My eCPPTv3 Review

Introduction

In this post I will share my experience with INE’s eCPPT certification, what I liked and disliked, plus some pointers for those who are interested in this exam

A little bit about my background: before sitting for eCPPT, I already had eJPT, CEH (Theory + Practical). I also had some experience with HackTheBox/TryHackMe and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

I started my training for INE’s Penetration Tester Professional (PTP) Learning path on November 2nd, 2025; The course is 108 hours long, I spent like 7-8 hours a day and completed the entire training in just 2 weeks, but I was aware that the training alone won’t be enough to pass the exam so I spent the next 4 weeks solving machines from HTB and learning Active Directory from multiple sources; I sat for my exam on December 20th, 2025, exactly 50 days after signing up

What to expect from this Cert

Since the new version of eCPPT, you no longer have 7 days to hack away the boxes and an additional 7 days to write a professional grade report; not only did they condensed the exam to 24 hours- they removed the report at all; instead it all boils down to how you manage to fuzz systems in the face of 24 hour time limit; tho it’s not all bad- there are some good exploitation steps you need in order to pwn the entire environment

Most of the reviews suggest that the exam environment was unstable; however my experience was quite the contrary; the connection was smooth and responsive, the only downside was that you don’t get to use your favorite tools, locked in an isolated Kali Linux Guacamole Instance where you can’t install anything

Training Experience

The training is great! it taught me a lot of things I didn’t knew before tbh; but do not expect it to fully mold you for the actual exam scenario, good thing is that the syllabus of the course aligns within what the exam demands, it’s just that the coverage isn’t enough to prepare you to handle the exam is all; So I had reinforced my learning with this specific roadmap below

My Roadmap

If you’re willing to go for the certification without the training; I’d say that If you can solve easy rated active hackthebox machines, you’re ready to crack eCPPT without any training

eCPPT isn’t clearly a noob certification; it requires you to know your stuff around advanced penetration testing and post exploitation scenarios; specially Active Directory; I used these resources to supplement my knowledge:

1. Offensive Pentesting – TryHackMe
2. Introduction to Active Directory – HackTheBox Academy
3. Active Directory Enumeration and Attacks – HackTheBox Academy
4. Solve at least 4-5 HTB’s Linux/Windows/AD boxes from Lainkusanagi’s OSCP Like

Tips and Tools

Always read the questions throughly, they help you stay on ground and keep you from falling into rabbit holes

Spend a lot of time on a wordlist before moving on to another one, my hashes took around 40 minutes to crack, if you listen to INE’s suggestion “If a brute-force/dictionary attack takes more than 20 minutes to complete, you are likely using the incorrect wordlist(s)” isn’t quite true

These are the tools I used the most during the exam

Final Thoughts

The eCPPT is definitely a step up from eJPT, and will throughly prepare you for more high value exams like CPTS and OSCP; although like many others I do not recommend this certification; however if you have bought it during a discount; then do not waste too much time ‘preparing’ and get done with the cert as soon as possible