7 Best Penetration Testing Certification Programs

penetration-testing-certifications

As UK National Cyber Security Center defines Penetration Test or a pentest; 

“A method for gaining assurance in the security of an IT system by attempting to breach some or all of that system’s security, using the same tools and techniques as an adversary might.“

Cut to simpler words, it is a test to check if a computer system can penetrate cyberattacks or not. 

Importance of Penetration Test 

Learning pentest or ethical hacking is growing in popularity for some legit reasons. Let’s have a quick go through to the main points. 

  • Security issues: To prove the system’s existing security, a penetration test is important. If you take a look at the highly increasing cybercrimes, the importance of security will be transparent to you.
  • Increasing Cybercrime: According to the latest researchers, there is a 37% increase in Cyberattack in the last year, in India. It is high time to control such an increase in Cybercrime records worldwide. 
  • Allowance for better technology: We need to make our system better to cope up with the latest technical demands. All the updated technologies come with nothing but a cyber threat. Pentest will allow such new technologies to be safe. 
  • Check the system’s ability: There are certain rules and regulation needs to maintain to avoid legal issues. Data privacy laws are getting strict day by the day. A penetration test will let your system efficient and risk-free. 

Now, you know Penetration Test holds importance and there is a high career opportunity in  a Penetration test. With the increasing cyber threats, the demand for efficient pen test professionals also increased. 

Before you start wandering for some of the best Penetration test programs, have a look at the list of 9 Best Penetration Testing Certification Programs.

Best Penetration Testing Certification Programs

1. Certified Expert Penetration Tester (CEPT)

CEPT or Certified Expert Penetration Tester is one of the most popular PenTest courses. This course is offered by IACRB who provides authorized certification.

Advantages:

  • In total, there are nine important domains covered in this course like Pentest methodologies, network attacks, shellcode, reverse engineering, etc. 
  • You can do this course to appear for the IACRB CPT exam as the next step. 
  • This is an expert-level course for those who are skilled in methods of evaluating the security of computer systems.

Course Fees: $499 for individuals and $399 per voucher for on-site proctored exams

Exam Duration: 2 hours for 50 multiple-choice questions.

Visit here to sign-up. 

2. Certified Mobile and Web Application Penetration Tester (CMWAPT)

CMWAPT course is designed to test mobile and web application security. This is also offered by IACRB to check the candidate’s ability to perform pentest on mobile and web applications. 

Advantages:

  • Mobile and web applications are at high stake for their wide use. This course will beneficial for these developers.
  • There are 8 different domains like Android application attacks, iOS application attacks, secure coding principles, etc.
  • This course will uplift your skill from intermediate to expert level if you complete it properly. 

Course Fees: $499 for individuals and $399 if there is any voucher available

Exam Duration: 2 hours for 50 multiple-choice questions.

Visit here to sign-up. 

3. Certified Penetration Tester (CPT)

Certified Penetration Tester is also another course offered by IACRB for penetration testing. CPT is a globally recognized certification course suggested by many. 

Advantages:

  • For those who want to start as a beginner, this is one of the best pen test courses available. 
  • No formal working experience is required to enroll in this course.
  • You can register for this course over the internet, or in a group of a minimum of 10 candidates, or appear offline with ICACB’s training partners. 

Course Fees: $499 for individuals

Exam Duration: 2 hours for 50 multiple-choice questions.

Visit here to sign-up. 

4. EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

Ec-council is one of the world’s largest cybersecurity bodies. This course is valid for three years. You need to have a minimum of two years of experience in the security field. 

Advantages:

  • There are about 20 modules including 300 cyber-attack technologies and different security domains for a better experience. 
  •  You can be a master in ethical hacking.
  • You will be introduced to different hacking tools used commonly. 

Course Fees: $1,199 for individuals

Exam Duration: 4 hours for 125 multiple-choice questions.

Visit here to sign-up. 

5. GIAC Certified Penetration Tester (GPEN)

GPEN is one of the best Penetration testing courses you can apply for at the intermediate level. GIAC also offers a platform called CyberLife for candidates to assess their knowledge with hands-on testing facilities. 

Advantages:

  • You will get to learn about the legal aspects of PenTest.
  • Apart from penetration tester and hackers, this course is beneficial to IT security professionals and forensic experts.
  • The course modules focus on comprehensive pentest, in-depth password attacks, and web pen-testing.

Course Fees: $1,199 for individuals

Exam Duration: 82-115 questions based on real-life problems.

Visit here to sign-up. 

6. CompTIA PenTest+

This is a comparatively cheaper course offered by CompTIA that is valid for three years. PenTest+ is one of the popular courses available on CompTIA.

Advantages:

  • This course assesses a candidate’s basic management skills along with fundamental pentest skills.
  • In this course, you can learn how to apply pen-test in the cloud and mobile-based environments. 
  • There are five fundamental domains available like pen-testing tools, different types of network, vulnerable scan-test, etc.

Course Fees: $359 for individuals

Exam Duration: 165 minutes for 85 multiple-choice questions.

Visit here to sign-up. 

7. Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) Master

Here is another course offered by Ec-council that is suggested by many users. This course is valid for three years and then you have to renew this. 

Advantages:

  • There are no eligibility criteria determined for this course which is a better scope for beginners.
  • You have to solve real-life scenarios in the exam.
  • Your basic ideas will be clear and you will get strong experience in this security field.

Course Fees: $500 for individuals

Exam Duration: 18 hours for 3 different levels, each containing three challenges.

Visit here to sign-up. 

Conclusion

Coming in the end, each course is comparatively useful than the other one. Choose the course that suits your skill and criteria. 

Every course mentioned in this article is the top penetration tester certification program that needs to be renewed every three or four years. 

Hope this article is helpful for the penetration testing enthusiasts.

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