Ask the questions that define the work.

Practice understanding a client’s goals, establishing authorization, setting scope, and explaining a clear offer.

Red padlock on a black keyboard representing cybersecurity
Photo by FlyD on Unsplash

Discovery questions

  1. What happened, and what outcome do you need?
  2. Which systems, accounts, environments, and providers are involved?
  3. Who owns them and can authorize the review?
  4. What testing is permitted, and what is excluded?
  5. What access, documentation, and safe test data are available?
  6. What are your deadline, budget, and decision process?
  7. What report, fixes, retest, or ongoing support is expected?
  8. Can we confirm scope, assumptions, and acceptance criteria before starting?

Write a clear offer

Summarize the problem, included systems, permitted methods, deliverables, exclusions, client responsibilities, timeline, and fee. State whether remediation and retesting are included. Never promise that a system will be completely secure.

Practice with a simulated client

The existing basic chatbot offers fictional WordPress, cloud, and AI client scenarios. It uses preset replies, not paid live ChatGPT. It opens the separate CyberPath practice site and requires its own existing access.

CyberPath · Learn. Practice. Protect.

Student help · My account · Practice only on systems you own or are authorized to assess.