Building a Strong Foundation for A Career In Penetration Testing with CompTIA PenTest+ Certification
CompTIA PenTest+ is for cybersecurity professionals assigned with penetration testing and vulnerability management. CompTIA PenTest+ Certification offered by CompTIA enhances the most advanced penetration testing, management skills, and vulnerability assessment.
CompTIA PenTest+ Certification is particularly helpful for professionals who perform penetration tests to find, utilize, report, and handle vulnerabilities on a network.
The CompTIA PenTest+ certification exam comprises both multiple-choice and performance-based questions. Therefore, applicants have to be prepared to confront multiple-choice questions, and they also require to perform penetration testing and vulnerability assessment tasks.
The CompTIA PenTest+ Covers the following domains:
- Planning and Scoping (15%)
- Information Gathering and Vulnerability Identification (22%)
- Attacks and Exploits (30%)
- Penetration Testing Tools (17%)
- Reporting and Communication (15%)
Here are some of the tips that will help the professionals in passing their CompTIA PenTest+ PT0–001 certification exam:
Get Familiar With the CompTIA PenTest+ PT0–001 Exam Details, Structure, and Syllabus.
You should not attempt the CompTIA PT0–001 exam without understanding the details. Knowing what CompTIA PenTest+ certification is and everything related to the CompTIA PenTest+ syllabus will help you face the exam with confidence.
Fill the Gap Between Current Knowledge and the Required Knowledge
It is essential to evaluate one’s knowledge before starting to study for the exam. This exam makes one perceive how much more preparation is needed to understand the certification syllabus.
Read: The Journey to Try Harder: CompTIA PenTest+ Certification Preparation Guide
The Key to Success Is Practice
It is a known fact that gets better at something; you have to practice. CompTIA PenTest+ Practice tests are available on CompTIA’s official website. The more one takes the CompTIA Practice test for the exam, the better he/she gets to know the answers and details to tackle the actual exam. It is also recommended to enroll in a training course to learn each domain covered in the exam.
Avail Expert’s Guidance
If the self-study doesn’t feel adequate to face the exam, seeking the experts’ help is always helpful. CompTIA offers CompTIA Learning and Training to help applicants with different resources.
What’s the Value of CompTIA PenTest+ Certification?
Trustworthiness
Achieving renowned CompTIA PenTest+ certification enhances an individual’s credibility. Many industry standards need technical evaluations, often every year. However, some organizations that claim to offer pen testing are actually presenting a vulnerability scan. Unlike pen testing, vulnerability scans usually require automated systems. Automated pen testing does prevail, but it is generally coupled with human pen-testing performed by a certified professional. This type of testing is much more dynamic and depends on situational information.
Consolidation with CompTIA PenTest+ Certification
If organizations choose, they can produce a domestic pen testing team, though there are both advantages and disadvantages to this method. While the upfront expenses are high regarding both time and money, the long-term advantages are powerful. Having an in-house pen testing team allows simpler integration, more rapid test request response times, and lower test costs. Though CompTIA PenTest+ certification is seldom a one-time affair; rather, they require Renewal, costing time and sometimes money.
Experience
Even if organizations aren’t developing in-house teams, having their employees earn the certifications at any level promotes a thorough knowledge of systems and networks. It also helps professionals realize the difficulties that SMEs and CISOs confront. That way, when testing is in progress, professionals may have more tolerance if problems occur.
What Does a Pentester Do?
Along with holding the essential skills, a pentester must think like an attacker to tackle the complete broad array of procedures and tactics that hackers can practice.
If you become a penetration tester, your work will most probably comprise planning and executing tests, documenting your method, creating detailed reports, and perhaps participating in pushing security patches and upgrading protocols.
A List of Possible Job Responsibilities:
- carry out penetration tests of networks, computer systems, and applications.
- Establish new methods to detect security vulnerabilities.
- Carry out a physical security assessment of systems, servers, and other network equipment to specify areas that need physical protection.
- Distinguish ways and techniques attackers can use to utilize vulnerabilities or weaknesses of the organization.
- Evaluate, document, and review results with IT teams and management.
- Give feedback on already executed security improvements.
- Recommend improvements to present security services, software, hardware, policies, and systems.
- Determine areas where user awareness training is required.
What is the Average Salary of a Penetration Tester?
CompTIA PenTest+ salaries are greatly high. Payscale.com implies that penetration tester salaries vary from $57,0000-$134,000 based on the IT security analyst’s experience level. Likewise, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) proposes that information security analysts and penetration testers receive an annual median salary of $95,510. The lower 10 percent of these analysts receive $55,560, while the highest 10 percent receive over $153,090.
Several factors affect a penetration tester’s earning capabilities, specifically experience, education, location, and qualifications. Employment for information security analysts is supposed to expand 28 percent by 2026, far more quickly than average. The need for qualified penetration testers will be extremely high because of the requirement to make solutions to stop hackers from accessing sensitive information and making computer network problems.
