The LPT (Master) Training Program: Advanced Penetration Testing Course
About the Certification
This exam has one purpose: To Differentiate The Experts From The Novices In Penetration Testing!
There are good penetration testers and then there are great penetration testers.
Unless you are bent on being nothing other than the best in penetration testing, don’t bother registering for this program, as you are probably not cut out for it.
We know that the only way to find out what you are made of is by testing you at the brink of exhaustion — which is why the LPT (Master) exam is 18 hours long!
Your pen testing skills will be challenged over three levels, each with three challenges, against a multi-layered network architecture with defense-in-depth controls. You will be required to make knowledgeable decisions under immense pressure at critical stages while selecting your approach and exploits.
As you progress along these levels, you will need to maneuver web application, network, and host penetration testing tools and tricks in an internal and external context to ultimately pwn the hosts and exfiltrate data required for the completion of the challenges.
The exam will require you to demonstrate mastery of deploying advanced pen testing techniques and tools including multi-level pivoting, OS vulnerabilities exploits, SSH tunnelling, host-based application exploits, privilege escalation, web server and web application exploitation such as arbitrary local and remote file upload, SQL injection and parameter manipulation, etc – all in a real life scenario on hardened machines, networks, and applications.
You will be facing the ticking clock and there’s no time to hesitate. There’s no time for second-guessing. Try either of these and be prepared to fail!
And you must know that while you are racing against time, you will be under the watchful eyes of the EC-Council proctors who will be online and live! This added pressure will test your mental strength.
Introducing the World’s Most Advanced Penetration Testing Program
The Advanced Penetration Testing Course by EC-Council was created as the progression after the ECSA (Practical) to prepare those that want to challenge the Licensed Penetration Tester (Master) certification and be recognized as elite penetration testing professionals. Our training has been designed by the best in the industry and meant to push you to develop the kind of skill that you’ve been waiting to acquire.
LPT (Master) training is not comfortable (and the exam is even worse!) , but filled with intense stress meant to illicit the best from you. Those who prevail will have developed an instinctual and intellectual response to real world penetration testing challenges.
We want to bring out the best in you. Our aim is to push you to your limit while making you solve complex problems that actual penetration testers solve daily in the real world. For four punishing and long days, you will have to perform various tasks until it becomes second nature. This is the foundation of the program.
This program is radically different from the ECSA. In the ECSA course, you are provided guidance on what machines to attack and an initial starting point. In the Advanced Penetration Testing Course, you are presented with minimal network information along with a Scope of Work (SOW). The course was created to provide you with advanced concepts that will help when it comes to attempting the LPT (Master) Certification exam.
In this course you will learn professional security and penetration testing skills. The course is designed to show advanced concepts like scanning against defenses, pivoting between networks, deploying proxy chains, and using web shells. The last module of the course includes an SOW for each of the various networks we have created for the course. This, combined with the composition of various ranges, mimics a professional penetration test. Time is limited and you will be required to identify the attack surface followed by the weaknesses of the machines that are on the network.
In summary, only those who possess the burning desire to succeed will make it.
The Planet’s Most Advanced Penetration Testing Range
How do you create an Advanced Penetration Tester?
How do you ensure that students are trained on the secrets of the trade while being pushed to their limit?
The Advanced Penetration Testing course from EC-Council is built on the backbone of the Advanced Penetration Testing Cyber Range (ECCAPT) and this was designed by experts who each have more than 25 years of professional security testing across the globe.
The program comes with multiple ranges designed to hone a specific set of real life pen testing skills. The ECCAPT contains more than 180 machines with more than 250 GB RAM and more than 4000 GB of storage segregated in complex network ranges with multiple militarized and demilitarized zones. It facilitates learning and demonstration of current attack vectors, penetration testing methodology, and tools. A typical range consists of 5 to 8 subnets where each subnet represents a different business unit and comprises semi-hardened and hardened machines with more than 15 Windows and Linux OS flavors.
The range is designed to provide challenges across every level of the attack spectrum. Additionally, the range contains multiple layers of network segmentation, and once access is gained in one segment, the latest pivoting techniques are required to reach the next segment. Many of the challenges will require outside-the-box thinking and customization of scripts and exploits to get into the innermost segments of the network. The key to being a highly skilled penetration tester is to go up against a variety of targets that are configured in a variety of ways. The ECCAPT consists of entire network segments that replicate an enterprise network — this is not a computer game simulation, this is an accurate representation of an enterprise network that will present the latest challenges to the pen tester. Since the targets and technology continue to change, the ECCAPT is dynamic and machines and defenses will be added as they are observed in the wild. Finally, the targets and segments are progressive in nature, once you get into one machine and or segment, the next one will challenge you even more.
The final range consists of challenges that will require the skills and concepts that have been covered in the course and consist of multiple visible as well as hidden subnets to prepare you for the possible challenges of the LPT (Master) range.
Finally, the ranges are designed to teach professional-level skills to identify the attack surface of targets within a required time frame and, once this has been accomplished, to gain access to the machines and escalate privileges as required. The greater the variety of targets you encounter with and without defenses, the better of a professional penetration tester you will become.
The practical environment ranges progress in difficulty and reflect real enterprise network architecture. This environment includes defenses and challenges which you must defeat and overcome.
This is not your typical flat network! As you progress through the range levels, each encounter will present the top defenses of today and you will learn the best and latest evasion techniques.
This training format has helped thousands of penetration testers globally and is proven to be effective. The ECCAPT is 100% hands-on. Everything presented in the course is through an enterprise network environment that must be attacked, exploited, evaded, and defended.
Licensed Penetration Tester (Master) Certification
EC-Council brings to you a new range of real world challenges that will not only test your Pen-testing skills but guarantees you an experience that is not built for the weak hearted. If you have been looking for a way to test your Pen-testing abilities, this is your chance to prove you have what it takes.
LPT (Master) certified professional can:
- Demonstrate a repeatable and measurable approach to penetration testing
- Perform advanced techniques and attacks to identify SQL injection, Cross site scripting (XSS), LFI, RFI vulnerabilities in web applications
- Submit a professional and industry accepted report that achieves management and technical buy-in
- Get access to proprietary EC-Council penetration testing methodologies
- Write exploit codes to gain access to a vulnerable system or application
- Exploit vulnerabilities in Operating systems such as Windows, Linux
- Perform privilege escalation to gain root access to a system
- Demonstrate ‘Out-of-the-box’ and ‘lateral’ thinking
- Ensure the integrity and value of the penetration testing certification, in a fully online, remotely proctored certification exam
LPT (Master)
Being an LPT (Master) means that you can find chinks in the armor of defense-in-depth network security models with the help of network pivoting, making exploit codes work in your favor, or by writing Bash, Python, Perl, and Ruby scripts. The exam demands that you think on your feet, be creative in your approach, and not rely on the conventional techniques. Outsmarting and out maneuvering the adversary is what sets you apart from the crowd. This completely hands-on exam offers a challenge like no other by simulating a complex network of a multi-national organization in real time. This experience will test your perseverance and focus by forcing you to outdo yourself with each new challenge.
About the Program
The LPT (Master) is the world’s first fully online, remotely proctored LPT (Master) practical exam, which challenges the candidates through a grueling 18 hours of performance based, hands-on exam categorized into three practical exams for six-hour duration each, which will test your perseverance and focus by forcing you to outdo yourself with each new challenge. The exam requires the candidates to demonstrate a methodical approach to test and validate security defenses. The LPT (Master) exam is developed with close collaboration with SMEs and practitioners around the world after a thorough job role, job task, and skills-gap analysis.
Course Outline
Module 01 Introduction to Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing
Module 02 Information Gathering Methodology
Module 03 Scanning and Enumeration
Module 04 Identify Vulnerabilities
Module 05 Exploitation
Module 06 Post Exploitation
Module 07 Advanced Tips and Techniques
Module 08 Preparing a Report
Module 09 Practice Ranges
Key Elements
Real world, performance based assessment:
The successful candidates need to demonstrate a mastery of the skills required to conduct a full black box penetration test that simulates a complex network of a multi-national organization in real time. The exam environment via EC-Council’s cloud based cyber range, iLabs, has multiple networks with different militarized and de-militarized zones. You will follow the entire process of “Cyber kill chain”, taking you from reconnaissance, scanning, enumeration, gaining access, maintaining access, then exploiting vulnerabilities that you will have to seek out in a network that only a true penetration tester will be able to break.
Methodical Approach:
To build on the technical skills taught in the Certified Ethical Hacking course, the repeatable and documentable methodology provided in the EC Council security analyst program , the EC-Council LPT (Master) course emphasizes application of this methodical approach to penetration testing. The LPT (Master) practical exam thoroughly tests the application of the penetration testing process and lifecycle knowledge and the skills required in an examination that even our reviewers have called “extremely challenging”.
Penetration test report:
Many have described report writing as one of least preferred, yet arguably one of the most critical parts of any penetration testing engagement. While so many cybersecurity courses are offered globally to cover various subjects in the penetration testing realm, hardly any are dedicated to this very important skill, especially almost since half of all time spent at any penetration testing engagement can revolve around writing and reporting the core findings of the engagement to the client.
The key skill also lies in communicating a highly technical finding in an elaborate penetration test engagement to someone to the senior management and the board of directors can be very challenging and frustrating at times. Mastery of communication, research and report writing is required to make sense of technically complex topics like specific vulnerabilities and their resulting exploits in a meaningful manner to make educated decisions to improve the security posture of the organization. The candidates are required to submit a comprehensive report of their findings, methodology used, corroborative screenshots, scripts, custom exploits, or any other method they have used to penetrate the network within 45 days after completing the three challenges. The submitted report should be very clear, so that we should be able to compromise the target again by following the report.
Remote Proctoring
EC-Council launches the first ever remotely proctored online Pen-Testing Exam as a mechanism to ensure the authenticity of the test taker. This not only adds credibility to the overall title but also eliminates external influences that can change the exam outcome. While this test does not limit the test taker to explore his research skills and take advantage of documented resources available, it keeps a check on the individual capability of dealing with the challenges by himself.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible to apply to sit for the LPT (Master) Exam, candidate must either.
- Hold an ECSA / ECSA (Practical) or LPT certification in good standing (Your USD100 application fee will be waived);
- or Have a minimum of 2 years working experience in pentesting (You will need to pay USD100 as a non-refundable application fee);
- or Have any other approved industry certifications such as OSCP or GPEN cert (You will need to pay USD100 as a non-refundable application fee)
Application process
Applicants must apply directly to EC-Council via the online web form Click Here and provide the following:
- A copy of police verification from applicant’s local law enforcement agency or EC-Council Declaration of No Criminal Conviction Form; EC-Council Code of Conduct (COC) Form
- Updated Resume documenting penetration testing experience or skill
Approved applicants must purchase the Licensed Penetration Tester (Master) Exam Kit via EC-Council online store within 3 months of receiving the approval email (the approval will expire post the 3 months and applicants will have to reapply and remit the USD100 non-refundable application fee again). The LPT (Master) exam kit consists of:
- Aspen LPT (Master) Dashboard Access Code (applicants have a 45 day window to submit their reports from activation date/code is valid for 3 months from the date)
- 3 Levels of cyber range sessions remotely proctored (Each level consists of 3 challenges / 9 challenges in total).
- A 2 year LPT (Master) License is included in the LPT (Master) Exam Kit valid for 2 year license / subject to ECE and renewal requirements)
Renewal Cycle, Certification Fees & ECE Scheme
The certification is valid for 2 years from the date of approval and members must then renew annually.
For renewals, members will need to remit USD250 per annum which can be done at our online store.
LPT (master) certification falls under the ECE Policy. Members must ensure that they meet the ECE requirement.
Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to write in to [email protected].
LPT (Master) Credential
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Successful candidates will receive the LPT (Master) Welcome Kit consisting of:
- Printed Certificate
- Welcome Letter
- Lapel Pin
- EC-Council LPT (Master) T-shirt
- The LPT (Master) license is valid for 2 years. After the initial 2 years, members will have to renew their LPT (Master) license by remitting the annual USD 250 renewal fee.