I must start saying that this exam was great. I started doing practical exam during my Novell eDirectory 991 course back in the days. And I loved them. This is another exam that I must say goes to my heart. I love the practical stuff. One other thing to say about this exam is that it cost money but it is really affordable. The time of this writing this exam only cost 299$ and with the training 399$ That is what we in Småland Sweden say: Free is good.
For those how are thinking to take this exam, please do. You will not be disappointed taking the time for this!
Exam information can be found here: https://certifications.tcm-sec.com/pnpt/
With this post I want to explain how I approach this.
Lets start with the training. If you already read my post you already know for those that reads my stuff for the first time here is link to my progress in this journey in cyber life:
https://blog.invid.eu/2022/01/06/my-ocsp-and-pnpt-journey-from-the-beginning-during-and-i-hope-the-end-tcmsecurity-thecybermentor-offsectraining-pnpt-oscp-joplinapp-reconmap-bhinfosecurity-strandjs-hacking-pentesting/
Exam day that yourself schedule you will receive an email from TCM Security that looks like this:
Your penetration test is now beginning. You have five (5) full days to complete your testing. Attached are the Rules of Engagement and your VPN file to connect to the network. Please read the Rules of Engagement carefully.
Upon the completion of your exam, you will have an additional two (2) days to compile your report and deliver it back to us at this address.
To get a perspective on this you will have 120 hours of hacking and 48 hours to do the Penetration Test Report.
Time schedule for me looks like this. I do not encourage you to do the same schedule as me. But I still want to you to know how I think.
…….
I schedule my exam to be started at 2022-09-23 09:00.
2022-09-23
07:00 Woke up
07:30 Went out for a walk with the dog
08:30 Bathroom time
08:45 In front of the computer waiting for the email from TCM Security
08:50 Snapshot my Kali
08:51 Open my report document to get it ready
08:51 Joplin for taking fast notes
08:52 Open my spam filters (3 of them) to look for the engagement letter
08:53 Open my spam filters (3 of them) to look for the engagement letter
08:54 Open my spam filters (3 of them) to look for the engagement letter
08:55 Open my spam filters (3 of them) to look for the engagement letter
09:00 Filled up my coffee
09:10 Received my engagement
09:30-16:00 Hacking
16:00-16:30 Eat Pizza time
16:30-00:00 Hacking
2022-09-24
00.01-07:00 Hacking
07:01 Owned the network
07:01 – 07:30 Verified some stuff
07:30 – 09-30 Sleep
10.00 – 12:00 Verified my attack against my notes
12:00 – 19:00 Report writing
19:00 Food time
23:00 Sleep
2022-09-25
10:00-14.00 Report writing
14:25 Sent the Penetration Test Report for evaluation
15.00-18.00 Debriefing presentation
Why did I do the debriefing presentation now? I have not passed the test.
Well, It is all fresh in memory that is why. I have everything in my head. If I would have done the presentation days or week away from the engagement then I would spent a lot more time on that.
Debriefing
2022-09-26 06:47
I was expecting a t least a couple of days to get any feed back from TCM Security regarding if I failed or not. To my surprise I got email from TCM Security that I can choose to schedule a debrief meeting. I received this email 06:47 on Monday that is 16 hours and 22 minutes after I sent in the report. That kind of fast respond blow my mind.
I then was able to schedule the debrief on Tuesday. And that also blow my mind!
This is 19:00 my time!
2022-09-27 19:00 PNPT Exam Debrief
The debriefing started at time, you will have the possibility to go thru your engagement with the report or presentation. I did went for the presentation. You will have 15 minutes to describe your attack. And after the presentation you may receive questions, I did not….I got “You passed!â€
This is amazing! I am now Professional Network Penetration Tester (PNPT)
What do you need to learn before attempt this exam please look at this
https://academy.tcm-sec.com/courses
I am not saying to pass this exam you need to go thru every course below. But it has helped me, and knowledge is easy to wear on your schoulders! 🙂
Thats all!
Keep hacking!
//Roger
Tips and Tricks 
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