Ally Petitt: Youngest OSCP at 16yo. Over 11 CVEs by 18

Summary

Author’s note: This article was initially published on Synack’s README. They have great content and I recommend that you browse their articles if you are interested cybersecurity.Editor’s note: This post from Ally Petitt describes her journey towards earning the vaunted OSCP at 16 > and being an active part of the Synack Red Team at 17. Check out Ally’s blog for more of her write-ups > on vulnerabilities she’s discovered, hacking techniques and more.Life before coding#I was 3 years old when I first declared I was going to be a doctor, my mother told me. When I was 8, I had finally done enough chores around the house to earn $20, and I deposited the total into a college fund. I was 9 years old when I began secretly staying up past my bedtime to read the human anatomy textbook from my father’s bookshelf. When I was 10 I set my sights on getting admitted to Harvard Medical School and becoming a neurosurgeon. This was also the year that I attempted surgery on my arm with a pencil to see what the different layers of skin looked like. As expected from a fifth grader, this was done without anesthesia and, yes, it got infected. When I was 13, however, I survived a global pandemic and that all changed, setting me on a path that would ultimately see me earn my OffSec Certified Professional (OSCP) certification and get my first CVEs as an ethical hacker.With COVID-19 came remote school, which meant the schoolwork that took approximately seven hours on campus could now be completed in 40 minutes from my own room. Without the increased time commitment of fixed class periods, I was now free to explore education on my own, without a syllabus or any restrictions.I began to ask questions that I had never allowed myself the freedom to ask previously. Becoming a doctor is a prestigious profession. But when I researched the burnout, the relentless schedules, rigorous schooling, student debt and stress that these essential workers experience, I realized a doctor’s lifestyle would not be...