Top ECCouncil Certifications

There are various ways to evaluate and validate one’s professional competence. If you are an IT specialist, you can do it by getting a certification from EC-Council. This vendor proposes a variety of certificates that focus on different domains.

EC-Council Certification Program Overview

The EC-Council certification program contains several tracks: Foundation, Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing, Cyber Forensics, Network Defense and Operations, Software Security, and Governance. Each track concentrates on a specific field and checks one’s appropriate skills. The following are the highlights of these paths and their certificates:

1. Foundation

This track assesses the skills of those computer users who utilize the Internet for working, studying, and the like. It consists of the following certifications:

• CSCU

  Certified Secure Computer User is a certificate that gives attention to protecting information assets and mitigating security exposure. Furthermore, it measures the applicants’ comprehension of different computer and network security threats (for instance, credit card fraud, identity theft, virus and backdoors, online banking phishing scams, loss of confidential information, emails hoaxes, social engineering, and hacking attacks). To get this certification, the individuals need to nail a 2-hour test that comes with 50 questions.

• ECSS

  The EC-Council Certified Security Specialist certification covers three knowledge areas that are computer forensics, information security, and network security. Those who want to earn this certificate need to ace one exam.

• ECES

  EC-Council Certified Encryption Specialist is a certificate that is revolved around the domain of cryptography. It includes modern symmetric and key cryptography. Moreover, it gives attention to hashing algorithms and asymmetric cryptography. There is one required test for this certification.

2. Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing

This track comes with several certificates. They include the following:

• CND

  The Certified Network Defender certification takes a look at administrative application security as well as network attacks and defense strategies. Furthermore, it covers network traffic monitoring and analysis and risk anticipation with risk management, among others. Those who plan to earn this certificate need to pass the related exam. It lasts 4 hours and contains 100 questions.

• CEH

  Certified Ethical Hacker is a certificate that concentrates on performing footprinting and reconnaissance utilizing the latest footprinting tools and techniques. Besides that, it includes enumeration techniques and enumeration countermeasures as well as network scanning techniques and scanning countermeasures. In addition, this certificate gives attention to wireless encryption, wireless hacking methodology and tools, and Wi-Fi security tools.

• CPENT

  The Certified Penetration Testing Professional certification covers building tools, writing exploits, conducting advanced binaries exploitation, and pen testing IoT and OT systems. Furthermore, it takes a look at customizing exploits/scripts to get into the innermost segments of the network. To get certified, the students need to nail a 24-hour practical test divided into two 12-hour sessions.

• LPT

  Licensed Penetration Tester is a certificate that focuses on performing advanced techniques and attacks to identify Cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, LFI, and RFI vulnerabilities in web applications. Besides that, it includes exploiting vulnerabilities in the operating systems such as Windows and Linux and writing exploit codes to gain access to a vulnerable system or application.

3. Cyber Forensics

This track contains several certificates:

• CTIA

  The Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst certification is revolved around threat intelligence, cyber threats, and data collection and processing. In addition, it takes a look at data analysis and intelligence reporting and dissemination. There is one 2-hour exam that leads to this certificate.

• ECIH

  EC-Council Certified Incident Handler is a certificate that assesses the proficiency of the individuals in handling and responding to security incidents. Moreover, it covers unauthorized access, computer forensics, and security auditing, among others.

• CHFI

  The Certified Hacking Forensic Investigator certification gives attention to the computer forensics investigation process. Furthermore, it covers Linux, Windows, and Mac forensics as well as investigating web attacks. To obtain this certificate, the learners need to pass a 4-hour test with 150 questions.

4. Network Defense and Operations

Within this track, the individuals can get the certifications, such as CND, CSA, CTIA, ECIH, and EDRP. Here is some information about EDRP as the most popular:

• EDRP

  EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional is a certificate that measures the skills of the specialists in planning, strategizing, implementing, and maintaining a business continuity and disaster recovery plan. It concentrates on conducting business impact analysis and assessing of risks as well as developing policies and procedures and implementing a plan. In addition, the certification covers securing data by putting policies and procedures in place. It requires one 4-hour exam that comes with 150 questions.

5. Software Security

This track consists of six certificates. The following are the highlights of some of them:

• CASE Net

  The CASE Net certification focuses on application security, attacks and threats, security requirements collection, and secure application design and architecture. Besides that, it includes secure coding practices for authentication, authorization, cryptography, session management, and error handling.

• CASE Java

  The CASE Java certification takes a look at the same topics as the previous certificate but with a focus on Java. To get certified, the professionals need to nail a 2-hour test.

6. Governance

The last track comes with one certification, which is CCISO. Here is some information about it:

• CCISO

  Certified Chief Information Security Officer is a certificate that gives attention to security program management and operations as well as security risk management, controls, and audit management. Furthermore, it includes strategic planning, finance, and vendor management. The exam for this certification lasts 2.5 hours and contains 150 questions.

Preparation Options

There are different preparation tools for those who want to get ready for their tests. Some options can be found on the official website. They are:

• Self-study courses
• Online instructor-led training
• In-person study
• Masterclass

At the same time, the individuals may check various third-party websites to find alternative preparation resources (for instance, exam dumps or video tutorials).

Career Opportunities

The certifications from EC-Council may be utilized for different jobs. Some of them are an Information Security Officer, an Information Security Analyst, an Application Security Tester, a Digital Forensic Examiner, a Vulnerability Analyst, a Systems Analyst, a Security Engineer, and a Network Security Administrator. As per PayScale, the mean compensation outlook for the Information Security Analysts is $73,000 per annum, while the Systems Analysts can earn $67,000 per year.