5 reasons to take CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) certification

With the advent of the internet and modern technologies, cyber crimes have become a popular activity among hackers. It has become a daunting task for organizations to keep pace with ever-evolving technologies. Black hackers are wearing ugly hats every day and stealing your financial information. This line continues to grow and make cybercrime a major concern that ranges from a security breach to identity theft. 

As the tools have enhanced cybercriminals or hackers sit behind a computer screen and initiate attacks on governments, individuals and organizations all from their place. So the age-old proverb says that “prevention is better than cure”. Hence, to beat the black-hat hackers, ethical hacking has come into place. 

Definition – “Certified ethical hacker”

A certified ethical hacker, also known as a white-hat hacker is an expert who looks into the vulnerabilities in potential systems. They need to pass the ceh certification exam conducted by EC-council. These professionals need to think like a malicious hacker and uses the same knowledge but with legal permissions. Moreover, they attempt to penetrate the security posture of the target systems. 

The main aim of CEH is to block the unauthorized intruders from infiltrating your computer systems. To win it, a certified CEH remains updated with new software, hardware, latest security threats which include trojans, malware and viruses.  They create technical scripts that simulate network breaches, tests the present and future network additions. These breaches are analyzed in detail and find a risk assessment. 

The CEH has to be familiar with all the business operations and ensure that any damaging information is not obtained by black-hat hackers. This is to make sure that the company’s data is secured. 

How to become a certified ethical hacker?

After pursuing your bachelor’s degree in computer science and other related subjects like cybersecurity and information security. You’re qualified to write CEH exam. However, it also requires candidates to have 2 years of work experience in the same domain and able to provide proof.

There are 2 different CEH exams as such 

• CEH (ANSI) and 
• CEH(Practical)

CEH expertise needs to conduct vigorous testing and risk assessments through scripts. As a result, they should possess a strong technical knowledge like 

• Testing methodologies
• Tools
• Security concepts
• Programming languages
• Network architecture 
• Computer architecture and more

Why become a certified ethical hacker

Fixing the vulnerabilities before the system is infringed by malicious hackers become easy one you’re certified. Below are five more reasons to take CEH(Certified Ethical Hacker) certification

Ability to think like a black-hat hacker

Even though many IT professionals have many years of work experience, they can’t think like a hacker. What technologies and tools they have used? What methodologies are they employing to exploit the targeted systems? Knowing how cybercriminals think and operate by stepping into their shoes makes the process easier. Attuning with their learning practices helps you to step ahead of the curve. 

As a certified ethical hacker, you not only learn the theoretical concepts but also implement them in practicality. You’ll learn concepts like various types of footprinting and penetration testing. This provides a real-time practical approach that makes you think and act like a malicious hacker. 

Challenge the hackers by improving knowledge on vulnerabilities

Cybercriminals always wear creative hats and innovate new ways of attacking IT infrastructure and exploit vulnerabilities. Without the proper knowledge, it becomes difficult to keep track of all the risks and secure them. By preparing to become an ethical hacker, you’ll learn how hackers know whether you are a target for attack or not.  The module generally comprises of 

• Key issues plaguing the information security world, penetration testing and incident management process
• Footprinting and Countermeasures
• Enumeration techniques
• Network scanning techniques 
• System Hacking methodologies Various types of trojans and viruses 

Job opportunities

Cyber breaches have become a common aspect in every business environment. Therefore, information security is at the core and taking care of the enterprise for the smooth running of different activities. Many countries are looking forward to enhancing their technological advancements. Particularly in this area, the employment rate is increasing and there are a lot of opportunities and career options to select from. 

For example, you can become

• Penetration tester
• Ethical hacker
• IT Auditor
• Site Administrator
• IT security consultant
• Security Administrator
• Homeland security specialist
• Computer forensics analyst

Protect your systems against virus 

Do you know that there are 2,30,000 copies of malware being produced with the sole intention of penetrating the systems? Yes, It is true. It’s usually done to capture sensitive and confidential data from large and medium companies. As a Certified Ethical Hacker, you’ll have total control of the systems of the organizations. Hence, it is your responsibility to protect them against the ransomware-attacks. There is varied information available online for cybercriminals to use. 

With this Ethical Hacking course, you learn various hacking skills that need to be protected from all the vulnerabilities in your organizations’ system and learn how best you can protect the data. Knowing the risks in advance makes you take security perimeters wisely. 

Moreover, the possible attacks of the organization are the loss of crucial data that is the financial breaches that spread in the news and has far-reaching effects and damages the company’s reputation.

Opportunity to learn new tools

With the changing world and technology, there are many automated tools which are coming up daily. Some of them are used to grow your social networks while others are there to send automatic emails. In fact, with all these, you cannot take the hacking out. With these, many OSINT tools that can help you with security breaches and intel reconnaissance. This is not possible twenty years ago. While you can choose some hacking tools with your basic knowledge, you require in-depth knowledge and understand the tools. 

Furthermore, there is every possibility of learning new tools and their utilization through official hacking courses. You can have access to various real-world labs and several hacking tools. Some of the tools which you can’t miss out are 

• John the Ripper 
• Metasploit
• Nmap
• Wireshark
• OpenVAS

These are open-source tools used to detect vulnerabilities in any hosts. Learning about how different attackers use numerous tools allows you to have better insights. This helps to secure your applications, networks and other assets effectively.

To sum it up

Securing your systems through the vulnerabilities requires, the mind-set of a hacker. That is the reason many companies are hiring professionals who are certified in Ethical hacking. Most often referred to as Ethical hackers or White-hat hackers. They help in testing the loopholes and identify the gaps in the organization’s applications. But how can companies trust the prospective employees and know that they aren’t malicious hackers? This is where certified ethical hacking (CEH) certification comes in. Anyone who wants to flourish in this industry needs to possess this certificate. The exam tests an individual’s capabilities on various levels and using various methods that hackers use. That’s why CEH expertise is in high demand. Their salary range from $24,760 to $111,502 per annum.