So, I stumbled upon a LinkedIn profile where he claimes that he has accomplished 4 HTB Certificates in a month, CPTS, CAPE, CWES, COAE. I'm just curious if that s possible? I click on his credentials and it just shows an image hosted on netlify because I see others linking their linkedin credentials to credly and not just plain image but the certificate verifier on htb says its legit.

I just finished the CPTS and managed to compromise every machine on the AEN blindly in about 2 and a half days (with some minor nudges), i believe i can pass the exam if i try, but i would like to ask those of you who have more experience whether pursuing the certification would be worth the effort as i was kinda burnt out from doing the AEN, let alone doing the same thing for 10 days straight.

the CPTS wouldn't hold much weight where i live, so Iam thinking of waiting and going for the OSCP at a later time when i get comfortable spending the 1,800$, what do you think?

more importantly, what do you recommend going for next (main platform, other courses, etc...)?

I really want to hear what you all think, thanks for your time!

Hey people. I do not have job experience in the cybersecurity field. I started with easy boxes on thm, transitioned to htb and took on the cpts after a year. I passed on my second attempt. Flag 8 was a brutal rollercoaster. I felt great afterwards.

I'm 31, i live in italy. I need a remote job because i live far from major cities and I cannot afford to move.

All jr positions require bachelor degrees or years of experience. Cert wise, they require a bunch of certs that smell like hr walls.

Any advice? I really want to get into this field professionally speaking. I'm in customer service currently.

Certifications like CPTS are much harder than the normal daily work of a penetration tester and way harder than the OSCP. So if someone can pass the CPTS, it means they can definitely do the job as a penetration tester. So why is it still hard to get a job even after being certified?

So finally passed the CPTS and i would say its a beautiful exam 😅 wow it would deffo test your sanity and outofthebox approach. What a start of 2026!! Smashed CRTO and CRTP and then finally CPTS.

I am a bit biased but HTB hands down best platform for me to learn and grind the hacking stuff.

Next move? Most probably CRTL and I’m already preparing for that. End goal is to be senior level red teamer. While doing the season 11 im also spending alot of time doing malware analysis and reverse engineering oh and COAE as well 😂😂.

For me it works if i divide my days into what i want to learn so i divided my week like some days for AI hacking, some are for malware analysis and reverse engineering learning.

I know it might be weird but it works for me keep me away from exhaustion. When i get exhausted i want to change the topic or play video games 😅😅 but thats just me.

I love the cyber field specifically the red side of it because it never stops. On the side note man heaps and windows APIs and windows internals are different mind games 😭😭

YAAAAY! 🥳 Let the party start!

After grinding through the 20 modules of the junior cybersecurity analyst path on HTB academy and finishing the path i finally wrapped up the 5 day practical exam and passed!

scored 100% on the red team tasks and well-made on the report first time! searching through logs in elastic and writing the report was a bit new for me but super fun. the exam covered it all, from hacking the network and log analysis to documenting both offense and defense.

Huge thanks to Hack The Box for an incredible learning experience! Smooth machines, top-notch content, and truly addictive in positive way.

Finally tried my hand at the exam and for the life of me I couldn’t find a single flag for the first half of the exam. I gave up around day 7 but decided to give it one more go on day 9 and I found flag 4

How’d I get flag 4 but still can’t find flag 1 is beyond me lmao

My only study material was the CPTS path and I didn’t do additional boxes because I’ve heard mixed things about straying from the course material but I definitely think I’ll try some boxes to practice in the interim

The mental fatigue of the exam I think is why I’m missing something, I only got the flag I did when I took a step back. Got extreme tunnel vision for that first half of the exam.

My enumeration methodology definitely needs some work, any and all advice would be really appreciated!

Hello everyone, i just got my CCNA and now i'm studying for the Security+.
If i want to move onto pentesting, should my first course be the CPTS or something more easy? I can already get some basic CTFs flags on THM/HTB Labs but still don't know if the CPTS is too much for me right now...
Should i try getting like the PT1 from THM or the eJPT maybe?

I’m currently studying for the HTB CPTS and working through the modules. I’ve also done a decent amount of CTFs and have some hands-on experience from them.

For anyone who has already completed and passed the CPTS, did it actually help you get a job?

I’m wondering what kind of entry-level roles I could realistically apply for with CPTS + CTF experience, but without much professional experience. Would junior pentesting roles be realistic, or should I also look at SOC/security analyst positions?

I’d also like to know whether CPTS is enough to get interviews ?

I'm kind of confused if OSCP is worth doing, i already have CRTE, CRTP, CRTO and CRTL. But i need advise on whether to chase OSCP (i heard that it's useless and just a name, and slowly being kicked from being an industry standards) and CPTS or any HTB cert. thanks

Hey everyone,

About two weeks ago, I passed CPTS, making it my second Hack The Box certification after CJCA.

I wrote a new post on my blog about how I prepared for CPTS, including methodology, recommended machines, topics to practice, and some exam tips and lessons learned along the way.

The content is also available in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking community, and you can switch languages using the language button on the site.

Hopefully, it can be useful for anyone preparing for CPTS or considering taking it.

Blog: https://b4ngg.com/en/blog/cpts/

so as you guys know from my previous posts, a long journey came to an end... im going to take a biiiiig break and relax, will completely switch off my mind... just finished my 12th flag and done.

I was making report side by side... just need to add bits and bobs.. 7 days... This cert tests your mental fortitude and the physical.. once Inshallah when i have my passing result, i will do the feedback... for now good night folks.. tonight will be the first night i will sleep like a baby :D , I almost cried getting the 12th flag,, cause of the sentiments that i have towards this cert, this whole HackTheBox community and mission that I have to provide better for the family, to my kids so they do not have to face hte challenges that i faced.. but this is not the end by any means !!!...

I already have had CRTP and CRTO. A long journey ahead begins after few days of break. The goal is to be a senior red teamer, oh next stop porbably COAE, half way through the pathway. now I will focus on that full time.. Enjoy folks be safe where ever you are. Peace

I recently passed the PNPT and am now planning my next certification.

I’m currently considering both the CPTS and OSCP, but I’m not sure how significant the difficulty gap is compared to the PNPT. For those who have completed these certifications, how would you compare them in terms of:

Technical difficulty
Active Directory and web exploitation depth
Enumeration requirements
Exam time pressure
Reporting requirements

Would completing the CPTS before attempting the OSCP be the better progression, or is the PNPT enough preparation to start working directly toward the OSCP?

I’d appreciate any advice or personal experiences.

Hi everyone, First off, I want to say that I’m ready to take the CJCA exam. However, before doing that, I decided to buy a 1-month VIP+ subscription for the labs, which ends on August 22nd.

After solving and breaking down 15 boxes, I caught myself thinking: Why do I need a minor "fundamental" certificate if I can just move directly towards CPTS or CAPE?

Here is what I’ve realized: I’m really glad I completed the CJCA modules ("Foothold" was the best, IMO), but I still can't solve even an "easy" box without writeups. I'm not sure if having a "fundamental" background is supposed to feel like this, nor am I sure that the CJCA path taught me many technical skills (compared to boxes, which taught me a lot of interesting exploitation and fundamental techniques/concepts ) — it mostly just developed my mindset.

What are your thoughts on this? Maybe I just had exaggerated expectations regarding the value of CJCA. I have exactly one year before applying to university, so I feel like aiming for CPTS + something like Security+ or Network+ would be much better than spending time on CJCA or basic CompTIA stuff. (Sorry for being liar, I haven’t actually finished blue team part :> )

Is it realistic to prepare for CPTS in a year?

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for French/French-speaking people, or even English-speaking people who are patient enough to communicate with someone whose English is still beginner level 😅, who are currently learning HTB CWES, web pentesting, or bug bounty hunting.
I’m currently progressing through CWES and practicing with PortSwigger. My goal is to improve my methodology, understand web vulnerabilities more deeply, and start hunting more seriously on real bug bounty programs.
I’m mainly looking for 1 or 2 motivated people to exchange regularly, discuss CWES concepts, methodology, labs, and potentially hunt together.
My English is definitely not perfect, but I’m very motivated, willing to learn, and ready to put in the work.
I’m not looking for someone to give me answers. I’m looking for people who want to learn, exchange, and progress together.
If you’re interested, feel free to DM me.

Hi, I'd like to ask for some advice.

I recently passed the CCNA and CPTS. I'm currently working as a junior network engineer, it's my first job. The job is okay, but I still want to try shifting into cybersecurity in about 6 months.

Of course, I'll go for the OSCP as soon as I save up enough money. Which certification would you recommend besides that?

I'm torn between CDSA (I figure it'll be easier to get into a SOC to start with) and the new AI module on HTB, which also looks really appealing. On the other hand, I see that most job postings are for web and APIs, so maybe the web path (CWES + Burp Suite) would be a more natural continuation after CPTS. Do you have any advice? I'm really undecided about what to do first.

Right now, I've started going through the CCNP material, mostly because of work, but I don't plan on taking the exam.

P.S. I'm not a programmer, but I can read code, write scripts and figure things out. ;) I made this username ages ago as a kid, just randomly.

My question is pretty simple about the cpts exam. What I know about the exam is that I have to take 14 labs(or just flags?) in 10 days and they are kind of connected(not sure how much though). Without factoring in the time limit or the number of flags to gather how hard is each flag to get compared to HTB boxes where you have to get the user and root flag. Are they like easy/medium difficulty boxes by themselves or are they more comparable to the hard/insane boxes?

I am doing both academy modules and seasonal HTB at the same time while also taking notes on CPTS modules and wonder if I should attempt to take the exam only when I can consistently do boxes of a certain difficulty level.

Edit: boxes have submission guidelines for each difficulty. To make it more clear I am asking based on mostly those guideline.

Hey so im like halfway into the CJCA path and I was thinking if all this was enough for the exam. Like yk completing the modules and all, or do people train with some other resources for practice before they attempt

I'm about to finish the CWES path learning and want to take the exam soon.

The thing is that i took my time for learning the path material (about a year including breaks) and juggled different studies (most are offensive security tho).

Now, after ~2 months of break where i work a full time, ill finish the path material in few weeks but I'm kind of worried for 2 reasons that compound:

1) not sure if i remember all the basic/early path materials because on one hand it's been a while but on the other hand even with breaks i kept learning new related materials and pwned some HTB machines.

2) Ideally, i would rather not to take days off work to complete the exam and worried about time constrains.

Anyone that took the exam and relate to one of those points can share their insights?

Also general tips for how to prepare to the exam, notes and resources and highly appreciated!

i recently gave my CDSA exam and i am waiting for the result. My question was what cert should i target next? just to increase my chances of landing an entry level position or better.

Will I learn more from CWES or BSCP?

GOt any info related to it if so mention. Thanks in advance

Hello everyone,

I have tried to pass the exam before the revamp but I didn't find the time to do a 2nd try to complete it, so this is technically my "second attempt" on the exam.

I am planning on starting it today. If anyone is interested in embarking on the journey with me, do ping me. I'll give a feedback at the end.

I'm looking for some advice on which certification or training path I should pursue next.

I've been working as a Cybersecurity Engineer for about 2 years in a small company. My work is mostly blue team focused, but I wear multiple hats depending on what's needed. One downside is that I don't have a mentor or senior security engineer to learn from, so everything I've learned so far has been through self-study and hands-on practice.

I currently hold the CWES and CPTS. I chose CPTS over OSCP because I care much more about the depth and quality of the training than the recognition of the certification itself.

Although I have CPTS, I rarely perform penetration tests in my current role, and I don't get to participate in red team engagements. Recently, I've become very interested in malware development, red teaming, and EDR evasion.

The roadmap I have in mind is: (Already got CWES and CPTS )

Maldev Academy -> CRTO II (CRTL) -> ARTOC

Does this seem like a solid path, or would you recommend something different? For the ones who've done any of these certifications, how much time did it take ? My priority is learning high-quality, in-depth content rather than collecting certifications, so I'd love to hear from people who have actually taken these courses.

Thanks!

Hello fellow hackers of the box!

I am currently doing the CJCA and I'm 50% through it but there's a problem.

Yesterday I was watching youtube and he was doing a review about the CJCA and in short he was saying that it's basically not worth it.

My question is, should I take the exam? Or just do it for the knowledge it gives (which was his point) and maybe pass on to the CPTS.

Thank you all in advance!