SUASS is a curated, MIT-licensed repository of penetration testing notes spanning web, cloud, mobile, and OT security, intended for students and professionals preparing for authorized assessments.

SUASS, hosted at GTekSD/SUASS and subtitled "Secure ur Ass | Penetration Testing Notes," is not an executable tool in the traditional sense but rather a structured knowledge base: a directory of Markdown notes and reference material covering most of the domains a working penetration tester or security student will encounter. At roughly 186 stars and licensed under MIT, it sits in the category of community-maintained repositories like payload lists and methodology cheatsheets — assets whose value lies in curation and breadth rather than code. The repository is written primarily in JavaScript per GitHub's language detection, though the substance is clearly the README-linked folder taxonomy.

The organizational spine of the repo is a table of contents that maps cleanly onto industry practice. Top-level directories include API Security, Bug Bounty, CIS Benchmarks, Cloud Security, IoT Security, Large Language Models, Mobile Security, Network Security, OT and SCADA Security, Red Team, Secure Code Review, Thick Client Security, Web Application Security, and Wireless Security. That list is notable less for any single entry than for the fact that it reflects how modern engagements are actually scoped: cloud and mobile get their own dedicated trees, and emerging areas like Large Language Models are already first-class citizens rather than an afterthought.

Drilling into the subdirectories reveals further depth. Cloud Security splits into Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), mirroring the reality that most authorized cloud assessments target one of those two platforms. Mobile Security covers Android Application Pentesting, iOS Application Pentesting, and — unusually for a modern collection — Symbian S60 Security, a legacy platform that still surfaces in OT and embedded contexts. The MISC folder holds practical extras such as Bug-Bounty-Pro-Tools.md, a Linux/Windows command reference titled LinuxWin cmds u better learn.md, and a Rapid-Fire_Interview-questions.md file aimed at job seekers.

What distinguishes SUASS from a bare link dump is its onboarding narrative. The README explicitly targets "cybersecurity professionals, students, beginners," and the "Getting Started in Cybersecurity" section reads as a genuine curriculum recommendation. It anchors beginners on the CyBOK (Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge) v1.1.0 PDF, mirrored directly in the repository, then lays out a prerequisite ladder: computer basics, networking basics, Windows and Linux fluency, and programming languages including Python, C, PHP, and Javascript. This is conservative, sensible advice that matches how most senior practitioners actually entered the field.

The recommended practical progression is equally conventional in a good way: start with TryHackMe for guided concept-and-tool practice, move to VulnHub for self-directed vulnerable VMs, and graduate to Hack The Box. The README also points learners at ctftime.org for CTF competitions, which remains one of the better structured ways to build adversarial intuition in fully legal sandboxed environments. For an authorized professional, this progression maps neatly onto how junior testers are typically ramped up inside consultancies.

On certifications, the repo takes an opinionated stance that will resonate with practitioners: it recommends CISSP for management-track credibility, BTL1 (Blue Team Level 1) from Security Blue Team for defensive fundamentals, and OSCP from OffSec as the de facto hands-on offensive credential. It then bluntly notes that CEH and Security+ "have a bad reputation with cyber professionals as they are considered easy to obtain or can even be bought," while conceding that HR departments may still value them. That candor is rare in curated lists and signals the maintainer's actual field experience rather than marketing copy.

The learning-resources section curates fifteen YouTube channels, spanning IppSec (the canonical HTB walkthrough resource), LiveOverflow, John Hammond, HackerSploit, The Cyber Mentor, David Bombal, NetworkChuck, Null Byte, and others, alongside pointers to Udemy and Coursera for structured courses. There is also an explicit ethical nudge worth repeating: "Find good books for the topic you want to specialize in and BUY them. DON'T steal good content." For a publication covering offensive tooling, that framing matters — the repo consistently positions itself around legitimate, paid-for or free education rather than shortcut culture.

Operationally, the repository is trivially safe to consume. There is nothing to install beyond an optional git clone https://github.com/GTekSD/SUASS for offline reference, no telemetry, no network callbacks, and no executable payloads at the top level. Because it is documentation, defenders have nothing to detect; the only risk surface is the usual one for community notes repos — that individual linked third-party resources could rot or be repointed over time, so treat outbound links with normal scrutiny before clicking.

Governance is straightforward: contributions follow the standard fork-add-pull-request workflow described in the README, and the whole collection is MIT licensed with a request for attribution and respect for per-file licenses. The project self-identifies as maintained from Jul 7, 2023 to the present, and the breadth of topics plus the GitHub topics list (penetration-testing, redteaming, cloud, mobile-security-testing, webappsecurity, security-audit) suggest ongoing community curation.

Where SUASS fits in a professional workflow is as a desk reference and onboarding aid rather than an engagement tool. An authorized assessor preparing for a cloud engagement can skim the AWS/GCP notes for a refresher; a team lead onboarding juniors can hand them the Getting Started path and the CyBOK anchor document; an interview candidate can grind the Rapid-Fire_Interview-questions.md. Its closest competitive set is other awesome-style repos, and its differentiator is the opinionated, experience-flavored commentary rather than exhaustive link volume.

As with any crowd-sourced notes repository, verify before you rely: methodology notes can age quickly, and coverage depth varies by directory. But as a free, permissively licensed, actively maintained index that spans web, cloud, mobile, IoT, OT/SCADA, and LLM security from a single table of contents, GTekSD/SUASS is a solid bookmark for anyone studying for authorized work or structuring an internal training program.

Educational analysis for authorized security professionals. Use only in controlled, authorized environments.

Related coverage

• vulnerator-ai for autonomous OODA-loop pentest automation


• 3os.org as a shared knowledge base for devops, pentest and sysadmin work


• diccionarios for Spanish-flavored pentesting wordlists and web fuzzing