What you'll learn
- Legal and ethical ground rules
- Methodology
- Writing the report
Lessons
1Legal and ethical ground rules
Only test systems you own or have written authorization to test. A scope document defines targets, dates, allowed techniques, contacts and data handling. Unauthorized testing is illegal in most countries (e.g. India's IT Act s.43/66, the US CFAA, the UK CMA).
2Methodology
PTES / OSSTMM / NIST SP 800-115 phases: pre-engagement → reconnaissance → scanning & enumeration → vulnerability analysis → controlled validation → post-engagement cleanup → reporting. Most real value lies in clear findings and fixes.
3Writing the report PRO
Executive summary for leaders; per-finding sections with severity (CVSS), affected assets, evidence, business impact and a concrete remediation; a retest plan. Findings without fix…
Continue this lesson in the platform →Hands-on lab: Enumerate your own lab network
- Build an isolated lab (VirtualBox host-only network) with one Linux VM you own.
- Run
nmap -sV 192.168.56.0/24against that lab range only. - List services and versions found.
- Look up each version on the NVD and note any CVEs.
- Write a 1-page report: finding, risk, remediation.
Outcome: A professional-format mini report from an authorized lab scan.
Practice questions
Before any pentest you must have…
Answer: Written authorization and scope. Authorization is the legal line.
Which phase produces the most value for the client?
Answer: Reporting with remediation. Clients pay for actionable fixes.
NIST SP 800-115 is a guide to…
Answer: Security testing and assessment. Technical guide to security testing.
The full graded assessment (3 questions, pass mark 70%) is in the platform.
Key terms
- Rules of engagement
- Agreed scope, timing, methods and contacts for an authorized test.
- Red team
- Authorized adversary emulation to test detection and response.
- Blue team
- Defenders who detect and respond.
- Purple teaming
- Red and blue working together to improve detections in real time.
- CVSS
- Common Vulnerability Scoring System; base score 0.0–10.0.
- Bug bounty
- Program rewarding researchers for responsibly reported vulnerabilities.
- Responsible disclosure
- Reporting a vulnerability privately to the vendor and allowing time to fix.
See the full cyber security glossary →