The course aims to develop students' professional competencies within offensive security testing of systems and the ethical and legal frameworks surrounding it. The course focuses on practical exploration of vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, and reporting using a controlled testing environment.

The student has knowledge of:
• Ethical and legal frameworks for ethical hacking, including accountability, contractual matters, and legal limitations.
• The key phases of a penetration test, including reconnaissance, scanning, exploitation, and reporting.
• Fundamental vulnerability types in modern systems (e.g. service vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, web vulnerabilities, brute force, etc.), as well as an overview of the OWASP Top 10.
• Relevant models such as the Cyber Kill Chain and basic attack methods applied in practice.

The student is able to:
• Conduct a structured penetration test in a controlled environment with a focus on reconnaissance, scanning, and exploitation of simple vulnerabilities.
• Gather and analyse information about a target using recognised tools (e.g. Nmap, Burp Suite, Metasploit, etc.).
• Identify and verify vulnerabilities in smaller systems, including web applications.
• Develop attack plans, carry out simple exploit scenarios, and document results.
• Produce a concise penetration test report including findings, evidence, and remediation recommendations.

The student is able to:
• Work independently, ethically, and responsibly with offensive security techniques within a defined and approved testing environment.
• Plan and structure a simple end-to-end penetration test and reflect on the applicability and limitations of the methods used.
• Assess the security posture of smaller systems through practical testing and reporting.
• Collaborate on solving practical challenges, including the production of group reports and joint problem-solving.
• Identify their own development needs in relation to offensive security techniques and further specialization.