ProfessionalVendor-neutralHack The Box· issued from US

HTB CPTS

Hack the Box Certified Penetration Testing Specialist

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Exam fee

$215

Ongoing

—

Study time

300–500 hrs

Delivery

—

Validity

—

› Quality score

30.5 / 40

Four-axis SecProve rubric, each 0–10. SecProve editorial assessment — each axis carries a written justification so you can push back on any single call without dismissing the whole score.

Blueprint rigor

How well-defined and rigorous the exam blueprint is.

Public Pentester syllabus; covers AD, web, network, reporting.

7.5/10

Practical evidence

Hands-on labs / written reports vs pure MCQ.

10-day live engagement against an AD-heavy lab + 4-day report-writing window. Practice rigour rivals OSCP.

9.0/10

Currency & upkeep

How aggressively content is kept current with the field.

HTB iterates on lab content frequently; cert was refreshed in 2024.

8.0/10

Market recognition

How often this signal actually moves a hiring decision.

Growing fast in offensive hiring as a credible OSCP alternative; recognition climbing year over year.

6.0/10

› NICE Framework work roles

The NIST NICE work-role IDs this cert maps to. NICCS lookup.

PD-WRL-007

Recognition

Global

Exam languages

› Core domains covered

The 3 domains this cert is centrally about. Passing the exam demonstrates working knowledge of each.

A9Penetration Testing & Red Teaming

Methodology (OSSTMM, PTES), web/network/mobile pentesting, social engineering, purple teaming.

A2Network Security

Firewalls, IDS/IPS, network segmentation, DNS security, SD-WAN, VPN, traffic analysis, wireless security.

A6Identity & Access Management

AuthN/AuthZ, SSO, MFA, PAM, RBAC/ABAC, identity governance, FIDO2/passkeys, plus non-human identity: service accounts, workload identity, agent / plugin identities.

› Prerequisites

Experience

Recommended: 3-5 years of relevant security experience. No formal prerequisite from the issuer.

› Progression

requiredrecommended

Where this cert fits in the typical learning path. Required edges are vendor-gated; recommended edges reflect de facto industry progression.

Required prereqs (0)

No vendor-gated prereqs.

Recommended priors (1)

HTB CBBHHack The Box

HTB CPTS

Hack The Box

Required by (0)

No certs require this one.

Recommended next (0)

No follow-on certs reference this one yet.

› Careers that commonly pursue this cert

Penetration Tester

Ethically hack systems to find vulnerabilities before attackers do. Offensive security requires deep technical knowledge.

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