PEN-300: Evasion Techniques and Breaching Defenses

PEN-300 is an advanced course for penetration testers, building on the skills and techniques learned within PEN-200. This course explores advanced penetration testing techniques against hardened targets in mature organizations with an established security function. Within this course, you will go beyond the use of existing tools and skills and be encouraged to develop new techniques and tools. By taking on this course, learners will be proving their advanced phishing skills, advanced antivirus evasion tactics, and establishing attack vectors that leverage or disclose Windows credentials.

PEN-300 includes a wide array of current techniques and skills, including:

• Migrating between processes to evade detection and maintain control, even if one process is terminated
• Modifying attack vectors from Word macros within an executable to deliver a staged Meterpreter payload directly in memory
• Discussing the drawbacks of PowerShell code that invokes Win32 APIs through the .NET framework and examining a more advanced and stealthy technique known as reflection
• Executing "living off the land" techniques to gain ever-increasing access to the system and its back-end networks
• Adding advanced techniques for maintaining access and escalating privileges on compromised Windows systems, including navigating file systems, manipulating user accounts, extracting sensitive information, and establishing persistent backdoors

PEN-300 is organized into 20+ modules, each starting with theory and then diving into practical application of that theory. Modules have hands-on exercises and code snippets to aid learners when a more practical application of the knowledge is required for understanding and application. Many modules also have videos to help provide visual support for learners. After completion of the course materials, learners can take advantage of the 7 Challenge Labs, which bring the knowledge and skills together for learners and prepare them for the OSEP exam. The exam forces the learner to demonstrate the ability to identify, exploit, and report on vulnerabilities, culminating in the development of custom exploits.

Since the goal of this course is to teach offensive techniques that work against client organizations with hardened systems, we expect students to have taken the PEN-200 course and passed the OSCP+ exam, or have equivalent knowledge and skills. While this is not a requirement, learners may face difficulties without this formal base of knowledge or a strong understanding of operating systems, networking, and scripting (e.g., Python, Bash).