Overview
WHAT ARE THE PROVING GROUNDS?
The Offensive Security Proving Grounds (PG) are a modern network for practicing penetration testing skills on exploitable, real-world vectors. They’re based on the course labs featured in the pentesting course for the OSCP
certification, Penetration Testing with Kali Linux (PWK). The labs simulate a complete enterprise network containing dozens of exploit points, ranging in difficulty from simple to sophisticated. They serve as a battleground for penetration testers and enterprise teams to practice, learn, and improve in a realistic environment.
Your team members will develop and hone their penetration testing skills against situations and surfaces they would encounter on a real pen test, within the most robust enterprise network simulation available. In addition to in-network exploit points, use cases also include social engineering, phishing emails, man-in-the middle attacks, social tools and other common vulnerabilities present in today’s real-world networks.
Great care has gone into creating a network of over forty machines with multiple operating systems. These are configured to represent a range of installations, from locked-down modern servers to classic configurations still found in networks everywhere. The systems deployment mirrors real-world situations, complete with network segmentation and IPS-protected “high security” zones.
Real exploitations serve as the basis for all scenarios, ensuring the experience is as genuine as possible. Our industry experts develop and implement new exploits every quarter so that your teams can continue to develop their professional pentesting skills in a safe yet highly realistic corporate environment.
REALISM
- Allows for interesting pivots and expanding possibilities
- Recreates corporate environments
- Practice different techniques relevant to a specific OS
- Difficulty ranges from easy to expert
DYNAMIC UPDATES
- Our labs grow as we discover new exploits
- We use our Exploit Database and pen test assessments to ensure the Proving Grounds stay updated
- Users are exposed to scenarios they’d encounter in the real world
Prerequisites
WHO ARE THE PROVING GROUNDS FOR?
We created the hosted virtual labs as a next step for experienced penetration testers and those who have completed the OSCP examination. Our challenging labs can frustrate even the most confident of information security professionals, providing an excellent training opportunity. However, understanding how systems are penetrated is beneficial to many other IT and technical roles, including:
- Systems and network admins
- Web application developers
- Software engineers
- Security architects, analysts, and engineers
- Exploit development researchers
- Information security consultants
Objectives
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN PROVING GROUNDS?
Pentesters can expect to practice on:
- Modern MS Windows domain infrastructure
- Windows Defender AV bypass
- Linux production environments
- Active Directory
Complex attack vectors are included and new machines last 90 days.
Attack simulations include:
- Man-in-the-middle attacks
- Server message blocking (SMB)
- Phishing emails
- Web and mobile apps
- File server attacks
- Pivoting / lateral movement
- Custom exploits
- Reverse engineering apps
- Buffer overflow, injection, and password attacks
- Privilege escalation
- Information gathering
- Metasploit framework
- WhatsApp (coming soon)
Outline
PROVING GROUNDS OPTIONS
Proving Grounds Enterprise Edition is a completely private network simulation environment for anyone involved in pentesting. It includes a master admin account for customizable functionality, along with access to both analytics and progress reports. Our Teams edition (QAPROVEG) is for growing teams (5+ members) looking to take their corporate pentesting experience to the next level.
QA is proud to be the UK official partner with Offensive Security.
Frequently asked questions
How can I create an account on myQA.com?
There are a number of ways to create an account. If you are a self-funder, simply select the "Create account" option on the login page.
If you have been booked onto a course by your company, you will receive a confirmation email. From this email, select "Sign into myQA" and you will be taken to the "Create account" page. Complete all of the details and select "Create account".
If you have the booking number you can also go here and select the "I have a booking number" option. Enter the booking reference and your surname. If the details match, you will be taken to the "Create account" page from where you can enter your details and confirm your account.
Find more answers to frequently asked questions in our FAQs: Bookings & Cancellations page.
How do QA’s virtual classroom courses work?
Our virtual classroom courses allow you to access award-winning classroom training, without leaving your home or office. Our learning professionals are specially trained on how to interact with remote attendees and our remote labs ensure all participants can take part in hands-on exercises wherever they are.
We use the WebEx video conferencing platform by Cisco. Before you book, check that you meet the WebEx system requirements and run a test meeting (more details in the link below) to ensure the software is compatible with your firewall settings. If it doesn’t work, try adjusting your settings or contact your IT department about permitting the website.
Learn more about our Virtual Classrooms.
How do QA’s online courses work?
QA online courses, also commonly known as distance learning courses or elearning courses, take the form of interactive software designed for individual learning, but you will also have access to full support from our subject-matter experts for the duration of your course. When you book a QA online learning course you will receive immediate access to it through our e-learning platform and you can start to learn straight away, from any compatible device. Access to the online learning platform is valid for one year from the booking date.
All courses are built around case studies and presented in an engaging format, which includes storytelling elements, video, audio and humour. Every case study is supported by sample documents and a collection of Knowledge Nuggets that provide more in-depth detail on the wider processes.
Learn more about QA’s online courses.
When will I receive my joining instructions?
Joining instructions for QA courses are sent two weeks prior to the course start date, or immediately if the booking is confirmed within this timeframe. For course bookings made via QA but delivered by a third-party supplier, joining instructions are sent to attendees prior to the training course, but timescales vary depending on each supplier’s terms. Read more FAQs.
When will I receive my certificate?
Certificates of Achievement are issued at the end the course, either as a hard copy or via email. Read more here.