Penetration Tester and Ethical Hacker Business Cards for Offensive Security Professionals

Penetration testers (pentesters) and ethical hackers are the authorized offensive security professionals who simulate real-world attacks against organizations' systems, networks, applications, and people — identifying vulnerabilities before malicious actors find them. Pentesters work for security consulting firms, managed security service providers (MSSPs), in-house corporate security teams, and as independent consultants conducting authorized engagements for clients who want to validate their security posture.

Note: All penetration testing work must be performed under explicit written authorization. Professional pentesters always operate with a signed Rules of Engagement (RoE) and Statement of Work (SOW) before testing begins.

What Pentester / Ethical Hacker Cards Include

Your Credentials and Certifications

• OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) — OffSec; the most respected hands-on pentesting certification; requires passing a 24-hour practical exam where candidates must compromise machines in a lab environment with no multiple choice; highly employer-valued
• OSED / OSEP / OSWE / OSEE — OffSec advanced certifications (exploit development, AD pentesting, web pentesting, expert exploitation)
• CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) — EC-Council; broad ethical hacking certification; recognized in government and corporate RFPs
• GPEN (GIAC Penetration Tester) — GIAC (Global Information Assurance Certification); network pentesting certification
• GWAPT (GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester) — GIAC web application pentesting
• GXPN (GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester) — GIAC advanced pentesting
• BSCP (Burp Suite Certified Practitioner) — PortSwigger; web application pentesting
• CRTO (Certified Red Team Operator) — Zero-Point Security; Cobalt Strike-focused red teaming
• CRTE / CRTP (Certified Red Team Expert / Professional) — Altered Security; Active Directory red teaming
• eJPT (eLearnSecurity Junior Penetration Tester) — INE; entry-level
• CompTIA PenTest+ — CompTIA pentesting certification
• CompTIA Security+ — foundational security certification; not pentesting-specific but widely required
• CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) — ISC²; management-level security; common for security managers who also manage pentest programs
• Bug Bounty credits: "CVE-XXXX-XXXXX discoverer" / "HackerOne ranked researcher" / "[Company] Hall of Fame"

Your Security Clearance (if applicable)

• Secret Clearance — DoD personnel security clearance
• Top Secret (TS) — required for classified government pentesting
• TS/SCI — Sensitive Compartmented Information access; highest level for government/defense work

Your Pentesting Services and Specialties

External network penetration testing:

• External reconnaissance (OSINT, infrastructure discovery)
• External network exploitation
• Firewall and perimeter security validation
• VPN and remote access testing
• Email / phishing infrastructure testing

Internal network penetration testing:

• Internal network compromise and lateral movement
• Active Directory (AD) exploitation (Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, Pass-the-Hash, DCSync, Golden/Silver Ticket, BloodHound)
• Privilege escalation (Windows / Linux)
• Credential dumping and password cracking
• Persistence mechanisms
• Ransomware simulation

Web application penetration testing:

• OWASP Top 10 testing (SQLi, XSS, IDOR, SSRF, XXE, SSTI, deserialization, etc.)
• API security testing (REST, GraphQL, SOAP)
• Authentication and session testing
• Business logic flaws
• Cloud misconfigurations (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Mobile backend API testing

Mobile application penetration testing:

• iOS and Android application testing
• OWASP Mobile Top 10
• Binary analysis and reverse engineering
• Traffic interception (SSL pinning bypass)

Social engineering:

• Phishing simulation campaigns
• Vishing (voice phishing)
• Physical intrusion and tailgating
• USB drop testing

Red teaming:

• Full adversary simulation engagements
• Command and control (C2) infrastructure
• Threat actor emulation (APT simulation)
• Crown jewel identification and access simulation
• Purple team exercises (red + blue team collaboration)

Cloud and DevSecOps:

• AWS / Azure / GCP penetration testing
• Container security (Docker, Kubernetes)
• CI/CD pipeline security testing
• Secrets management review
• IAM policy misconfiguration testing

Specialized testing:

• OT/ICS/SCADA security testing
• IoT device testing
• Hardware security testing
• Firmware analysis

Your Tools

Commonly listed (for technical audience business cards — adjust based on context):

• Kali Linux, Parrot OS
• Metasploit Framework, CobaltStrike, Sliver, Havoc
• Burp Suite Pro, OWASP ZAP
• Nmap, Nessus, OpenVAS, Nuclei
• BloodHound, CrackMapExec, Impacket, Responder
• Wireshark, tcpdump
• Gobuster, ffuf, SQLmap
• Ghidra, IDA Pro, Binary Ninja (reverse engineering)

Note: Technical tool lists are typically appropriate for business-to-security-professional cards, less appropriate for client-facing corporate business cards where the service description is more important.

Design for Pentesters

Dark Mode Technical, Security-Aesthetic

Pentester card design:

• Black or very dark background (dark mode)
• Technical terminal aesthetic
• Not "scary hacker" — authoritative and professional

Color palette:

• Black + electric green: terminal / hacker aesthetic (appropriate for technical peer cards)
• Dark navy + white: professional security consulting
• Charcoal + red accent: security threat modeling aesthetic
• Black + orange: OffSec-adjacent (OffSec brand colors)

Typography:

• Monospace typeface (JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Courier) — terminal aesthetic
• Combine with sans-serif for readability

Back of Card

1. "Penetration Tester / Ethical Hacker | OSCP | GPEN (if) | CEH (if) | [Security clearance if any]"
2. "External/internal network | Web application | Red team | Social engineering | Cloud"
3. "Active Directory | OWASP Top 10 | API security | Physical intrusion | Phishing simulation"
4. "CVE-[XXXX-XXXXX] discoverer (if) | Bug bounty (if) | HackerOne / Bugcrowd ranked (if)"
5. "All testing performed under written authorization | [email] | [LinkedIn] | [company/consulting]"

Checklist

• [ ] OSCP (most important, most respected)
• [ ] Additional OffSec certifications (OSEP, OSED, OSWE)
• [ ] CEH (government/corporate RFPs often require it)
• [ ] GPEN / GWAPT (GIAC)
• [ ] CRTO / CRTE (red teaming)
• [ ] Bug bounty credits (CVEs, HackerOne, Bugcrowd ranking)
• [ ] Security clearance (if applicable)
• [ ] External vs. internal network pentesting
• [ ] Web application pentesting
• [ ] Red team services
• [ ] Social engineering (phishing, vishing, physical)
• [ ] Cloud pentesting (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• [ ] Mobile application pentesting
• [ ] OT/ICS/SCADA (if applicable)
• [ ] "Authorized testing" statement