Introduction to Ethical Hacking

About this course

A structured introduction to ethical hacking for people starting out in security research. You will learn how authorised testing differs from attacking, how to scope and document an engagement, and how the most common classes of weakness are found and reported. The emphasis is on lawful, permission-based testing and on writing reports that organisations can act on.

What you will learn

• Explain the legal and ethical boundaries of security testing
• Follow a repeatable testing methodology from scoping to reporting
• Perform passive and active reconnaissance in a lab environment
• Recognise common network and web vulnerability classes
• Write a clear, reproducible vulnerability report and disclose it responsibly

Curriculum

Lesson content is being written and reviewed. Lessons unlock as they are published.

1. Module 1 · 1 h 5 min

   Ethics, law and methodology

   What makes testing ethical, the legal landscape and how professional engagements are structured.

   1. The role of the ethical hackerComing soon
   2. Authorisation, scope and the lawComing soon
   3. Testing methodologies and frameworksComing soon
   4. Module 1 knowledge checkComing soon

2. Module 2 · 1 h 10 min

   Reconnaissance

   Gathering information about a target with and without direct interaction.

   1. Passive reconnaissanceComing soon
   2. Active scanning and enumerationComing soon
   3. Building a target profileComing soon
   4. Module 2 knowledge checkComing soon

3. Module 3 · 1 h 15 min

   Common vulnerabilities

   How frequently seen weaknesses arise and how they are identified.

   1. Misconfigurations and default credentialsComing soon
   2. Injection flaws explainedComing soon
   3. Authentication and session weaknessesComing soon
   4. Module 3 knowledge checkComing soon

4. Module 4 · 1 h 15 min

   Reporting and disclosure

   Turning findings into actionable reports and disclosing them responsibly.

   1. Writing a vulnerability reportComing soon
   2. Severity rating and impactComing soon
   3. Coordinated disclosure in practiceComing soon
   4. Final assessmentComing soon