Cdre, cihe

latent

Hey everyone,

Hope you all are doing great!!!

Been quite a while since I posted here but I do keep reading various threads from time to time as they prove helpful in helping me prepare for the various IT Security Exams I have in mind.

For this year so far, I have passed the CDRE and CIHE from mile2 and I am currently prepping for the CFDE next.

Once I have complete the Mile2 Triology, I will start prepping for the two behemoths of IT Security - CISSP and CCIE Security.

These certifications are valuable in helping me advance in my IT Security Career and gain the new and great Kung Fu skills that put Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee to shame (I am currently running for the hills with that comment). and I also love challenges.

Just wanted to share my thoughts with you all and I will say this is the best IT forum on the planet. Always alive with great blogs, opinions and great encouragement from everyone.

Keep up the great work!!!

cyberguypr

Tell us more about why you went with Mile2 certs and how you see ROI. I am always curious as those are extremely unpopular around here (and virtually everywhere).

latent

I am aware of the unpopularity of Mile2 certs around the board but honestly I can vouch for their certs based on my personal experience with them.

To answer your question -

1) NSA, FBI approved - they are NSA and FBI approved. They are even recommended by US CERT, DoD and FEMA - I work for the govt in my country in the national security sector and they were highly recommended by a US representative here a while back. We did huge amounts of research on them as well before pursuing this avenue. They are recognised in many countries at least in the gov't sector.

2) Customer Service - I can personally vouch and say that their customer service is excellent. They respond to requests via emails and in their forums within one to three hours of asking (well, at least they did with me).

3) Ease of Access - all their materials can be accessed via their portal online. Training manuals, videos and exams (you can order hard copies of the materials as well). The best part is that you can do the exam at anytime as you do not have to go to an exam centre. This was convenient for me because the closest exam centre to do SANS and EC Council exams is at least 50 miles away from where I live.

4) Material - I know people here have complained about the material offered by Mile2 has been dated. However, at least for the forensics and incident handler courses I did with them, it is on par with the SANS courses (I did a couple of SANS training in forensics and incident handler, cannot remember the name of them off hand) and they are about the same. SANS practicals are a little more difficult but other than that, they are about the same.

5) Cost - cheaper than SANS but about the same with EC - COUNCIL.

Overall, I like Mile2 because there are less people in the world certified with them compared to other brand name certs in IT Security to me personally, this is a plus as it makes you stand out especially in interviews. It does not make you look like you are following the crowd.

I once had an interviewer this year (about two months back) ask me how come I do not go with SANS and EC COUNCIL certs like the other candidates in the interview. I got to respond abour Mile2 being recognised by the FBI, NSA ect and I got through the interview (sadly, did not take the job because they were not offering what I wanted).

Finally, to me personally, the real prize in doing certs is to get the knowledge and skills necessary to better yourself so once some comes and asks you to do something, you can get the job done. Makes no sense having OSCP, CISSP, SANS, Mile2 certs ect and you are just a paper tiger and cant get the task at hand done.

These are just my thoughts and experience. Hope it is helpful.