ABOUT THE COURSE

Penetration testing is the process of attempting to gain access to resources without knowledge of usernames,passwords and other normal means of access. If the focus is on computer resources,then examples of a successful penetration would be obtaining or subverting confidential documents, pricelists, databases and other protected information.

The main thing that separates a penetration tester from an attacker is permission. The penetration tester will have permission from the owner of the computing resources that are being tested and will be responsible to provide a report. The goal of a penetration test is to increase the security of the computing resources being tested.

In many cases,a penetration tester will be given user-level access and in those cases,the goal would be to elevate the status of the account or user other means to gain access to additional information that a user of that level should not have access to.

Some penetration testers are contracted to find one hole,but in many cases,they are expected to keep looking past the first hole so that additional vulnerabilities can be identified and fixed. It is important for the pen-tester to keep detailed notes about how the tests were done so that the results can be verified and so that any issues that were uncovered can be resolved.

It’s important to understand that it is very unlikely that a pen-tester will find all the security issues. As an example,if a penetration test was done yesterday,the organization may pass the test.However, today is Microsoft’s “patch Tuesday”and now there’s a brand new vulnerability in some Exchange mail servers that were previously considered secure,and next month it will be something else. Maintaining a secure network requires constant vigilance.

What You Will Learn

The following tables list Microsoft Certifications by name and describe how they enable IT professionals to display and validate their skills and experience.