Hack The Box Academy

Over the past month or two I’ve been using HackTheBox Academy to earn my CPEs for CISSP. It’s been quite enjoyable. I really enjoy the layout of their modules. Some could use some work but, unlike TryHackMe you are forced to do some solid research and testing. Some modules take some time. As of currently the answers to everything are not plastered everywhere like THM. Though, I really enjoy the documentation with each module. They touch on learning styles a lot. I really value the end of each module where they have a easy, medium, and hard hands-on assessment where you have to identify specific things. They could touch on things from previous sections of the course or some instances previous modules and they expect you to build on each module. I’ve made it through half of the Penetration Tester Pathway. It also does not have a plastered rank system and harps on learning versus boasting a rank. I value the ability to learn. I can bounce over to the HTB Platform and own a few boxes there if I want to earn ranks and whatnot. Though, some people value that I just like the content.

However, I will say that THM’s PwnBox version works a lot better. I’m not a fan of the one in HTB Academy. I however, have a Kali VM and just always revert to that with multiple snapshots and currently setting up a setup script so If I break it I just reload run a script and I have all my tools back from previous learning paths.

THM is cheaper as its only 90 Pounds or $107 Dollars. HTB Silver is $216. Student Discount makes it $96 though but, you do not get the +200 cubes a month yet which has not been a big deal to me as you earn them completing modules anyways. I haven’t had to purchase a module yet.

I can definitely see HTB Academy being a very serious contender to THM’s learning platform as they are growing. Definitely worth checking out for a couple months from your own perspective.