Kali Linux Revealed (KLR/PEN-103) is a course designed for those interested in mastering the Kali Linux distribution for penetration testing. It is now available for free for students or can be accessed through OffSec Learn One or Learn Unlimited training subscriptions. By passing the course’s exam, students can obtain the Kali Linux Certified Professional (KLCP) certification. This is a multiple-choice examination that covers how to manage Kali Linux from a system administrator perspective. While there is some security-themed material, the exam is primarily focused on in-depth Linux management, including command-line memorization. For example, a student may be expected to identify certain aspects of a Debian-based package from memory.
With a Learn subscription, you can access various online courses and receive a free KLCP exam attempt. This subscription includes the PEN-100 and updated PEN-210 courses at no extra cost. These courses offer new content, additional courses, and regular updates to enhance your InfoSec skills. If you’re ready to earn your KLCP certification, this course is an excellent starting point.
Most Offensive Security learning packages come with at least 1 KLCP exam attempt. OffSec Unlimited packages come with unlimited exam attempts for this exam.
Difficulty: 5 out of 5.
Why is it so difficult? The rote memorization of inconsequential trivia!
KLCP is a weird certification. It's a Linux sysadmin cert that people start working on because the material is free from OffSec. Most people think that it involves pentesting.
It doesn't involve pentesting much. You're going to spend more effort learning Salt stack orchestration than you will on thinking about SQLis. Don't get me wrong, it does cover security... just not very much.
The material itself is fine. You're learning basics of Linux and then pivot into advanced package management and fleet deployment and orchestration. All of the literature is reasonably up to date and accurate. I really can't complain about any of that.
However, I will complain about the actual exam itself. I have been using Linux since I was a wee lad. I barely use Windows and live in the command line. I found this to be a challenging Linux sysadmin exam. There's a heavy reliance on memorizing command switches that I'd normally just look at the manpage for. Salt-based Kali deployments are treated as a normal thing rather than something that only the hugest of enterprises would do. You can expect to have different open source library definitions memorized as well as general trivia about the history of Kali Linux.
Overall, I'd say that the material is pretty good. You're going to learn a lot. The test is unnecessarily hard. It also is more of a L+ competitor than a pentesting or security certification. I'm glad I did it but I don't think I'd do it over again.
