After passing the Multi-Cloud Red Team Associate (MCRTA) certification back in March, I wanted to share my thoughts on this entry-level cloud pentesting course. As someone who's always been interested in this side of cybersecurity, I was excited to dive into cloud pentesting after some experience with redirectors. Here's my honest take on whether MCRTA is worth your time and money.
The Good: A Fun Introduction to Cloud Pentesting
I'll start with the positives. If you know me or have read my other blogs, you know I genuinely enjoy this side of cybersecurity. The core concept of MCRTA was appealing - learning how to break things in cloud environments and applying those skills to real pentesting work. That's always the fun part for me.
The lab environment itself was actually pretty interesting. You start with OSINT to begin your exploits across the three major cloud service providers (AWS, Azure, and GCP). After some enumeration and exploitation, you gain access to live cloud environments where you can move around and perform reconnaissance. This hands-on approach in actual cloud environments was definitely the highlight of the course.
Going into MCRTA with minimal cloud pentesting experience, I was hoping to beef up my cloud skills. For someone completely new to cloud security concepts, the basic exposure could be valuable.
The Not-So-Good: Structure and Content Issues
Video Structure Problems
One of my biggest frustrations was the video format. MCRTA uses 20-minute videos covering cloud service provider basics, which felt unnecessarily long and unfocused. Having completed other Cyber Warfare Labs courses like CRT-ID and DO-RTA, I much prefer their typical approach of short, focused 3-4 minute videos that drill down on specific concepts.
The current structure made reviewing specific topics a real pain. I don't want to sit through 15 minutes of content just to get to the 4 minutes I actually need to review. It made the learning experience boring and inefficient.
Content Depth Concerns
Here's where I need to be brutally honest: the content is lacking by a significant amount. This feels more like a challenge lab series (think OverTheWire's Bandit) rather than a comprehensive entry-level course like you'd find on Udemy for Security+. Even for an intro course, I'd want to see double the content that's currently provided.
The course is really just a lab - don't expect any substantial learning material. Compared to CRT-ID, there's much less "useful" content that you can immediately apply. I suspect this is intentional, as MCRTA appears designed to funnel you into their broader ecosystem, particularly the Hybrid Multi-Cloud Red Team Specialist (CHMRTS) course.
Poorly Worded Questions
While I can't get too specific about the CTF questions, I can say that many need serious review and revision. The questions were often too vague, lacking sufficient context to understand what was actually being asked. This meant you'd spend time deciphering the question itself before even attempting to solve the technical challenge.
This became genuinely frustrating, and I wasn't alone - checking their Discord showed other students having similar issues. When question clarity becomes a bigger obstacle than the technical content, there's a problem.
Platform and Presentation Issues
Another thing that bothered me was having the course videos hosted on YouTube instead of their own platform. While this might seem minor, it affected the professional feel of the course. After experiencing the quality and presentation of DO-RTA and CRT-ID, I expected better. If you have your own platform capable of hosting content, why outsource to YouTube?
Value Proposition: Is $10 Worth It?
At $10, you might think this is automatically a good deal, but I'm not convinced. Even at that price point, I wouldn't buy this course again. I think most other courses would give you a much better foundation for starting your cloud pentesting journey.
Here's my litmus test: after completing PEN-300 challenge labs, I felt my skills get significantly stronger and learned things I could immediately apply to my work. With MCRTA, I can't say the same. Instead of feeling more confident in cloud pentesting, I felt like I needed another course before I could say I was adequately trained.
The course left me wanting more, but not in a good way - more like feeling incomplete rather than inspired to continue learning.
Who Should (and Shouldn't) Take MCRTA
Skip this if: You're looking for comprehensive cloud pentesting training, want substantial learning content, or already have experience in web app pentesting and are considering cloud security.
Maybe consider it if: You have absolutely zero cloud exposure, have money to burn at $10, and want the most basic introduction possible to cloud environments.
Honestly? I think you could skip this one entirely. There are better courses out there that will give you a stronger foundation for cloud pentesting, even if they cost more upfront.
Final Thoughts
MCRTA feels like what it probably is - a marketing funnel designed to get you interested in Cyber Warfare Labs' more expensive offerings. While the live lab environment has some merit, the overall package doesn't deliver enough value to recommend, even at the low price point.
If you're serious about learning cloud pentesting, invest your time and money in something more comprehensive. Your future self will thank you for building a solid foundation rather than getting a superficial introduction that leaves you needing to start over with proper training anyway.
The cloud security field is too important and complex to approach with inadequate preparation. MCRTA, unfortunately, falls into that category for me.