Trivia Not Concepts.. bad feeling about these guys... CEH on hold for now

Daniel333

So I have taken classes in CEH7 and 8 with 4+ years of experience and related certs. I decided to break down and get the cert a few weeks and picked up a few books. Doing some Safari online videos courses on Hacking etc. I noticed that a "version 9" was soft released back in Oct and didn't think it would matter much. But having second thoughts.

But after seeing various forums on the Internet, talking to a few people and doing the Q&A in the books. Its become obvious this exam is about trivia and not really general concepts exam like it markets itself. Memorizing specific worms, ports, Nmap switches. Given I am taking the exam free via my job I still don't think it's worth my time until I can get my hands on the version 9 books and even still something about EC-council is tripping my "scam" radar.

Could just be a knee jerk, but I think I'll focus on something else for now. Come back this in summer time and see how I feel then.

I think it was the lack of professionalism in the email they sent me that was the final straw
"Greetings of the day. "
"Kindly take note that the estimated processing time "
"Have a nice day !"

Anyone else getting a weird vibe from these guys?

grungeisevil

These guys are jokers, seriously. Yesterday, I received an email from them stating that my eligibility application was rejected due to the fact that I did not provide enough information.

My eligibility application was sent back in Nov 2015 and was already approved. Mind you I passed the exam back in January. When I wrote back explaining my situation and asked for an explanation from them, I got a response stating that "If you have already passed the exam, please disregard the email"

If that's not 'funny' enough, today the marketing manager emailed me asking if I was interested in taking the CEH exam!?!?

I don't know what kind of monkeys are running this organization, but they better buck up. Really unprofessional.

NetworkNewb

Sounds like they have definitely screwed up with the transitioning from v8 to v9 of their exam. Someone didn't think everything through over there!

Daniel333 wrote: »

Its become obvious this exam is about trivia and not really general concepts exam like it markets itself. Memorizing specific worms, ports, Nmap switches.

Meh, memorizing is the same thing is learning. It's not labeled as an advanced certification and "learning" those ports, switches, and different vulnerabilities are helpful if you want to continue on in the Pen Testing route.

636-555-3226

You'll hear various opinions from different people here regarding EC-Council. My opinion is they're a waste of time and money. The quality of the material that I've reviewed is sorely lacking compared to the other "big name" cert orgs like ISACA. I only recommend them for people who want the CEH as a resume booster.

Sch1sm

Daniel333 wrote: »

I think it was the lack of professionalism in the email they sent me that was the final straw
"Greetings of the day. "
"Kindly take note that the estimated processing time "
"Have a nice day !"

Anyone else getting a weird vibe from these guys?

The people contacting you are in Malaysia and very clearly do not have English as a first language. It is incredibly frustrating. They claim to be based in the USA but as far as I can tell everything is ran out of Malaysia for some reason.

Mike7

636-555-3226 wrote: »

The quality of the material that I've reviewed is sorely lacking compared to the other "big name" cert orgs like ISACA. I only recommend them for people who want the CEH as a resume booster.

CEH is a good intro for those new to pen testing and the cert is a good resume booster. There are other alternatives such as CPEH, GPEN, eCPPT and OSCP, but they are either not as well known to HR (CPEH, eCCPT), too expensive (GPEN) or too advanced (OSCP). CEH title is always going to be a conversation starter; non-IT people will assume you can hack when they hear "ethnical hacker" and give funny looks when you mention "penetration tester".

Anyway, this sticky post from 2008 is still fairly valid.

Was told during a training class that EC-Council originates from Malaysia. As I recall, the medium of instruction in Malaysia schools is usually Malay with English as a compulsory subject. It does not mean that Malaysians are poor in English; most speak good English. Just that some of them may not be as good as you guys and struggle with the written word.

Sch1sm

Mike7 wrote: »

Was told during a training class that EC-Council originates from Malaysia. As I recall, the medium of instruction in Malaysia schools is usually Malay with English as a compulsory subject. It does not mean that Malaysians are poor in English; most speak good English. Just that some of them may not be as good as you guys and struggle with the written word.

Their spoken English is irrelevant, if they struggle with written English then they aren't fit for purpose. It is extremely unprofessional. Any time I've been in contact with the EC-Council I've had to send several e-mails back and forth to clarify things because most of the time they barely make sense. This is not acceptable, especially from a company that claims to be based in the USA.

chrisone

I think too many people here are very critical over CEH. I feel it is a very good starting point for many individuals looking to be educated in ethical hacking. I took elearn security courses PTS and PTP back in 2013, which were very good and I learned a lot. From an entry level CEH is equal in content to the PTS. Going over the topics of both , it looks identical. CEH is a "multiple choice" style of exam so it is more text based. PTS is more hands on lab/simulation style. PTS provides just what you need without any additional fluff, then you must lab it and practice it.

I would say CEH has its value based on content and industry recognition. PTS will make you a better pentester due to the practice labs and the test is a simulation

If CEH ever comes to a lab simulation style of testing, it would conquer the entry level ethical hacking market, based off its name/recognition alone.

Late January eLearnSecurity sent out an email for current members to invite 2 guests to get the PTS "basic" course for free. It ended in January 31st. I didn't get a chance to get two friends of mine into the course. I emailed them a week or two ago to see if they can let ONE in and well I was responded with a deny. They did not seem to want to add any additional students/potential long term customers. I was told to just keep an eye out for further emails or facebook specials.

The last day was Jan 31st for this offer, I emailed them a week ago, its not like I came out of the blue with some crazy request.

Oh well....

Svoboda

Had the same questions as you when I was looking into it.

I've decided to skip the CEH unless an employee demands it and will pay for it.

IronmanX

"I noticed that a "version 9" was soft released back in Oct and didn't think it would matter much. But having second thoughts. "

This has been beat like a dead horse. I'm surprised you did not come across it, Version 9 is the course not the exam. As of like 2011 the exams have no version (There is debate on them marketing it using the version number though and even ANSI has it registered as v

EC Council seems to be international New Mexico, Florida, India and Malaysia.
It does seem when you correspond with them it is with people from Malaysia. Maybe that is where there customer server is located I don't know.
I have dealt with them through email and I agree their English is not the greatest. I'm Canadian so I guess I'm use to dealing with people who don't write proper but the meaning is clear.

I think memorization will lead you to a failing grade. Yeah your going to have to know your ports and Nmap switches, but with 4+ years in the field you should already know that.

mokaz

grungeisevil wrote: »

These guys are jokers, seriously. Yesterday, I received an email from them stating that my eligibility application was rejected due to the fact that I did not provide enough information.

My eligibility application was sent back in Nov 2015 and was already approved. Mind you I passed the exam back in January. When I wrote back explaining my situation and asked for an explanation from them, I got a response stating that "If you have already passed the exam, please disregard the email"

If that's not 'funny' enough, today the marketing manager emailed me asking if I was interested in taking the CEH exam!?!?

I don't know what kind of monkeys are running this organization, but they better buck up. Really unprofessional.

ahhh pal, your post made me laugh to death, jesus bwoy seriously... What a bunch of muuuunkeeeezzzz dawgz !!