McAfee Institute

the_Grinch

Ran across a number of their certs and a few look very interesting. Anyone have any experience with them? Worth doing? The knowledge seems to be worth the price, but haven't seen much about them.

SephStorm

Never heard of them. And i'm suspicious. With a name like the "McAfee Institute" and a CEO named "Joshua McAfee", it really sounds similar to McAfee Corp and John McAfee without claiming any direct relationship. Their accreditations and recommendations are lacking, their have been BBB accredited for about 2 months now. McAfee Institute, Inc. Business Review in Chicago, IL - Chicago and Northern Illinois BBB

However the guy seems legit.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamcafee

Ultimately, $4-500 is better than a lot out there, and it looks like decent training.

the_Grinch

Yeah the training looks really good, but the lack of reviews and/or reputation makes me question it a bit.

djentlemetal

I may be wrong in this line of thinking, but: isn't it odd that the dude is "board certified" from his own institute? I get that he's prominently displaying those "certifications" as a way of advertising his institute, but something seems off. He also abbreviates these certs as 'CCIE' and 'CCIP'. Seriously, dude? Again, I may be pre-judging and talking out of my rear end when I think, "Of course you're 'CCIE' certified: you're CEO of that organization!"

NightShade03

@djentlemetal - you'd be surprised how many people like that will "claim" they are certified, but unless he will supply his CCIE # for you to verify independently you/us will have to talk him at his word.

@the_grinch - which courses were you looking at on their site? Just curious...

ande0255

I laughed out loud so hard when I saw the CCIE on their webpage, that was good stuff, thank you for posting this

djentlemetal

NightShade03 wrote: »

@djentlemetal - you'd be surprised how many people like that will "claim" they are certified, but unless he will supply his CCIE # for you to verify independently you/us will have to talk him at his word.

@the_grinch - which courses were you looking at on their site? Just curious...

What's really funny is that, in this particular case, he uses the same acronym that Cisco uses for their Expert-level cert. In this guy's case, a CCIE is a
Board Certified Cyber Intelligence Expert.

cyberguypr

His listed address is a few blocks form my office. I'm so tempted to go scope it out.

abyssinica

Wouldn't want to pay $500 for a cert on antiviruses...

the_Grinch

I was looking at Certified Cyber Intelligence Professional as it relates to some of my daily duties/future duties.

SephStorm

I didn't even look at the acronym's, totally blew by that.

vtrader

I had a go at one of these courses, if you already have experience IT security save your time, unless you want to add a certificate with cool sounding names. But it has its merits. The course is more geared towards the non-technical people who need to get an understanding of cyber intelligence/security. For example if you are in law enforcement and are going to work in the cyber department as a non-techy and need some foundational knowledge. They are not technical courses, or IS management. But more focused in the intelligence/attack/kill cycle, OSINT, fraud, social media intelligence. The certs are more on the investigation side.
Hope this helps

SephStorm

Thanks for the update.

JDMurray

Yes, there are a number of cert name collisions that will cause confusion with Cisco certs (CCIE, CCTA, CCIP). MI should have started all of its cert names with "MI-", as in McAfee Institute - Certified Cyber Investigations Expert (MI-CCIE). That would really make them stand out on a resume and in job board search engines.

If MI wants a first-hand, in-depth write up of their training and certs in my TE blog then get a hold of me here.

Fgholm

I signed up for a course and didnt have the time. I asked for a cancellation if they couldnt dona refund and they refused. Then the owner or whomever got into a argument with me over email after checking my linkedin acct. tread with caution

cyberguypr

To be fair "I didn't have the time" is not an excuse to request a refund that would fly in most places. And what's the deal with your LinkedIn account that made him argue?

martyn747

I was interested in a couple of these too. There's not much info on Joshua McAfee in the way of his cyber security background, but fair enough he could only be the CEO and not delivering the course content. He was one of those 'life speakers' for John Maxwell Team, who appear to be a little bit 'ethically-flexible'. They seem to be linked to a few scam reviews on Google.