Cyber accreditation body Crest forges new training partnerships

Security accreditation and certification body Crest has launched partnerships with cyber training and skills platform Hack The Box and security workforce optimisation specialist Immersive Labs.

Both partnerships are designed to help Crest member professionals hone their defensive and offensive security skills, with Hack The Box (HTB) working on test labs tailored to individuals working towards Crest’s penetration testing and red teaming exams, while Immersive Labs will provide access to hands-on threat and incident mitigation simulations.

The Immersive Labs partnership will incorporate a particular focus on incident response, mapping Immersive’s content to Crest’s exam syllabi, as well as providing bespoke learning paths.

“Hack The Box will provide our members with an innovative and interactive approach to skills and competency development,” said Crest president Rowland Johnson.

“The HTB labs will be aligned to Crest’s internationally recognised examination framework, with labs of every level – from entry to advanced – being made available to the vast HTB and Crest communities.

“Crest-accredited organisations will have free access to entry-level labs, with the option to gain access to a wider set of labs, at a reduced cost, as a result of this new partner relationship. This will not only provide better access to training for Crest exams, but also helps to build a greater sense of community across our global membership.

“Immersive Labs will be providing labs that are aligned to our examination framework and Crest-accredited organisations will have free access to entry-level labs,” added Johnson.

“They will then have the option to gain access to a wider set of labs, at a reduced cost, which will be aligned to our Registered and Certified level exams. This new partnership is not only providing our members with better access to training for Crest exams, but we also hope it will build a greater sense of community.”

Nikos Fountas, Hack The Box operations director, said: “The labs will have content similar to that assessed in Crest exams, but not the same, and will be provided in HTB’s…platform.

“This means using Hack The Box will help indicate if someone is at the right level to take and pass the exam but will not assess everything in the exam. Candidates will always need to join lots of previously unconnected dots and reach higher if they are going to pass the high-level Crest exams.”

Immersive Labs CEO James Hadley added: “Achieving a Crest certification is a high bar, with members benefitting from an in-depth understanding of complex technical skills. Our platform will enable this, letting the community get first-hand experience of offensive and defensive capabilities in an engaging way.

“This shows Crest to be a forward-thinking certification provider dedicated to furthering the development of human cyber capabilities using innovative approaches.”