Certified Ethical Hacker or CEH is a highly popular and demanded cybersecurity course provided by EC-Council. You might already be familiar with the fact that ethical hacking is itself the major branch of cybersecurity. Ethical hackers are the professionals who are trained to deep dive into the very mind of evil, i.e. real hackers, and find ways to protect a system or network from being breached into. CEH is not just a cool job. It is much more than that. Yes, it is one of the highest demanded job roles by employers but the certification itself is highly valued and regarded by everyone in the industry. And the reason for this is the CEH program itself. Find out more about the prestigious program of CEH below.
The program is ultimate and one of its kind
CEH has paved the path for ethical hacking in the industry as an esteemed discipline that churns out individuals who are industry-ready to take on the challenges of the hacking world. While providing a complete and rigorous training program for individuals who can serve the industry in their full capacity, CEH provides an insightful journey into the mind of a hacker by teaching you all the five phases of hacking, i.e., reconnaissance, gaining access, enumeration, maintaining access and covering your tracks.
The program is short yet resourceful with two exam options
As most cybersecurity courses, the CEH course is also 40 hours long, which you can distribute as per your pace of learning and convenience. In the 40 hours of expert training, you will learn all the hands-on skills for penetration testing that you can later apply in the industry to assess the security posture of your employers or clients. The recommended training period is 5 days minimum (you can also take CEH online training from the safety and comfort of your home), at the end of which you will have to clear an exam with 125 multiple choice questions that will test your CEH skills. The passing criterion is to score 60 to 85%. In addition, and it is recommended, you can give the CEH practical exam as well which is a 6-hour long examination with 20 practical challenges conducted over the iLabs cyber range. Scoring 70% or more in the CEH practical will grant you a CEH (Master) credential. You must, however, have the CEH certification to appear for the CEH practical exam.
What’s new is that EC-Council has rolled out CEH v11, which is the latest learning program offering an ultimate Break The Code challenge with 24 extremely hard hacking challenges spanning different levels of hardships. The BTC challenge covers a total of 18 attack vectors including the OWASP Top 10.
CEH is the industry standard for ethical hackers
There is no doubt about the huge demand for ethical hackers in the market. And when it comes to getting a job as an ethical hacker, the CEH certification is pretty much the original standard. Moreover, it is recognised almost all over the globe. The average salary of a Certified Ethical Hacker is USD 71,331 per annum. Not just that, CEH has quickly become the most demanded certification in Information Technology field. Students can also choose to skip the program and sit for the exam directly to get the CEH certification, provided they pass the exam eligibility criteria.
As the CEH is an advanced course in the offensive branch of cybersecurity, you can further go for the CPENT certification to establish yourself as an elite pentester. You should also check out the forensic track of cybersecurity which has some interesting courses like the CHFI course (Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator) and the ECIH course (EC-Council Certified Incident Handler), both pioneering courses by EC-Council. In the end, if you decide to pursue CEH, be assured that your future self will be thanking you for all the promising career doors it will open.
