Thursday, December 25, 2014

Final Thoughts on the SLAE64 Certification

As is obvious by my posts over the past few days, I was working on fulfilling the requirements of the x86/64 Assembly and Shellcoding on Linux class at SecurityTube/Pentester Academy to obtain the SLAE64 certification.


All I was seeking from doing this was to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. The course material was exceptional compared to my extremely basic assembly class at a Cal State, and it cost twenty times less. I liked that it makes you put your knowledge to the true test by completing 7 practical assignments of varying difficulty. I certainly have respect for others who have completed the certification.

4 comments :

  1. Hi, could you give me your thoughts on SLAE64 vs SLAE32?

    Lets assume one already has some general (x86) assembly knowledge. For the purpose of shellcoding, wouldn't SLAE64 already cover most of the 32bit counterpart?

    I know I'll have to perform 32bit shellcoding in a near future (OSCE), but can't help but feel it is much better value to just learn 64bit (as that is what future intel deployments would use; I am aware of the steeper learning-curve, my only concern is if I'll miss anything -- not difficulty).

    BTW, very nice blog!

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    1. As x64 is almost a perfect superset of x86, you should be fine with just taking 64-bit. There are a couple highly useful instructions (such as pusha/popa) that are x86 only, but generally it is the same thing. Also, make sure you familiarize yourself with all of the x86 calling conventions. x64 calling conventions are completely different.

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    2. Thanks! Will do :)

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  2. Hello, I have one question regarding SecurityTube Training and PentesterAcademy, what is the difference in their courses? both look the same but im just curious if the SecurityTube course includes the exam/exercises and the PentesterAcademy just the videos for the course, thanks!

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