Reconnaissance
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Maps attack surfaces through passive and active information gathering.
Course coverage
← All career guides8 of 8 skills14 of 14 courses
Security
Penetration Tester
Simulates real-world attacks against systems, networks, and applications to expose exploitable weaknesses before adversaries do.
Skill coverage
100%
Course coverage
100%
Skill coverage shows how much of the role's capability map already has a published course. Course coverage shows how much of the mapped course pipeline for this role has shipped.
- Role skills
- 8
- Published coverage
- 8
- Relevant courses
- 14
Capability map
Skills
Importance describes how central each capability is to the role. Course coverage shows where you can build the skill in the current OpenSkills catalog.
01
Offensive techniques
5 capabilities
Exploitation
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Identifies and safely exploits vulnerabilities within agreed scope.
Web application testing
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Probes web applications and APIs for injection, auth, and logic flaws.
Course coverage
Network penetration
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Attacks network services, protocols, and segmentation controls.
Course coverage
Social engineering
Importance: Important (3 of 5)
Tests human-layer defenses through phishing and pretexting engagements.
Course coverage
02
Engagement practice
3 capabilities
Scoping and ethics
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Defines rules of engagement and operates within legal boundaries.
Course coverage
Reporting
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Documents findings with impact, evidence, and actionable remediation.
Course coverage
Scripting and tooling
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Automates testing workflows and adapts offensive tooling.
Learning path
Relevant courses
Core foundations
The concepts this role is built on.
Supporting knowledge
Adjacent knowledge that improves day-to-day judgment.
Specializations
Deeper paths for particular environments or directions.
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