Penetration Tester

Penetration Testers seek and attempt to breach existing weaknesses in networks, systems, applications, and company cybersecurity processes.

Role overview

By identifying and attempting to breach weaknesses in an existing system, Penetration Testers help organizations resolve security vulnerabilities and weaknesses. These systems include websites, data storage systems, and other IT assets. This testing simulates cyberattacks and other breaches designed to access valuable sensitive data. Pen Testers can then document their actions to generate detailed findings and remediation reports.

Penetration Testers
may also be referred to as:
Adversarial Engineer
Bugbounty
Ethical Hacker
OSCP Engineer
Pen Tester
AI/ML Penetration Tester

Career Path

Map your career path by understanding role relationships

Average Salary

Based upon experience, salary for this role ranges from:
$157,233
National Average
$181,950
$201,667
* based upon those with two plus years of cybersecurity experience

Responsibilities

Seeking, identifying, and attempting to breach existing weaknesses in digital systems and computing networks.
Utilizing existing threat actor tools and strategies as well as devising their own.
Documenting their testing process to generate detailed reports on how they bypassed established security protections.
Working with clients to define their requirements from the test.
Planning and creating penetration methods, scripts, and tests.
Creating reports and recommendations from findings, including security issues uncovered and level of risk.
Presenting findings, risks, and conclusions to management.

Tools & Environment

Penetration Testers need an advanced knowledge of operating systems and scripting and/or coding tools, as well as networking and network protocols like TCP/IP, UDP, ARP, DNS, and DHCP. Penetration Testers also need experience with computer languages like Python, Powershell, and Golang, and common pen testing tools like Kali, Metasploit, Wireshark, and Web Inspect. They also need a deep understanding of exploits, vulnerabilities, and the latest trends in cyber breaches.

Certifications

Category Organization Certification
Offense CompTIA PenTest+
Offense CREST CCT App
Offense CREST CCT Inf
Offense CREST CRT
Offense CREST CCSAS
Offense CREST CPSA
Offense CREST CCSAM
Offense EC-Council CEH
Offense EC-Council ECSA-Master (Practical)
Offense EC-Council LPT-Master (Practical)
Organization

[cyber_job_role_count] Penetration Tester jobs

Resources

Videos

Watch our latest videos, talks an recorded events
Watch

White Papers

Download our whitepapers and printed resources
Learn

Free Courses

Browse our training courses and educational resources
See All

Podcasts

Listen to our podcast features and recorded roundtables
Listen

Get our latest insights. Subscribe to our newsletter.