ECPPT V3 — How I passed The exam

ECPPTv3 is the eLearnSecurity Certified Professional Penetration Tester, which is a 100% practical exam.

My Background: I already had some knowledge in penetration testing. I play CTFs and I had already passed the eJPTv2 Certificate.

How I preapared ?

It took me nearly 1–2 months to prepare for the certification path. The content is not difficult; it’s easy and clear. I finished all the videos and CTFs in the learning path, and sometimes I also played CTFs on TryHackMe.

The Exam Scenario

The exam scenario is actually good and focuses 90% on Active Directory (AD), with more than 5 machines and 1 or more Domain Controllers (DCs). You have to compromise the majority of them.

To pass the exam, you need a score of 70% or higher.

The Day of the exam

• For me, the exam was a little difficult and overwhelming because brute forcing is required almost everywhere. Sometimes it can take a long time to brute force a machine, so you need patience.
• The exam duration is 24 hours. It’s enough time if you don’t waste it like I did.
• The main problem was that I didn’t read the engagement guide. The engagement PDF actually provides all the necessary information about the pentest, including recommended tools, wordlists, and other tips.

Things I Didn’t Like About the Exam

• The attack machine is unstable. The terminal sometimes gave incomplete results and had no colors.
• Some tools didn’t work as expected. For example, Evil-WinRM sometimes failed even when used exactly as instructed in the engagement.
• There is no report component, which I think reduces the value of the certificate.

Recommendations

• For Active Directory, don’t rely only on the eLearnSecurity course. Play more CTFs because the AD part of the exam is not exactly like the course.
• Read the Engagement PDF carefully.
• Manage your time during the exam.
• Take breaks when needed and don’t treat it exactly like a CTF.

TryHackMe AD Free CTFs

These will help you prepare for the exam:

• Operation Endgame: https://tryhackme.com/room/operationendgame
• Attacktive Directory: https://tryhackme.com/room/attacktivedirectory
• RazorBlack: https://tryhackme.com/room/raz0rblack
• VulnNet: Active: https://tryhackme.com/room/vulnnetactive
• Fusion Corp: https://tryhackme.com/room/fusioncorp
• VulnNet: Roasted: https://tryhackme.com/room/vulnnetroasted