Certified Ethical Hacker newbie looking for right direction

[insomnia2009]

hi i was just looking at the eccouncil webiste and have been looking at there online courses they do was looking at the ethical hacker course and wondering before even studying this stuff what basics is needed for this or is there any other info or online courses

[snarp]

Offensivesecurity i have heard is a better course than CEH. I haven't done it (but want too) and heard it gives more hands on, real tools to use.

I have just completed my CEH and my opinion on it is that it is: Quantity versus Quality. There is a hundred and one different applications in the study material, and a lot of them do the same thing.

As for experience before studying, i would say you need a range of skills, from system and networking knowledge, as well as application and OS and some programming knowledge.

There is a lot to cover in CEH, so the wider the skill base the more you will take from the course.

[insomnia2009]

thanks for the reply how long was CEH course and did you do it online also has back track anything in common with CEH have you done any courses before this like A+ network + etc

[lupin]

hi i was just looking at the eccouncil webiste and have been looking at there online courses they do was looking at the ethical hacker course and wondering before even studying this stuff what basics is needed for this or is there any other info or online courses

I personally don't have a very high opinion of the CEH as it appears to be focused on memorising large numbers of tools. The certification is reasonably well known however.

The Pentesting with Backtrack Offsec training is awesome - Offensive Security provide the best training I have attended yet, and I have attended a lot. Lots of other people have the same opinion. In terms of actually learning practical, hands on technical penetration testing skills, there is nothing better available.

[insomnia2009]

just had a look at the intro looks the way i want to go will take that course at some stage as it says have a full understanding of networking i want to make sure im up to it

[lupin]

just had a look at the intro looks the way i want to go will take that course at some stage as it says have a full understanding of networking i want to make sure im up to it

Yes, you will need to have a pretty good understanding of TCP/IP networking before you take the course.

[imported_vvpalin]

OSCP ftw!

CE|H is garbage, just pick up a copy of there training book from your library and youll understand.

[snarp]

thanks for the reply how long was CEH course and did you do it online also has back track anything in common with CEH have you done any courses before this like A+ network + etc

I actually had a 5 day course which was lead by an experienced penetration tester whom was able to show the best tools for the trade. (I hold professional pentester pretty highly after seeing the skills they possess) therefore he skipped many of the useless tools with a (study them later at home attitude) which was great and focused on the real tools, which was primarily backtrack.

As for experience, i have over 12 years of industry experience as a applications/systems analyst/programmer, and others in the course from more a networking background. I must admit thou, after doing the training course i took a good 6 months to study and experiment myself before feeling confident to sit the exam. Yes, this was overkill but i didn't want to fail and its my new chosen career path.

I guess - for me it was a good introduction to penetration testing. I still have my study notes if you do decide to sit the exam.

[insomnia2009]

I actually had a 5 day course which was lead by an experienced penetration tester whom was able to show the best tools for the trade. (I hold professional pentester pretty highly after seeing the skills they possess) therefore he skipped many of the useless tools with a (study them later at home attitude) which was great and focused on the real tools, which was primarily backtrack.

As for experience, i have over 12 years of industry experience as a applications/systems analyst/programmer, and others in the course from more a networking background. I must admit thou, after doing the training course i took a good 6 months to study and experiment myself before feeling confident to sit the exam. Yes, this was overkill but i didn't want to fail and its my new chosen career path.

I guess - for me it was a good introduction to penetration testing. I still have my study notes if you do decide to sit the exam.

hi and thanks to all for replys i think that offensive security is the way to go and to be honest 6 months i would well happy if i was sitting the exam in 6 months lol i really want to get full understanding of tcp/ip how could i get them exam papers from you m8

[Valifake]

Would it be possible to also have a copy of your notes as i'm interested in getting started in this feild of work and the more reading material the better.