My Skill Lab
CybersecurityIntermediate

Ethical Hacking & Penetration Testing Basics

Think like an attacker — to defend, legally and ethically.

Taught by Prabin Shrestha · Penetration Tester (CEH)

What you'll learn

  • Plan an authorised engagement with a written scope, rules of engagement and legal authorisation before any testing begins
  • Map an application's and network's attack surface using passive reconnaissance and the concepts behind scanning and enumeration
  • Recognise the major vulnerability classes (injection, broken access control, misconfiguration, weak auth) and the threat models behind them
  • Stand up your own safe, isolated lab with deliberately vulnerable practice apps you are permitted to attack
  • Write a clear, risk-rated penetration-test report with CVSS context and actionable remediation guidance
  • Run a responsible-disclosure process that protects users, respects the law, and builds trust with vendors

About this course

Learn the professional penetration-testing mindset and methodology the way real testers practise it: with written authorisation, a clear scope, and a defender's goal of finding and fixing weaknesses before criminals do. This course teaches the concepts, threat models and reporting craft of ethical hacking — recon, scanning, vulnerability classes and responsible disclosure — entirely within legal, consented, lab-based boundaries. You finish able to plan an authorised engagement, reason about attack surface, and write findings that actually get fixed.

Course content

8 lessons
  1. 1What Ethical Hacking Really Is (and Isn't)The mindset, the law, and the bright line between authorised testing and crime.Preview
  2. 2Scoping & Rules of EngagementTurning permission into a precise, legally sound test plan everyone agrees on.Preview
  3. 3Reconnaissance: Mapping the Attack SurfacePassive and active recon concepts — and why most of it starts with public data.
  4. 4Scanning & Enumeration ConceptsHow testers move from 'what exists' to 'what's running and how it's configured'.
  5. 5Vulnerability Classes & Threat ModelsThe recurring weakness patterns behind most real breaches — and how to defend each.
  6. 6Build Your Own Safe Practice LabAn isolated, legal environment where you can attack to your heart's content.
  7. 7Writing the Penetration-Test ReportThe deliverable that actually matters: clear, risk-rated, fixable findings.
  8. 8Responsible Disclosure & Professional EthicsWhat to do when you find a real vulnerability — legally, safely, and ethically.