CompTIA Announces PenTest+ Cert

CompTIA continues to demonstrate its commitment to cybersecurity with the announcement of its newest certification, the CompTIA PenTest+ PT1-001, due for release in the third quarter of 2018.

PenTest+ is a certification for IT pros pursuing a cybersecurity career path. The new certification assesses the most up-to-date penetration testing, and vulnerability assessment and management skills necessary to determine the resiliency of the network against attacks.

Successful candidates will have the intermediate skills and best practices required to customize assessment frameworks to effectively collaborate on and report findings, and communicate recommended strategies to improve the overall state of IT security.

CompTIA PenTest+ joins the Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) at the intermediate-skills level of the cybersecurity career pathway.

Depending on your course of study, PenTest+ and CySA+ can be taken in any order but typically follow the skills learned in Network+ or Security+.

While CySA+ focuses on defense through incident detection and response, PenTest+ focuses on offense through penetration testing and vulnerability assessment. Although the two exams validate Red and Blue Team skills respectively, they are dependent on one another.

Registration for the beta exam already started January 31, 2018, on the Pearson VUE site. The beta period for this exam will end either April 25, 2018, or when 400 people have taken the beta, whichever comes first.

Pass/fail information for the beta won't be available until summer 2018. Only a numbered score is issued at the end of the beta exam — no exam objectives appear in beta exam results.

The most qualified cybersecurity professionals have both offensive and defensive skills, and the CompTIA PenTest+ certification will validate your skills to take on cyber threats head-on.