If you are interested in information security especially in penetration test field, you must have heard about this certification. The Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) is an information security certification provided by Offensive-Security for people that completed their Penetration Testing with Kali Linux (PWK) course and exam. This is the world’s first completely hands-on offensive information security certification. There's no theoretical exam using multiple choices question. The OSCP challenges the students to prove they have a clear and practical understanding of the penetration testing process and life-cycle through an arduous twenty-four (24) hour practical exam performing pentest on a network containing vulnerable machines.
PWK Course
Penetration Testing with Kali (PWK) is a self-paced online pen testing course designed for network administrators and security professionals who want to take a serious and meaningful step into the world of professional penetration testing. Offensive-Security PWK Course simulates a full penetration test by providing the students with a target-rich, diverse, and vulnerable network environment lab. The course comes with 30, 60 and 90 days lab access which can be extend as needed.
This advanced penetration testing course is not for the faint of heart; it requires practice, testing, and the ability to want to learn in a manner that will grow your career in the information security field and overcome any learning plateau. Offensive Security challenges you to rise above the rest, dive into the fine arts of advanced penetration testing, and to Try Harder™.
After completing the registration, you will get the course materials and VPN connection pack to access the lab where you can practice and sharpen your pen-test skills. The lab contains more than 50 vulnerable machines spreads on four different networks. At first, you only have access to student network. In order to unlock the other networks, you need to find the "key" on one of the machines in the current network. It will require a great deal of research, tenacity, and the willingness to Try Harder. Don't expect they will guiding you step by step on exploiting the machines, you need to figure it out yourself.
PWK Exam
The exam consists of a virtual network containing machines with varying configurations and operating systems. There are five machines to be exploited by the students. Each machine has different points, the hardest machine has 25 points and the easiest machine has 10 points. In order to pass the exam and gain the OSCP certification, the student needs to collect at least 70 points and submit a comprehensive penetration test report. The student is given 23.45 hours to exploit the machines and another 24 hours to prepare and submit the report. For more detailed about the exam, you can get it from the OSCP Exam Guide.
Credits: https://offensive-security.com