Best ethical hacking and pentesting courses to learn how to hack

When choosing an online course, we must look at what content is covered and if it is done in depth. If we see that a computer security course deals with many topics, but then it lasts about 10 or 15 hours, you should bear in mind that these topics will be treated superficially, without going into depth about them. What you should look for in a computer security course is that it covers the following aspects:

• defensive security.
• offensive security.
• Basic aspects of forensic analysis, to know what has happened to the system after an intrusion.

Although a course with videos on demand, or live, is enough to learn about computer security, it is essential to have a tutor behind you to answer all your questions. The world of security is very broad, so having an expert to help us with doubts is very important. These tutorials can be done by email, phone and even video call on different platforms such as Zoom or others. Although on platforms like Udemy all courses are recorded, we have a teacher (tutor) who will answer all questions related to the course that we have available on the platform.

In the world of cybersecurity, practice is essential. It is useless to theoretically know all the attacks, if then we do not put it into practice in a virtualized environment controlled by us, and even in a real environment that we have set up ourselves. You must remember that all the tests you carry out must be controlled, that is, you must be the administrator of the systems you attack, otherwise you would be committing different types of crimes because you are attacking an infrastructure that is not yours. Our recommendation to start in this world is that you always use virtual machines with VMware or VirtualBox, but also programs related to networks to test network security, for example, you can use GNS3 which is for more advanced users.

Essential agenda

Right now there are many courses related to information security, ethical hacking and also pentesting, which is offensive security. Some of them are more theoretical and others more practical, but it is essential that we have a good part of the course in a practical format, since it is how we learn more and better, putting our knowledge about it to the test.

In general, in computer security courses we will find an introduction to information security, ethical hacking and also pentesting. It is likely that, in some of the courses, we will have subjects related to networks at a basic level, because a very important part of cybersecurity is in the network itself, and not only in the final operating system, so we must have certain bases in networks and how to secure a professional local network.

Next, we show you the syllabus that the different courses should have, depending on our knowledge and which one we choose:

• Introduction to Hacking using different methodologies
• Passive collection of information, through OSINT (open media), using Google Hacking, Shodan and other services that are free.
• Collection of information through the network, using programs such as Wireshark, FOCA, TCPdump and other tools.
• Actively collect information, doing port scanning with Nmap, and exploiting vulnerabilities with Metasploit, among other tools.
• Check security at the network level, see if the local network can be violated to access the different devices that we have connected.
• Password cracking, making use of such popular programs as John The Ripper, Hashcat and many others.

Other quite interesting knowledge that you can learn with the different courses is how you can attack and protect Windows and Linux operating systems. In the case of Windows, in professional environments Active Directory is almost always used, so it is very important to know the main configuration options of Windows Server, and how you can hack the different security measures. In Linux environments it is also very important to control configuration failures, we must bear in mind that the vast majority of web servers around the world use a Linux-based operating system, such as Debian or similar.

Finally, it is also important to know how VMware and VirtualBox work, where they explain the main configuration options and what configurations we have at the network level, with the aim of testing everything we are learning about pentesting in a controlled environment.

 

Necessary previous studies

Depending on your level of computer security, you will be able to access courses that are basic, intermediate and also advanced. In the basic courses we will see many fundamental communication protocols, and also the fundamentals of the different types of attacks, although we will not go into them too much in depth since there are not usually courses of hundreds of hours, where everything is taught in detail. However, before looking at the basic courses on security, our recommendation is that you look at the basic courses on networks, since networks are the basis of information and communication security.

Intermediate level courses are suitable for people who already have previous knowledge about security and networks, these are ideal to reinforce the knowledge they already have acquired, to later move on to more complicated advanced level courses. If you are a Computer Science or Telecommunications Engineer, surely you already have a broad base on networks and also some computer security, because in careers there are usually elective subjects related to computer security, and there are even specific master’s degrees on cybersecurity to further expand our knowledge. about it.

Finally, the advanced level courses are for those people who are already professionally dedicated to network and/or system administration, and who have extensive knowledge about it, but who need even more to continue moving up in their jobs and obtaining better working conditions. . If you work in the IT world and have some experience, we are sure that the advanced level courses are ideal for you, however, you may also want to take the intermediate level courses to refresh yourself.

Adequate duration

The courses are always measured in teaching hours, within these hours, we can decide whether to extend the course more or less, since it is possible that you are currently working or do not have time to complete the entire course in one or two weeks. For this reason, in all the courses we indicate the effective hours of videos on demand or duration of face-to-face training, in this way, you will be able to get an idea of how long it will take you to finish it correctly.

When we see a course, we must take into account both the duration and the content of the course . If the duration of a course is around 60 hours, we can affirm that it is a fairly complete course, however, if it lasts between 10 and 30 hours, we must look carefully at the syllabus, because surely it does not talk too much in depth about the different topics as it covers too many. We must bear in mind that computer security is really broad, so we must make sure and look very carefully at what the course syllabus is.

If we want a fairly complete course to learn everything about computer security from scratch to an intermediate level , it is essential that it last more than 60 hours . Why this number of hours? Because it is the number of hours necessary to be able to touch all the security families, and talk about each one of them in considerable detail. The courses that promise to be very complete but then last less than 10 hours, generally explain the fundamentals without going into how to do certain attacks or how to protect ourselves.

In the event that you already have some knowledge of computer security, and you want to reinforce or expand this knowledge, more advanced and specific courses of about 20 hours will probably be enough for you, but everything will depend on the syllabus that you have in the specific course.

Job opportunities

Once you have intermediate and advanced knowledge with these courses that we are going to recommend, you can start working in the world of cybersecurity in any company, with low or medium complexity. If the company is highly complex, it is advisable to have many years of experience so as not to make mistakes. We must bear in mind that computer security today is something totally necessary and fundamental, otherwise, attacks could be carried out to steal data, block the services we provide as a company and much more. You will also be able to supervise the implementation of different security methods, with the aim of further improving the company.

If you have studied the different courses related to computer security, you will be able to develop your professional activity in the following areas:

• Small and medium-sized companies that design and install cybersecurity solutions, usually as security technicians.
• You will be able to set up your own company to design and install the security of a small and medium-sized company. You could also provide consulting services to other companies and end users.
• In medium or large companies or entities, as part of the cybersecurity team.

That is, once you know about computer security, you can work in any company that is dedicated to the following:

• Maintenance of telematic networks, network security is essential.
• Design and installation of cybersecurity.

As you can see, the job opportunities for this type of course are quite extensive, although it is also very important to know about networks and their security, different protocols, etc. If you are looking for a job, you can apply for any of the following positions:

• Cybersecurity technician.
• Computer network administrator, security oriented.
• Systems administrator.
• Pre-sales and post-sales team of cybersecurity devices.

As we have been working in the world of computer security for years, we will increase our knowledge and dedicate ourselves to more complex tasks. Regarding the salary range, it depends a lot on each company and the requirements, you should know that in large companies they usually pay more, or in companies that are exclusively dedicated to cybersecurity. Here is a range that can serve as a guide:

• Cybersecurity technician: €14,000 to €22,000 per year.
• Network administrator or system administrator: €25,000 – €40,000 per year.
• Pre-sale or post-sale team of security devices: €35,000 – €50,000.
• Security engineer or architect: More than €75,000 per year.

As you can see, the salary range varies a lot depending on the position, and also on the company, so it is best to see the different job offers from security-oriented companies to know for sure what they offer for the job.

Recommended online courses

The online and face-to-face courses that we are going to recommend below are the best for learning about ethical hacking and pentesting. We are going to provide you with different courses with different levels (basic, intermediate and advanced). Depending on your previous knowledge, you can take some courses or others. Of course, if you do an advanced level course but you don’t have the basics, you are probably very lost, so you should take this into account before choosing the difficulty.

Basic level courses

In this list of courses you will find the best for those who want to start in the world of computer security and hacking in general, of course, it is not necessary to have any prior knowledge to be able to take these courses, since just try to start in this world.

Online Course ++ Basic Ethical Hacking

If you want to learn about hacking from scratch with the best professionals in Spain, Securízame’s online course ++ is one of the best you can do. In this course that lasts 20 hours, you will be able to learn the fundamentals of hacking, the main tools that exist to start with such as Nmap, Metasploit and also how to view information from open sources (OSINT) and even how to configure OpenVAS for detection of vulnerabilities, among many other tools. Use the discount coupon “REDESZONE” to get a 5% discount.

Why we like it

Securízame is synonymous with quality in its courses, whether they are face-to-face or online, and it is a company that has focused on training, both for end users and also for workers from companies related to cybersecurity. This course is the first of the two related to ethical hacking, so if you want to have a very good training, this course is one of the first that you should do. However, our recommendation is that you not only do this course, but with each tool or concept that is explained, you yourself investigate more about it.

What to consider

This course is much more expensive than the typical ones on Udemy, since it costs 400 euros, however, considering the quality of its training, it is possible that you will be much more interested than other courses. In addition, we have a face-to-face version of this course, so you can ask the teacher everything you need to make all the concepts very clear. If you are interested in doing the basic face-to-face and online pentesting course, you can access it from here .

 

Complete course of Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity

If you are interested in learning about hacking from scratch to a fairly advanced level, this course is the most recommended course you can take. The price of only €18 makes it a highly recommended course to start in this world, where you will learn certain network bases and different techniques to attack and protect your systems.

Why we like it

It is a starter course in the world of computer security, we have a large number of hours of video on demand, so we are going to learn the main hacking techniques that currently exist, what tools we can use, and they will even teach us how to use Kali Linux, the distribution par excellence oriented specifically to computer security and pentesting. We will also learn about offensive security fundamentals and how to perform different exploitation practices on Windows and Linux machines.

What to consider

Being basic, it is possible that your knowledge is above this course. You must bear in mind that this course lasts only 20 hours of videos, so if you start from scratch, the course will surely not delve too deeply into different areas, so you must take it into account. If you want something more advanced because you already have a certain base, then we recommend you access the intermediate and even advanced level courses.

 

How to get started in hacking c0d3r17

If you want a very good course with more than 60 hours of duration, this introductory hacking course is the ideal one for you. You will be able to learn a large number of fundamental concepts to get started in this world, such as the installation of various operating systems oriented to computer security, anonymity, web hacking, and you will even be able to see what an exploit is and how they work. Other knowledge that you will learn is related to Metasploit, and that is that you will be able to exploit Windows and Linux computers through this powerful tool.

     

Why we like it

It is a beginner course to learn about security, it has more than 60 hours of video on demand, so we have a huge amount of content, specifically triple the content of the previous course. For this reason, it is a highly recommended course to learn the basics of hacking and pentesting. This one is much more complete than the previous one, but do not think that by doing it you will already be a hacker, a long study and tests are necessary to be able to know enough to do a good pentesting and exploit different vulnerabilities.

 

What to consider

Although this course is quite long, you should know that it does not delve too deeply into certain concepts, but it is a very good way to start in the world of computer security. You should know that, although we have placed it at a basic level, it is somewhat more advanced than the previous one we have seen.

 

Intermediate level courses

In this list you will find the intermediate level courses that we recommend to improve your hacking techniques, or to learn new topics related to computer security. In this case, it is necessary to have certain previous knowledge, or to have done the basic level courses before doing these.

 

Complete Ethical Hacking Course – Learn Everything – 2022

This online course lasts only 16 hours, however, it is more focused on hacking smartphones and tablets, and you will be able to learn how to create malicious applications and remotely infect and control mobile phones. In other words, this course is aimed at pentesting for smartphones, in addition, you will also learn how to defend yourself against attacks by cybercriminals.

Why we like it

It is a course that is specifically focused on learning about ethical hacking on mobile devices, mainly Android since it is the most used operating system. In addition, you will learn how to extract information from a computer or smartphone through Trojans. You will also learn how to discover vulnerabilities, create malware, python hacking, and attack and defense techniques.

What to consider

Jack of all trades, master of none. This course lasts only 16 hours, so do not expect to learn all the topics in detail, this course will explain the fundamentals of the different techniques, but without going too deep, something completely normal because its duration is less than other courses. This course is a good way to start “touching” different topics related to computer security.

 

Master in Computer Security. Complete hacking course.

This online course lasts 22 hours, however, it is focused more on defensive hacking than offensive hacking. In this course you will learn how to protect yourself from phishing and not fall into the trap, you will also learn the vulnerabilities that exist in WhatsApp and how to protect ourselves, in addition, you will be able to carry out different checks on your email and other online accounts and find out if they are properly protected or not.

Why we like it

It is a course that is oriented to defense, we are going to learn to protect ourselves from different types of attack, so it is necessary to know beforehand how the different attacks would be made, even if it is in a basic way. We are also going to learn how to automate different tasks with Python, one of the most widely used programming languages today due to its infinite possibilities in the world of cybersecurity.

What to consider

In this course, many topics are covered in just 22 hours, so you should keep in mind that you will not go into too much depth either, however, we believe that it is an adequate duration considering that there are basic concepts of how to protect yourself from phishing that neither it takes too much time. What you should know is that it is necessary to have basic prior knowledge to take full advantage of the course.

Offensive Ethical Hacking. 100% Practice in Red Team. Year 2022

This online course lasts 42 hours, so we are going to learn a lot about offensive ethical hacking. Although the requirements indicate that we will not need prior knowledge, in the agenda we will see how different network protocols work and how to exploit the different services, so it is highly recommended to have prior knowledge of computer networks, and also something related to security, otherwise you could be quite lost if you do it without any prior knowledge.

Why we like it

This course is oriented to offensive ethical hacking, that is, attacking different protocols, operating systems and performing pentesting tasks. Taking into account that it lasts 42 hours of video on demand, we believe that it is a really complete course to learn in an advanced way everything related to the world of offensive security. We will also learn how the main application layer protocols work, and how we can exploit them.

What to consider

This course is not as advanced as other similar ones, we must take into account that we will learn many new concepts related to scanning and exploiting different services in the application layer, so it is necessary to have certain previous knowledge, otherwise you will be quite lost. Another aspect that you should keep in mind is that to solve some machines you need to purchase a PRO subscription to Tryhackme, a popular platform that will provide us with vulnerable virtual machines and practice our knowledge.

So far we have arrived with this complete list of computer security, hacking and pentesting courses. You have seen that there are a large number of courses with different levels, so, depending on your knowledge, you can access one or the other.

Advanced level courses

In this list you will find the courses at an advanced level, if you already have extensive security knowledge and want to perfect it and learn much more, our recommendation is that you take into account the following courses that we are going to recommend.

Online Course ++ Advanced Ethical Hacking

If you want to increase your knowledge about ethical hacking, this course is one of the best there is currently. It is the Securízame online course ++, taught by Daniel Echeverri, so it is synonymous with quality. In this course, which lasts 20 hours, you will be able to increase your knowledge related to computer security in general, and pentesting in particular. If you have already done the basic course, you will love this advanced level. If you decide to do this course, use the discount coupon “REDESZONE” to get a 5% discount.

Why we like it

It is a very advanced course that explains in detail how to perform an exploitation of Windows and Linux operating systems, and also what to do in the post-exploitation to elevate privileges and become a system administrator. It also teaches how to evade different WAFs, perform advanced pentesting of web applications and even how to exploit different types of vulnerabilities that exist today. If you already did the basic course, in this advanced course you will learn much more and in a more advanced way.

What to consider

This course is much more expensive than the typical ones on Udemy, since it costs 400 euros, but we must bear in mind that it is well worth it, both for the syllabus and for the quality of the teaching. We also have this course in face-to-face version, so you can ask the teacher live. If you are interested in doing the advanced face-to-face and online pentesting course, you can access it from here .

 

Practical Hacking: Exploitation and Post-Exploitation on Windows

If you want to learn everything about pentesting in Windows, this is the best course you can take. Here you will learn in person and online live for 20 hours, everything related to computer security in Windows environments. If you want to know how to perform an exploitation and post-exploitation, in this course you will learn how to detect and exploit services on workstations, how to elevate privileges to be administrators, attack Kerberos and even the domain controller. This course also has a volume 2 to complete what you have learned in this, so it is recommended that you do both. If you are interested in taking the volume two course, you can access it here . If you decide to do either of the two courses (or both), use the discount coupon “REDESZONE” to get a 5% discount.

Why we like it

It is a very advanced course that is specifically focused on Windows systems, so that in the 20 hours of the course it is only focused on this operating system. The content of this course is really advanced, so it is recommended that you previously have some knowledge of Windows environments, ideally if you have experience as a system administrator in companies.

What to consider

This course is also worth 400 euros, a high price but we have to take into account the high quality of the training, and that it is a very specific course where it is explained from experience over many years, and it is something that we must take into account. We have this course in person and also online live, so we can choose any of them.

 

Professional course of Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity

This online course lasts 25 hours, so it is enough for you to focus on perfecting different aspects of hacking. A very important detail is that it is totally necessary to have certain previous knowledge, otherwise, you could be quite lost when it comes to receiving this course. If you want to learn advanced hacking techniques, this course is one of the most recommended for its value for money.

Why we like it

This course is oriented to pentesting or offensive security, we will learn advanced techniques of ethical hacking, some techniques widely used in professional environments and also how to try to hack Windows Active Directory, which is widely used in companies. In addition, we can do advanced ethical hacking exercises in a real virtualized environment, with the aim of improving our skills.

What to consider

This course is quite advanced, so it is absolutely necessary to have previous knowledge of cybersecurity and ethical hacking, in order to make the most of it. Although it is a fairly long course of 25 hours, you should know that a large number of tools will be explained, so you should keep in mind that its explanation will not be too in-depth either, however, there are applications that are easy to understand.