[Article]-Course Review: Penetration Testing Professional v2 by eLearnSecurity

[don]

To go along with the launch of PTP2 and the Free Giveaway to be awarded soon, here's an official look into the new version of this up-and-coming online course and certification.

As always, let us know what you think of the review, the course, your experiences... whatever you think might be of value to the audience. If you have any questions that haven't been answered, both Andrew, the author of the review, and Armando of eLS are EH-Netters and would be happy to help.

Permanent link: [Article]-Course Review: Penetration Testing Professional v2 by eLearnSecurity

Review by Andrew Johnson CISSP, GPEN, eCPPT, OSWP, CCNA:S, MCSE:S, et al

It’s rare for an organization to quickly rise to prominence through the release of a new training course, but that’s exactly what eLearnSecurity did with the first release of their Penetration Testing Professional course back in 2010. This upstart company is based in Pisa, Italy with a location in the USA in Colorado as well, but the beauty is that their training is entirely online, so clearly travel is not required.  This review covers the second release of Penetration Testing Professional (affectionately known as PTP2), which most notably contains expanded content and new lab environments.

The course is delivered through a web-based Flash interface. The presentation will be familiar to anyone who has experience with the first iteration of the course, but at the same time the overall feel is cleaner and more polished. A colleague was recently considering web app training, and he was torn between a book and this course. He stated something along the lines of, “My brain is telling me to be economical and just get a book, but my eyes are telling me to go with eLearnSecurity!” That statement sums up the visual experience perfectly.

Continue reading to see if they managed to carry that momentum into the rest of the new version of this course.

Don

[unicityd]

Thanks for the thorough review.  The course sounds like a lot of fun.  It's too bad that the cert only covers web apps and doesn't test the other material.

[ajohnson]

Thanks for the thorough review.  The course sounds like a lot of fun.  It's too bad that the cert only covers web apps and doesn't test the other material.

No problem. I'm sure Armando will make an official announcement here, but it sounds like the Gold certification, which covers all modules, will be available sometime early this summer.

For anyone that's interested in a second opinion, Hayabusa coincidentally posted his thoughts on the course today as well.

[ZeroOne]

Great review  , does anyone knows how long does it take to complete the course?

[hayabusa]

It's a personal matter of time and commitment.  Your time is your time.  Lab time is set, and you use it, as needed, until you've reached the amount given to you.

If you were solidly dedicated, and understood some of the info already, you could easily do it i 30 days or less.

[ajohnson]

It's going to depend a lot on your background too. I was familiar with most of the material (though I picked up some good tips and refreshed other knowledge along the way), but it still took about two weeks of all my free time. I also went directly through the lab guide solutions just to make sure things worked as expected; I didn't have the time to play around and experiment.

As hayabusa said, I think 30 days is a safe estimate for an initial pass through all the material, but even that might be somewhat aggressive for individuals with less experience.