Ready to put your ethical hacking skills to the test and power your cybersecurity career forward?

After completing this capstone project, you will be able to:

Demonstrate advanced ethical hacking and defensive cybersecurity skills through realistic Red Team and Blue Team exercises.
Conduct reconnaissance, exploitation, privilege escalation, and persistence techniques using professional penetration testing tools like Metasploit and Kali Linux.
Analyze system vulnerabilities, logs, and Indicators of Compromise to detect and respond to simulated attacks.
Integrate OpenVAS and the MITRE ATT&CK framework to evaluate and improve security posture in defensive operations.
Apply generative AI tools to enhance reconnaissance, exploit development, and anomaly detection in cybersecurity workflows.
Produce a professional-grade incident response report, documenting findings, mitigations, and lessons learned from simulated attacks.

This hands-on capstone course is designed for cybersecurity analysts, ethical hackers, and IT professionals who want to showcase their real-world expertise in offensive and defensive security operations.

You’ll begin on the Red Team, using industry-standard tools like Kali Linux, Nmap, and Metasploit to conduct reconnaissance, exploitation, privilege escalation, and persistence. After that, you’ll switch to the Blue Team, performing log analysis, detecting Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), and executing defensive responses using OpenVAS and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

You’ll also explore the transformative role of Generative AI in cybersecurity, applying AI-assisted reconnaissance, exploit generation, and anomaly detection to enhance both offensive and defensive strategies.

Each lab challenges you to prove your mastery through practical exercises, culminating in a final project that demonstrates your ability to investigate, defend, and report on simulated cybersecurity incidents.

If you’re ready to validate your cybersecurity and ethical hacking skills with a portfolio-ready capstone project, enroll today!

Recommended Skills Prior to Taking this Course

The following skills are required to be successful with this course:

We recommend completing all previous courses in the IBM Ethical Hacking with OS Tools Professional Certificate before starting this capstone.

Course Syllabus

Module 1: Initial Access

Lesson 0: Welcome
Lesson 1: Network Reconnaissance and Exploitation
Lesson 2: Initial Access: Checklist and Graded Quiz

Module 2: Privilege Escalation

Lesson 1: Privilege Escalation and Post-Exploitation Techniques
Lesson 2: Privilege Escalation: Checklist and Graded Quiz

Module 3: Persistence Techniques

Lesson 1: Persistence Techniques and Evasion
Lesson 2: Persistence Techniques: Checklist and Graded Quiz

Module 4: Detection and Response

Lesson 1: Threat Detection and Response
Lesson 2: Detection and Response: Checklist and Graded Quiz

Module 5: Generative AI in Cybersecurity

Lesson 1: Generative AI in Offensive Cybersecurity
Lesson 2: Generative AI in Defensive Cybersecurity
Lesson 3: Checklist and Graded Quiz

Module 6: Reporting, Recovery, Final Project, and Course Wrap-Up

Lesson 1: Writing, Compiling, and Submitting Your Incident Report
Lesson 2: Final Assessment
Lesson 3: Course Wrap-Up

Capstone Project: Ethical Hacking with Gen AI

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