Category: PenTest+ (PT0-003)

The CompTIA PenTest+ (PT0-003) exam assesses an ethical hacker’s ability to assess and validate the resilience of enterprise environments across hybrid cloud platforms, web applications, and physical networks. Modern penetration testing demands more than just running automated vulnerability scanners; testers must execute customized exploits, analyze code, assess AI-driven attack vectors, and pivot through secured enclaves while adhering strictly to legal frameworks and Rules of Engagement (RoE).

This category provides in-depth technical walk-throughs, command-line cheat sheets, and performance-based question (PBQ) review scenarios mapped directly to the PT0-003 objective domains. Explore advanced OSINT techniques, web application security testing, privilege escalation workflows, and lateral movement tradecraft designed to prepare you for the PT0-003 examination and real-world red team engagements.

  • CAS-005 Lab: Zero-Trust Microsegmentation

    The data-center network is flat — any host can reach any other. Apply zero-trust microsegmentation with nftables: set the forwarding policy to drop, allow only the required tier-to-tier flows, and prove a web host can no longer reach the database directly.

  • CAS-005 Lab: Tracking Malicious Cron Jobs & Backdoors on Linux

    A server keeps beaconing out even after reboots. Hunt the persistence: enumerate every cron source, find the hidden @reboot job that launches a reverse shell, trace and remove the backdoor binary, and delete the malicious cron entry — cleanly, without destroying evidence.

  • Linux Forensic Investigation: Analyzing Compromised Servers and Rootkits

    Linux forensic investigation of a compromised server starts with volatile memory, then host artifacts, rootkit hiding methods, and a timeline that supports root-cause analysis under CompTIA SecurityX CAS-005.

  • 220-1202 Lab: Mapping Network Drives & Printer Shares

    A new hire needs the Finance share mapped to drive Z: every time they log on. Browse the file server’s shares, map a persistent network drive with net use, and verify it — plus learn UNC paths.

  • OS Network Settings: IPConfig, DNS, and File Sharing

    Windows will not tell you why a user cannot reach a share or why a name will not resolve until you inspect the stack yourself. You open an elevated Command Prompt, you run ipconfig /all, you read the DHCP lease and the DNS servers, and you map the share with net use.

  • 220-1201 Lab: Spec’ing & Building a Virtual CAD Workstation

    An engineer needs a workstation for heavy 3D CAD. Spec the right parts — the ones a CAD build actually needs — then map each demanding workload to the component that matters most for it.

  • Custom PC Configurations for A+ 220-1201: Gaming, Audio, and CAD Workstations

    A technician who cannot match CPU cores, RAM channels, GPU class, storage interface, PSU wattage, and cooling to a workload fails the hardware scenario on CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201).

  • N10-009 Lab: Configuring a VPC Peering Connection

    Two VPCs need to talk privately. Request a peering connection from prod (vpc-aaa) to data (vpc-bbb), accept it, and add the routes on both sides — then learn why peering is non-transitive.

  • Cloud Networking: VPCs, Peering, and SD-WAN

    Cloud networks solve a hard problem: how do you build isolated, scalable, and controllable networks when the hardware lives in someone else’s data center?

  • SY0-701 Lab: WAF & Rate Limiting at the Edge

    The login endpoint is being hit by credential-stuffing and an app-layer flood, and a SQLi probe slipped through. Add nginx rate limiting and enable the ModSecurity/OWASP CRS engine, validate, reload, and prove requests get throttled (429) and injection is blocked (403).