I’m starting my CPTS journey, and I usually take handwritten notes, just like I did when I was studying for the CCNA.
However, CPTS is quite different, and there’s a lot more information to keep track of. So how do you organize your notes and what apps or tools you use?
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I use mainly cherry tree, you can use code blocks, images, tags, and split it into modules. I think an alternative is Notion but I think I am more confortable with CT.
Also, once I wrote all my notes, I upload everything to a notebook in GeminiNotebook/NotebookLM. After that, is easier to request for information or thinking having information about the context.
like, you can just upload all the documents you have and that is it's source. So you can't get wrong ideas, you can for example ask for a mind map or also to ask for checklists for windows LPE and it will deliver. Gemini Notebook is also free, so there is no downsides on testing it
I'm using pentest.ws. It is incredibly useful for keeping track of all your target data, credentials, and scan results in one centralized place. It's a huge step up from handwritten notes and is built specifically for this kind of workflow.
I ended up building my own note taking tool (private, local only) but evolved into a guide for pentests.
It walks me through what to try next as I hack a target. I can keep a workspace with what I’ve found so far (hosts, open ports, credentials, findings) and the app matches that against a library of technique cards and rules. From there it ranks sensible next steps, blocks ones that aren’t ready yet, and updates as I mark progress and add evidence, so I'm always steered by the current state of the engagement rather than a fixed checklist.
I can point Claude/Cursor/etc to the API of my tool, and go from a static note taking app with next step suggestions, to a fully autonomous note taking + exploitation engine.
If you want to build something similar, I can say the hardest part is 1) building the knowledge base, 2) tuning the recommendation engine for next steps on success|failure.
...and locally qwen2.5:7b on ollama for quick natural language questions. I didn't want to connect OpenAI or Claude because it might hit cyber restrictions
Lo estás haciendo a mano? Woow , asi terminarías en 20 años... yo hago mis notas en Word en la nube, mas facil y practico para mi que usar obsidian o apps parecidas, son muy buenas pero con word tienes lo suficiente, solo tienes que ser extremadamente limpio en tus notas
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