CRTA Certification Journey: Stepping Into Red Teaming

I recently completed my Master's in Cybersecurity Engineering at the University of Warwick and am currently based in the United Kingdom. Having spent years on the defensive and application security side of the house, I wanted to deepen my offensive security knowledge through something more structured than just CTF platforms.

I'm excited to share that I've recently achieved the Certified Red Team Analyst (CRTA) certification from CyberWarFare Labs — a cert that focuses squarely on internal network exploitation and Active Directory security. The assessment involved real-time enumeration, pivoting, lateral movement, and privilege escalation within a simulated enterprise environment.

Here's everything I learned, and what you should know before you attempt it.

About the Certification

The Certified Red Team Analyst (CRTA) is awarded by CyberWarFare Labs upon completing their Red Team Analyst course and passing a 6-hour practical examination. This is not a multiple choice cert — it's a fully hands-on lab environment where you have to work through a real network and answer questions based on your findings.

Course link: cyberwarfare.live/product/red-team-analyst-crta

Verify my CRTA Badge → CRTA-699c6dda398414f740f76056

Exam Details

Answer all questions to earn the certification. No report submission is required — unlike OSCP or similar certs. This keeps the focus entirely on your hands-on exploitation skills rather than report writing.

The Practice Lab

Before sitting the exam, CWL gives you access to a practice lab with 30 days to complete it. The walkthrough for the lab is available on the course website, and the lab portal itself provides a detailed write-up containing all the required commands.

My honest take: if you can solve the practice lab machines on your own — without leaning heavily on the walkthrough — the final exam becomes significantly more manageable. The exam uses a similar attack chain structure, so understanding the why behind each step matters more than memorising commands.

Skills You'll Learn

• Red Team methodology and engagement lifecycle
• MITRE ATT&CK framework — TTPs relevant to red team operations
• Identifying and exploiting the weakest link in an Active Directory environment
• Extensive internal and external recon across enterprise infrastructure
• Kerberos-based attacks in fully patched AD environments — Kerberoasting, AS-REP Roasting, Pass-the-Hash, Pass-the-Ticket
• Bypassing network segregation with updated Linux and Windows OS
• Stealth network pivoting and lateral movement across multi-OS environments

Key Areas to Focus On

Recommended Practice Rooms

TryHackMe

• Wreath — Multi-machine pivoting and lateral movement network
• Attacktive Directory — Kerberos attacks from enumeration to DA
• Breaching AD — Initial access techniques into AD environments
• VulnNet Roasted — Kerberoasting and AS-REP Roasting practice

Hack The Box

• Active Directory 101 — Foundational AD exploitation techniques

My Exam Tips

My Honest Thoughts

If you're looking to get started in red teaming, CRTA is a solid certification to consider. The course content is well-structured and provides a strong foundation in Active Directory exploitation — which is the skill that matters most in real-world internal assessments.

That said, I'd strongly recommend complementing the course with hands-on practice on TryHackMe and Hack The Box before sitting the exam. The course alone will teach you the concepts, but the platforms build the muscle memory for executing under time pressure.

In my opinion, CRTA is a good starting point if you're beginning your journey in red teaming or offensive security. However, if you already have significant hands-on experience in AD exploitation, you may not gain as much value from the course content itself — consider going straight to CRTO or CRTP.

I personally view CRTA as a solid base before attempting something more advanced. The certification hierarchy I'd suggest for offensive security: CRTA → CRTP → CRTO → OSCP.

All the best if you're preparing for it. Feel free to reach out if you have questions — I'm always happy to talk offensive security.