CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway

While CySA+ focuses on defense through incident detection and response, CompTIA PenTest+ focuses on offense through penetration testing and vulnerability assessment. It involves launching attacks on systems, discovering the vulnerabilities and managing them.

CompTIA PenTest+ is intended for cybersecurity professionals such as penetration testers and vulnerability assessment analysts who are tasked with scanning, identifying, exploiting, reporting and managing vulnerabilities on a network.

Here are just a few of the skills that CompTIA PenTest+ validates:
Plan and scope an assessment
Understand legal and compliance requirements
Perform vulnerability scanning and penetration testing using appropriate tools and techniques
Analyze the results

The progression from CompTIA Security+ to CompTIA CySA+ and/or CompTIA PenTest+ is logical because Security+ assesses the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) an IT professional demonstrates after two years of cybersecurity field work, and CySA+ and PenTest+ assess three to four years of cybersecurity field work.


More Info: a+ certified technician