GCP Red Team Certification (GCRTP)

GCP Red Team Certification (GCRTP) is earned through the Google Cloud Attack and Defense bootcamp, an on-demand Pwned Labs program that goes deep on modern attack chains and the detections that catch them, then certifies you hands-on.

Google Cloud is often the platform red teamers understand least, which is exactly why attackers like it. Service accounts, OAuth scopes, and IAM bindings behave differently from AWS and Azure, and those differences create attack paths that go unnoticed. A GCP red team certification should prove you can find and exploit them in a live environment. The Google Cloud Red Team Professional (GCRTP) is built to do that, hands-on.

What the GCRTP certification proves

GCRTP is a practical Google Cloud and Google Workspace red team certification. There is no multiple choice section. You are assessed inside a live GCP environment with realistic misconfigurations and telemetry, and you have to enumerate the project, gain a foothold, escalate privileges, and move laterally to reach the objective. Passing means you demonstrated real tradecraft against real Google Cloud infrastructure, which is a credential an employer can trust.

Who this certification is for

GCRTP fits penetration testers moving into cloud, red teamers who need Google Cloud depth, and cloud security engineers who want offensive understanding to strengthen their defenses. You do not need prior GCP expertise. The Google Cloud Attack and Defense bootcamp that leads into GCRTP starts from fundamentals and progresses into service account abuse and lateral movement, so a strong general security background is enough to start.

What you learn on the path to GCRTP

The curriculum tracks how Google Cloud environments are actually compromised rather than listing service features. Core areas include:

• IAM and service account enumeration, including privilege escalation through role bindings and impersonation.
• Abusing OAuth scopes and access tokens, and harvesting credentials from metadata and misconfigured storage.
• Lateral movement across Compute Engine, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, and between projects in an organization.
• Attacking the boundary between Google Workspace identity and Google Cloud resources.
• Detection awareness across Cloud Audit Logs and related telemetry, so you understand what defenders record while you operate.

Because the labs run in production-like projects, you build the blue team awareness that distinguishes a cloud red teamer from someone who only ran a script.

GCRTP compared to other Google Cloud security certifications

The Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer is a defensive knowledge exam. It validates that you can design and manage secure Google Cloud deployments and is valuable for engineering and architecture roles, but it does not ask you to attack anything. Other offensive exams prove general penetration testing skill while covering little of the service account and IAM abuse that defines Google Cloud compromise. GCRTP fills that gap with a fully hands-on, offense-focused assessment specific to GCP and Google Workspace.

How the GCRTP exam works

The certification is assessed in a live Google Cloud environment, not a simulation. You are given objectives and a time window and must accomplish them with real tradecraft against real services that are logging your activity. There is no memorization component. You reach the objectives or you do not, which makes the credential difficult to fake and easy for an employer to verify.

Inside the GCRTP exam environment

The exam is a single realistic scenario rather than a question bank. Once you start, you have 24 hours to work through it. You are given an entry point into a live Google Cloud and Google Workspace environment and you have to build a complete exploitation chain from that foothold to the flag. Nothing is abstracted away: the services are real, the misconfigurations are the kind that appear in production tenants, and the logging is live while you operate.

The environment is completely self-contained. You do not need to spin up your own infrastructure, register a phishing domain, or bring any external tooling beyond what you would normally carry into an engagement. The exam is not proctored, so there is no screen recording or invigilator on a call. You receive an invitation confirming your start time and the rest is down to your tradecraft.

Because the scenario is a chain rather than a set of isolated tasks, partial knowledge tends to show. You cannot memorize your way past a step that depends on understanding how a service account impersonation chain actually evaluates, or why one principal can mint a token that another cannot. That is the point: the format rewards operators who understand the mechanics rather than candidates who have rehearsed a checklist.

There is also no report to write. Some offensive certifications require a full pentest report after the practical component, which turns a technical assessment into a documentation exercise. GCRTP does not. You either build the chain and capture the flag or you do not, and that binary outcome is what makes the credential straightforward for a hiring manager to interpret.

Preparing for the GCRTP exam

You do not need prior Google Cloud expertise to start. What you do need is comfort on the Windows or Linux command line and a general security foundation. Familiarity with Google Cloud helps, but the bootcamp opens with cloud fundamentals before moving into the advanced material, so the ramp is built into the path.

Registration includes 45 days of Academy access, which opens every lab on the platform rather than only the bootcamp material. The bootcamp is fully on-demand, so there is no cohort to wait for and no start date to work around. You enroll and begin immediately. The recommended approach is to claim your Academy access when you start rather than saving it, since the premium labs in the learning path are the fastest way to get comfortable with the tooling before you move into the harder material.

Worth knowing before you start: the labs run against production-like logging, so you see what the platform's native telemetry captures while you operate. Most offensive training treats detection as somebody else's problem. Here it runs alongside the attack path, which builds the purple team awareness that employers increasingly expect from cloud red teamers.

Your access to the custom bootcamp content is lifetime, and that is a separate thing from the 45 day Academy window. The bootcamp labs, the capstone CTF, the course materials, and the private Discord channels remain available to you indefinitely. Only the wider Academy catalog is time boxed, and registration includes a code for 50 percent off the annual subscription if you want to keep that catalog open afterwards. Exam scheduling uses a rolling three day buffer, so you can book any available date at least three days ahead. You sit it when you are ready rather than waiting for a schedule to come round.

After you pass: certification, badge, and retakes

The GCRTP certification does not expire and never needs renewing. There are no continuing education credits to log and no annual maintenance fee. Once you have demonstrated the capability, the credential stands.

Alongside the official certificate you receive a Credly digital badge, which is the format most recruiters and internal HR systems can verify directly. That matters more than it sounds: a verifiable badge removes the step where someone has to email you asking for proof.

If an attempt does not go your way, you can book a new slot. Retakes are scheduled at least two weeks after the previous attempt, which is deliberate. That gap is enough to work back through the labs covering whatever stage of the chain stopped you rather than immediately repeating the same approach. Exam attempts themselves do not expire and there is no deadline by which you must sit the exam, so you can prepare at whatever pace your workload allows.

GCRTP as part of the multi-cloud path

Most organizations do not run on a single provider. Identity federates across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and an attacker who lands in one tenant frequently pivots into another through trust relationships that nobody mapped. Proving capability in one provider is useful, but proving it across all three is what reflects how modern estates actually break.

GCRTP is the Google Cloud component of that path. Its counterparts are the Amazon Cloud Red Team Professional (ACRTP), covering AWS, and the Microsoft Cloud Red Team Professional (MCRTP), covering Azure and Microsoft 365. Completing all three earns the Multi-Cloud Red Team Professional (M-CRTP3) certification, a single credential validating offensive capability across every major provider.

The M-CRTP3 bundle covers all three bootcamps with two exam attempts for each of the three certifications. If multi-cloud work is where you are heading, taking the bundled route is more economical than certifying one provider at a time. Each provider certification also stands on its own, so there is no requirement to commit to all three at the outset. Many practitioners certify in the provider they work with daily, then add the others as their remit widens. Details of the bundled route are at pwnedlabs.io/bootcamps/m-crtp3-certification.

Related labs to build the skills first

You can practice free starter labs for GCP that run live in your browser before committing to the certification. They are the most direct way to test your readiness against real Google Cloud attack techniques. Browse the full catalog at pwnedlabs.io/explore.

Gain career-ready skills

Employers hire for what you can do, not what you can recall. Every objective in this certification maps to a skill you will use on real engagements. By the time you certify, you can:

• Enumerate and abuse Google Cloud IAM and service accounts
• Use service account impersonation to escalate privileges
• Abuse OAuth scopes and access tokens
• Move laterally across Compute Engine, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, and projects
• Attack the boundary between Google Workspace identity and Google Cloud resources
• Interpret Cloud Audit Logs to operate with defensive awareness

These are the capabilities behind cloud penetration tester, cloud red teamer, and cloud security engineer roles. You can build the foundations first with free hands-on labs at pwnedlabs.io/explore, then go deep and certify through the Google Cloud Attack and Defense bootcamp.

Pricing and enrollment

Enrollment includes the full self-paced curriculum, lab access, and certification exam attempts. Full details are on the Google Cloud Attack and Defense bootcamp page.

The Google Cloud Red Team Professional (GCRTP) bootcamp is $399. That covers the full curriculum, 45 days of Academy access across every lab on the platform, lifetime access to the custom bootcamp labs and the capstone CTF, the course materials, and the private Discord channels. Certification exam attempts are included, and registration also carries a code for 50 percent off the annual Academy subscription if you want to keep the wider catalog open after the 45 days.

If you plan to certify across more than one provider, the M-CRTP3 bundle covers ACRTP, MCRTP and GCRTP together for $999 and awards the Multi-Cloud Red Team Professional certification. That is roughly $200 less than buying the three separately, and it includes two exam attempts for each of the three certifications.

Need employer sponsorship? Download the employer funding request letter.

Frequently asked questions

Is GCRTP a hands-on certification?

Yes. GCRTP is assessed in a live Google Cloud environment with realistic misconfigurations and telemetry. There is no multiple choice component.

Do I need GCP experience before starting?

No prior Google Cloud expertise is required. The bootcamp starts with fundamentals and builds toward advanced service account abuse and lateral movement. A general security foundation is enough.

How is GCRTP different from the Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer exam?

The Google exam focuses on designing and managing secure deployments. GCRTP is an offensive, fully practical certification earned by operating in a live Google Cloud environment. They serve different, complementary goals.

Does GCRTP cover Google Workspace?

Yes. The curriculum includes attacking the boundary between Google Workspace identity and Google Cloud resources, reflecting how real environments connect the two.

What roles does GCRTP support?

Cloud penetration tester, cloud red teamer, and cloud security engineer roles where proving offensive Google Cloud capability matters.