Career Pathways in Offensive Operations Featuring Stephen Sims

Thursday, December 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM until 1:00 PMEastern Standard Time UTC -05:00

LIVE WEBINAR

Build your future in offensive security.

Explore where a career in offensive operations can take you, and how specialized education can help you develop the advanced skills to think like an attacker, uncover vulnerabilities, and strengthen your organization’s defenses.

As threats, technologies, and defenses evolve, offensive security professionals need increasingly sophisticated skills to identify weaknesses, emulate real-world adversaries, and test how well systems and applications stand up to attack.

Featured Conversation

Stephen Sims

SANS Fellow and Research Fellow

Curriculum Lead, SANS Offensive Operations

SANS.edu Professor

Join Stephen for practical perspectives on building and advancing a career in offensive security.

Stephen brings more than 20 years of experience in information technology and security, with expertise spanning penetration testing, vulnerability research, exploit development, reverse engineering, product security testing, threat modeling, and secure coding. He is the Curriculum Lead for SANS Offensive Operations, author of SANS SEC760: Advanced Exploit Development for Penetration Testers and lead author of SEC660: Advanced Penetration Testing, Exploit Writing, and Ethical Hacking. Stephen was also the ninth person in the world to earn the GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification and is a co-author of the Gray Hat Hacking book series.

Explore Graduate Study in Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking

You’ll also learn about the SANS.edu Graduate Certificate in Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking and how its SANS Institute courses and GIAC certifications can help you develop advanced, job-relevant offensive security expertise.

What You’ll Learn

Career opportunities and pathways in offensive security
The technical and professional skills that can help you succeed in the field
Insights from Stephen’s career in penetration testing, vulnerability research, exploit development, and offensive operations
How AI and other emerging technologies are changing offensive security work
How SANS.edu integrates hands-on SANS Institute courses and GIAC certifications into graduate-level study
What to expect from the Graduate Certificate in Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking
How to determine whether the program aligns with your experience and career goals

Who Should Attend

This webinar is designed for cybersecurity and IT professionals interested in moving into penetration testing, red teaming, vulnerability research, and other offensive security roles, as well as experienced practitioners who want to deepen their technical expertise and advance their careers.