Month 6 – Ethical Hacking & Vulnerability Assessment (Authorized Testing Only)

🧑‍💻 3-Month Ethical Hacking Curriculum

Topic	What I Will Discuss	Tool	What We Use the Tool For	Practical	Theory Assessment	Practical Assessment
1. Introduction to Ethical Hacking	Ethical hacking, hackers, rules, scope and methodology	Kali Linux	Ethical hacking environment	Set up Kali Linux lab	Quiz on ethical hacking	Lab setup
2. Information Gathering	Passive and active reconnaissance	WHOIS, Google Dorks	Finding publicly available information	Gather information about a practice target	Reconnaissance quiz	Recon report
3. Network Scanning	Ports, services and network discovery	Nmap	Discovering open ports and services	Scan a lab machine	Nmap theory test	Perform and document a scan
4. Enumeration	Finding users, services and system information	Nmap, Netcat	Gathering detailed information from authorized systems	Enumerate a vulnerable lab	Enumeration quiz	Enumeration report
5. Vulnerability Assessment	Identifying weaknesses in systems	Nessus/OpenVAS	Finding known vulnerabilities	Scan a vulnerable lab	Vulnerability assessment test	Produce vulnerability report
6. Password Security	Password attacks, hashes and password protection	John the Ripper, Hashcat	Testing password strength in a lab	Crack provided test hashes	Password security quiz	Password audit report
7. Web Application Hacking	Common web vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and XSS	Burp Suite	Testing web applications	Test a deliberately vulnerable web app	Web security test	Find and document vulnerabilities
8. Exploitation	Understanding how vulnerabilities can be exploited	Metasploit	Controlled exploitation of vulnerable machines	Exploit a lab machine	Exploitation theory test	Successful lab exploitation
9. Privilege Escalation	Understanding how attackers gain higher privileges	LinPEAS/WinPEAS	Identifying privilege-escalation weaknesses	Escalate privileges in a lab	Privilege escalation quiz	Document the attack path
10. Network Hacking	Network attacks and security weaknesses	Wireshark	Capturing and analyzing network traffic	Analyze authorized lab traffic	Network security test	Traffic analysis report
11. Social Engineering Awareness	Phishing, human weaknesses and defense	GoPhish	Security awareness testing in an authorized environment	Run a simulated phishing exercise	Social engineering assessment	Awareness campaign report
12. Penetration Testing & Reporting	Full ethical hacking process from reconnaissance to report	Kali Linux + Burp Suite + Nmap	Conducting an authorized security assessment	Complete a mini penetration test on a lab	Final theory examination	Final penetration-testing report

🎯 Final Goal

By the end of 3 months: students should be able to perform a basic authorized penetration test, identify vulnerabilities, safely demonstrate their impact in a lab, and write a professional security report.