Altered Security (formerly Pentester Academy) runs the most India-friendly AD-focused certifications on the market. CRTP and CRTE are favourites among Indian red teamers because they're affordable, deep, and unmistakably hands-on. Here's how to think about them in 2026 and which to take when.
- Cost: ~₹20,000 (30-day lab + exam)
- Exam: 24h hands-on + 24h reporting
- Focus: Single forest AD attacks (foundations)
- Difficulty: Moderate — beginner-friendly to AD
- Recognition: Strong in India and global red teams
- Cost: ~₹35,000 (30-day lab + exam)
- Exam: 48h hands-on + 24h reporting
- Focus: Multi-forest, cross-trust, advanced AD
- Difficulty: Hard — assumes CRTP-level fluency
- Recognition: Highly respected in mature red teams
What CRTP teaches
CRTP is the foundational AD red-team course. You learn enumeration with PowerView and BloodHound, Kerberoasting, AS-REP, ACL abuse, GPO abuse, and basic lateral movement. The exam puts you in a single forest with 4-5 hosts and a clear chain to Domain Admin. It is achievable in 24 hours by anyone who actually completed the labs.
What CRTE teaches
CRTE assumes CRTP fluency and adds: forest trust abuse, child-to-parent escalation, SID history, ADCS depth (ESC1-ESC8), advanced Kerberos abuse, RBCD, MSSQL trust abuse, and constrained / unconstrained delegation chains. The exam runs across multiple domains and forests with 7-9 hosts and is significantly harder than CRTP. Think of CRTP as your AD driver's licence and CRTE as your competition pass.
Where they sit vs OSCP / CRTO
| Cert | Focus | Cost (₹) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OSCP | General pentest + light AD | 1,45,000 | First pentest cert |
| CRTP | AD foundations | 20,000 | Quick AD depth, post-OSCP |
| CRTO | Cobalt Strike + AD opsec | 50,000 | Tradecraft + EDR awareness |
| CRTE | Advanced AD + forest trusts | 35,000 | Senior red team operator |
| CRTM | Mythic + advanced AD | 55,000 | Specialist (top 5%) |
Suggested path for India red teamers
- OSCP — universal pentest credential
- CRTP — affordable AD depth, good résumé filler
- CRTO — Cobalt Strike + opsec for real-world engagements
- CRTE — multi-forest mastery, senior operator credential
- Optional: CRTM, OSEP, OSED based on specialization
Exam strategy
- CRTP: complete every lab task at least twice; the exam reuses identical primitives
- CRTE: build a methodology document during labs — you will need it under exam time pressure
- Both: document every command and screenshot during the exam, not after
- Both: report quality matters — Altered Security grades reports seriously
- Both: take a sleep break 12h in; passers consistently sleep, failures consistently push through
Our AD-focused training tracks is one of several hands-on tracks Macksofy delivers across India and the UAE. CERT-In empanelled, OffSec/EC-Council authorized, with weekend cohorts and corporate batches.