Frequently Asked Questions

HTB Academy is cybersecurity learning the HTB way! An effort to gather everything we have learned over the years, meet our community's needs and create a "University for Hackers," where our users can learn step-by-step the cybersecurity theory and get ready for the training playground of HTB, our labs. All the way from guided to exploratory learning, learn how to hack and develop the hacking mindset that will enable you to assess and create secure systems. HTB Academy's goal is to provide a highly interactive and streamlined learning process to allow users to have fun while learning. Students are presented with material in digestible chunks with examples of commands and their output throughout, not just theory. Target hosts are provided so students can reproduce the materials presented in each section for themselves. There are hands-on exercises that serve as "checkpoints", and skills assessments to test students' understanding of the Module content. Do you want to read the full story? Check it out here.

Let’s put it this way: Hack The Box is a training platform, HTB Academy is a learning one. Hack The Box is the creator & host of Academy, making it exclusive in terms of contents and quality.

Totally! HTB Academy is designed to introduce users to the cybersecurity world and impart the knowledge needed to start their journey. All Fundamental and Easy modules are perfect for beginners, combining guided theoretical learning with interactive, hands-on practice on live targets.

To some extent, yes. Upon registration, we grant you several cubes that help you take the Fundamental modules. What’s more, upon completing each module, you are rewarded with additional cubes that you can use on the next Fundamental level modules. However, if you want to go straight to Easy, Medium, or Hard modules, you will need to buy cubes or purchase a subscription plan.

There is no invite challenge for HTB Academy. No need to worry! There is just a simple sign up process. Register here. You can start immediately with 30 Cubes for free!

No, you need to register a separate account. We kept it this way to let people who don’t know how to hack their way into HTB main platform get a chance at Academy easily and ultimately learn how to hack their way into the HTB platform!

Yes, but we’d advise you to switch the password for another one to keep the accounts secure separately.

No, but the content in Academy will indirectly help you solve a good deal of the content on Hack The Box

Nope. HTB Academy is 100% browser-based! You can interact with all Module targets using a version of the Pwnbox built into each interactive Academy module section. That being said, each Module that has an interactive target can be played from your own VM by either downloading a VPN key or spawning a Docker container and connecting from your own local VM.

Yes! All HTB Academy Job-role paths will result in a certification. To enter any certification exam an exam voucher is required, which you can get by enrolling for an Annual subscription or as an one-off purchase.

You can see the available certifications in the following link: https://academy.hackthebox.com/preview/certifications

Important Note: HTB Academy exam vouchers can be used only when the related path is 100% completed and they include two (2) exam attempts.

We permit the streaming of free Academy Modules (Tier 0). Refer to this link for our streaming policy.

Learning is a fun process, and you will benefit from working through the Modules alone without hints. Modules are designed to provide you with the tools necessary to work through the content without consulting external sources or performing extensive research. What is more, our great and helpful community might be able to give you some help on Discord channels.

Modules are singular sets of content that focus on one subject, specifically in the cybersecurity/pentest industry. Paths are groups of modules that offer a better understanding of bigger concepts and mechanisms through guided, sequential learning of separate modules in a certain logical order. For example, you may see a Module on a tool such as Nmap, which is part of a Basic Toolset path, which includes other commons tools such as Hashcat, etc.

Your cube subscription comes on a per-month basis. The selected pack (Silver, Gold, or Platinum) should directly reflect how much free time you have to complete the potential modules you can unlock with the rewarded cubes for each subscription pack.

We can certainly help you with that. We can issue a company tax invoice, payable by credit card or bank transfer. For more information and business quotes, please contact our sales team at [email protected].

Cubes are our awesome currency! It might take it a bit to understand how it all works, but here is a summary:

• Cubes are used to unlock Modules & Paths.
• You get back Cubes as a reward for Module & Paths completion. It is like cash back, but better!
• The Cubes needed to unlock and reward back depend on the Tier of the Module. Find a table below for reference.

If you want to level up your hacking learning, you will definitely need Cubes. You can purchase them in two different ways:

1. You can purchase your desired amount of Cubes on this page.
2. We suggest purchasing a subscription. This will get you a nice discount and also provide the Cubes needed for the level of difficulty you want to get into! There are 3 subscription levels

• Silver: 200 Cubes per month - 11% discount
• Gold: 500 cubes per month - 27% discount
• Platinum: 1,000 cubes per month - 36% discount

Yes! CPE credit submission is available to our subscribed members. Subscribed members can obtain credits by completing Hack The Box Academy modules, Tier I and above. In order to start tracking your activity and automatically get your credits, you just need to enable this option through your account settings. 

Here is how CPE credits are allocated:

• Fundamental modules: 2 CPE credits
• Easy modules: 4 CPE credits
• Medium modules: 6 CPE credits
• Hard modules: 8 CPE credits
• Insane modules: 10 CPE credits

Free users are allowed one Pwnbox spawn per day. Each Pwnbox spawn allows for two hours of usage. Get unlimited Pwnbox access by either subscribing for any plan or buying any amount of cubes in Academy's billing page, https://academy.hackthebox.com/billing

Yes! You can enroll for a student subscription in the billing section on HTB Academy, https://academy.hackthebox.com/billing

• If you are registered on HTB Academy using an academic email that is included in our list of valid academic domains, the student subscription will be readily available. Please note that you can change your Academy account’s email via the account settings page.
• If your academic email's domain is not in our current list of valid academic domains, the student subscription will appear as unavailable (greyed out). In this case, contact us via the support bubble at the bottom right of the page. The HTB team will verify the validity of the domain you will specify. After the academic email verification process is complete, you will be able to enroll for a student subscription and enjoy Academy's modules! The process may take up to two business days.

Note: Access to Academy modules requires an active student subscription. Make sure to renew your plan monthly to not lose access to your learning material!

You can share your Academy progress with others as follows.

• Via your Student Transcript: Your Student Transcript can be found in HTB Academy's settings page. It is a graphical representation of your Academy progress to date, in the form of a PDF file. Student Transcripts include all undertaken modules and their completion rate.
• Via your Student ID: Your unique Student ID can also be found in HTB Academy's setting page. It can be shared with third parties to identify your Academy progress through an API. For additional security, third parties will need a unique token of their own in order to see your Academy progress. A successful API call will return all completed modules and paths as well as the name you specified in Academy.