So... You Want to Become a Penetration Tester?

Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing and evolving field with a wide range of subfields and specializations. One of these is penetration testing, a discipline within what's known as "red teaming," which seeks to actively find and exploit vulnerabilities within computer systems (with permission, of course).

It's an exciting and rewarding career, and I'll show you how to become a penetration tester.

Before I continue, however, let me be transparent about my own experience. While I have about three years of ethical hacking experience, I have just over a year of professional penetration testing experience. During that time, I earned the GIAC Certified Penetration Tester (GPEN) certification. In addition, I have 15 years of experience in the IT field, most of it in networking and network security (firewalls, IDS/IPS, etc.), with a stint as a digital forensics analyst.

I also hold a Master's degree in computer ...