Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing

The course covers the theory and practical techniques of ethical hacking and penetration testing, which are essential elements in modern cybersecurity. Ethical hacking consists of testing the security of IT systems by trying to find and exploit security vulnerabilities. The course presents the steps of penetration testing including information gathering, network reconnaissance, how to get in touch with services, but also covers specific topics such as web hacking, binary exploitation, social engineering and wireless hacking.

A. Knowledge:

Students will learn:

• the theoretical basis for security testing
• the legal aspects of performing ethical hacking and to judge what is within and outside permitted activities

B. Skills:

Students will learn:

• how to perform practical penetration testing using up-to-date tools and techniques
• how to evaluate the security status of systems and suggest solutions for removing security vulnerabilities
• how to use publicly available resources for verifying the status of vulnerabilities and for applying patches

C. General competence:

• Students will have a better understanding of how to protect systems against modern cyber attacks.

Lectures and workshops with laboratory exercises, capture the flag style competitions with up-to-date security challenges.