Description

A focused course, tailored for you

The Senior Security Testing Lead Playbook for Regional Banks

Run a defensible penetration testing and red team program inside a regulated US bank, with evidence the OCC examiner accepts on the first pass.

The findings are right. The program evidence wrapped around the findings is what costs you two weeks every quarter.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

Senior security testing specialists inside US regional and super-regional banks carry a workload that the job title undersells. The technical testing itself is the smallest part. The larger part is the program evidence that has to ride alongside each engagement: scope memos that tie to specific FFIEC IT Handbook booklet sections, rules of engagement that account for production change windows, segmentation testing that the QSA will accept for PCI DSS, red team narratives that map to MITRE ATT&CK techniques the bank's threat model actually faces, retest cycles that close findings on a date the regulator can verify. When the OCC runs a horizontal review or the bank's second line opens a quarterly challenge session, the questions are rarely about the CVSS scores. They are about scope decisions, exclusions, and whether prior findings closed on the timeline that was committed. The senior testing specialist either has that evidence pre-staged or spends the next two weeks reconstructing it. The course teaches the pre-staged approach end to end.

What you walk away with

Produce scope memos that tie every engagement to specific FFIEC IT Handbook booklet sections and OCC heightened standards expectations, before the second-line review opens.
Run rules of engagement templates that handle production change freezes, customer-impacting systems, and legal hold notifications without an emergency stop mid-engagement.
Map red team operations to MITRE ATT&CK techniques the bank's threat model actually faces, with intelligence drawn from FS-ISAC and the bank's own incident history.
Stage segmentation testing evidence the QSA will accept on the first PCI DSS audit pass, with no rework on scope or sampling.
Close retest cycles on dates the regulator can verify, with traceability from finding to remediation ticket to retest evidence to closure memo.
Brief the audit committee on residual offensive security risk in language that does not trigger an unnecessary deep-dive on testing methodology.

The 12 modules

Module 1. Defensible scope memos for a US bank pentest program

Every engagement begins with a scope memo that the second-line risk function will sign off without challenge. This module walks through the structure the senior testing specialist owns: business context, in-scope and out-of-scope systems with justification, FFIEC IT Handbook booklet references, OCC heightened standards alignment, and the exclusions register. Worked examples cover core banking platform tests, payment rails, and customer-facing digital channels.

Module 2. FFIEC IT Handbook and OCC examiner expectations for offensive security

Examiners do not read CVSS scores in isolation. They read the testing program against specific FFIEC IT Handbook booklets, especially Information Security and Architecture, Infrastructure, and Operations. This module decodes which booklet sections cite penetration testing, what the OCC heightened standards expect from a covered bank's second line, and how the senior testing specialist's evidence package answers a horizontal review without requiring a separate workstream.

Module 3. Rules of engagement that survive production change freezes

A rules of engagement document either lets the engagement run or causes an emergency stop on day three. This module covers production change calendar coordination, customer-impacting system constraints, legal hold notifications, escalation paths, abort criteria, and the executive sign-off chain. Worked example walks through a red team engagement scoped across the bank's online banking platform during a quarter that includes a core upgrade window.

Module 4. Network penetration testing against a banking estate

Network testing inside a bank is not network testing on the open internet. This module covers external perimeter testing across acquired-entity address space, internal network testing with bank segmentation realities, Active Directory attack paths against a forest hardened to NIST 800-53 controls, and the specific evidence the examiner looks for. Reporting templates land in a format the second line accepts directly.

Module 5. Web and API testing for customer-facing banking systems

Online banking, mobile banking back-end APIs, and customer authentication flows carry direct customer impact risk. This module covers OWASP ASVS Level 2 and Level 3 testing patterns tuned for a bank, authentication and session management edge cases the OCC has flagged in prior horizontal reviews, and the structured finding format that maps each issue to FFIEC and PCI DSS requirements simultaneously.

Module 6. Red team operations against a hybrid Active Directory and cloud estate

A full red team engagement starts with credible threat modelling and ends with an after-action narrative the threat-intel team can consume. This module covers initial access scenarios drawn from FS-ISAC reporting on bank-sector intrusions, lateral movement through hybrid Active Directory and Azure, privilege escalation paths the bank's incident history actually shows, and the after-action report structure the CISO uses with the board.

Module 7. Purple team handoffs to the bank SOC and threat hunt function

Red team value compounds only if the SOC turns each technique into a detection. This module covers the purple team cadence, the detection engineering handoff document, the validation cycle that confirms the detection works, and the reporting layer that shows the audit committee the bank's mean time to detect on the techniques tested. Includes the joint metric the SOC manager and the offensive lead both sign.

Module 8. Segmentation testing under PCI DSS for a bank with multiple cardholder data environments

Banks rarely have one cardholder data environment. They have several, plus connected systems, plus acquired-entity environments mid-integration. This module covers the segmentation testing methodology the QSA will accept on the first pass, sampling decisions across multiple CDEs, the evidence package format, and the common findings that delay a Report on Compliance.

Module 9. Retest cycles that close on a date the regulator can verify

A finding is only closed when the retest evidence shows it. This module covers the retest planning cadence tied to the bank's risk acceptance and remediation tracking system, traceability from finding to ticket to retest to closure memo, and the date-verifiable evidence the OCC examiner expects in horizontal review files. Includes a template closure memo for high-severity findings.

Module 10. Mentoring junior testers and growing the offensive security bench

Senior testing specialists carry a quiet second job: building the next layer of the team. This module covers a competency progression model for junior to senior testers, the shadowing protocol that does not slow an engagement, the technical interview structure that filters for bank-context reasoning, and the year-on-year development plan that maps to OSCP, OSEP, CRTO, and similar credentials when the bank funds them.

Module 11. Threat intelligence integration with FS-ISAC and internal incident history

Testing scopes that do not reflect current adversary tradecraft age out fast. This module covers the FS-ISAC feed integration into engagement planning, the internal incident database review that surfaces real techniques used against the bank, the quarterly threat brief that updates the testing program, and the version-controlled testing playbook tied to those inputs.

Module 12. Audit committee and second-line risk reporting on offensive security

The board does not read a pentest report. It reads a single page that names residual risk, trend, and the program's coverage against the bank's threat model. This module covers the quarterly audit committee narrative, the second-line risk function challenge response format, the regulator examiner interview preparation pack, and the language patterns that convey program maturity without triggering an unnecessary methodology deep dive.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

Module 1 and 2 fix the scope memo and FFIEC alignment work that costs two weeks every quarter.

Module 3 prevents the rules of engagement emergency stop that derails one engagement per year on average.

Module 4 through 8 are the technical chapters tuned to a US bank estate, not generic infrastructure.

Module 9 through 12 close the program evidence loop the examiner and audit committee actually read.

What you get with this course

Twelve written modules with worked examples sized for a regional or super-regional US bank.
Scope memo, rules of engagement, retest closure memo, and audit committee narrative templates.
Threat intelligence integration cadence tied to FS-ISAC and internal incident history.
A hand-built implementation playbook tailored to the buyer's bank context, delivered alongside course access.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.

Self-paced through the twelve modules, with templates that can be applied to the current quarter's engagements as you read.

Implementation playbook ready to drop into the next scope memo and quarterly audit committee update.

Before and after

Before

Pentest findings ship on time, but every engagement triggers a two-week reconstruction of scope decisions, exclusions, and retest closure evidence when the second line or the OCC asks.

After

Scope memos, rules of engagement, retest closure memos, and audit committee narratives are pre-staged. Examiner questions are answered from existing evidence rather than reconstructed under pressure.

What happens if you do not address this

The next horizontal review or quarterly second-line challenge will land on the same gap. Two more weeks reconstructing program evidence, again, while the testing backlog grows and the audit committee asks why mean time to remediate did not move.

Who it is for

A senior individual contributor or technical lead in an internal penetration testing, red team, or offensive security function at a US bank in the mid to large asset class. The reader runs engagements personally, mentors junior testers, owns scoping conversations with application owners, and answers to a CISO or Director of Offensive Security who in turn answers to the second-line risk function and the bank's regulators. The reader's calendar mixes hands-on testing, scope review meetings, and program evidence work.

Who this is NOT for. External consulting penetration testers who deliver one-off engagements and never see the bank's retest cycle. SOC analysts who consume test findings but do not run tests. Application security engineers focused on SAST and SDLC integration rather than network and red team testing. Auditors writing the second-line challenge rather than answering it.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Roughly twelve to fifteen hours of reading time across the modules, plus the time to adapt the templates to your bank's specific scope memo and audit committee formats.

Why $199 is the right number

Generic SANS or Offensive Security technical training builds individual testing skill but does not address the program evidence layer that consumes the senior testing specialist's quarter. Big four advisory engagements produce a maturity assessment but leave the senior testing specialist to operationalise it. This course delivers the operational layer directly, sized for the role.

FAQ

Does this assume a specific bank asset class?

The worked examples are sized for a regional or super-regional US bank, roughly the asset class subject to OCC heightened standards. The methodology transfers down to a community bank and up to a global systemically important bank with light adaptation.

Does this duplicate OSCP or OSEP?

No. OSCP and OSEP build technical attack skill. This course covers the program evidence, scoping, regulatory alignment, and reporting layer that those credentials do not address.

Can my junior testers use the same course?

Yes, and module 10 specifically covers how a senior testing lead uses the course to structure a junior bench development plan.

How is the implementation playbook tailored?

After purchase a short intake form captures bank asset class, primary regulators, segmentation context, and current scope memo format. The playbook is hand-built around those inputs and delivered alongside course access within 24 hours.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.