Professional Penetration Testing: Creating and Operating a Formal Hacking Lab examines all aspects of professional penetration testing, from project management to team building, metrics, risk management, training, reporting, information gathering, vulnerability identification, vulnerability exploitation, privilege escalation, and test-data archival methods. It also discusses how to maintain access and cover one's tracks. It includes two video courses to teach readers fundamental and intermediate information-system penetration testing techniques, and to explain how to create and operate a formal hacking lab.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on the professionals who are members of a penetration test team, the skills required to be an effective team member, and the ways to create a PenTest lab. Part 2 looks at the activities involved in a penetration test and how to run a PenTest to improve the overall security posture of the client. Part 3 discusses the creation of a final report for the client, cleaning up the lab for the next penetration test, and identifying the training needs of penetration-test team members. This book will benefit both experienced and novice penetration test practitioners.