I was able to hack most of the public network, and get into 2 other networks (although the Admin network eluded me). Then came exam time. I received the connection details, got myself online, ran various scans, etc. And then I hit another brick wall - and couldnt get through it. I ended the exam with 0 points. I was absolutely gutted, but I knew. I knew it was my own fault - I had gone at it hard, with no breaks. I had plenty of notes and screenshots of the hosts - but no proper procedures. Annoyingly, like most people, I had read tons of blogs/postings about the course, and seen people say so many times, "take breaks", but I thought I knew better.
I was down, but not defeated. An hour after my failure, I was downloading Vulnhubs, and started writing out proper procedures, and continued this until half way into Aug, where I went on holiday for two weeks. Looking back, I think this break helped me more than I realised at the time. 2 weeks without even touching a computer - a nice break (although I was missing my laptop by the end of it!).
Beginning of Sep, I signed up for another 30 days of lab access, and got back into it. I made the decision that this lab access was all about technique. I made fresh tabs on OneNote (to start fresh), and decided it didnt matter if I hacked 10 boxes or 50 - I had to work slowly, really examine what I was doing (rather than gung ho'ing it), and take time out regularly. This technique worked much better. I was half as stressed, even when I hit the occasional wall.
My 30 days ended 2 weeks before my 2nd exam date. The time between was filled with more Vulnhubs, and days off.
By the time, this weekend came. I felt calm, and completely ready for my second exam. I received the connection details Fri evening (around 8pm), connected up and started scanning. Within 3 hours, I had my first box down, and had some good idea which headway to go for with other boxes. By Saturday evening, I had 3 roots and a low priv. I submitted the report of these on Sun evening, with my lab report and exercises completed.
Yesterday was a long day!!!!!!
Woke up this morning, 45 mins early, thought "I'll just check my phone" and there she was... "We are happy to inform you ..."
Needless to say, I didnt get back to sleep!
Overall, I enjoyed the experience of OSCP. So many ups and downs. But I tried harder (sorry, had to be done!), and I got what I wanted from the course - I learned so much. And thanks to this knowledge and other my other certs/experience, I start working for a security company next month, in the Pentesting Dept
Needless to say, I would recommend the course to anyone that has a genuine interest in security/pentesting. The course is fun (the first time you get a shell....ahhhh!), and makes you really think. Be aware though, its not easy. The motto isnt "Try Harder" for nothing. (I actually saw someone complaining in the IRC, about how they didnt realise it was going to take up so much of their time).
But it is an achievable goal - it just needs real effort and real hard work!
