Noob with a question

OldSchool

Hello, all. I'm currently an unemployed fraud investigator. My specialty is online fraud. I am now looking at learning the more technical side of computer crime as an additional skill set when I am employed again. After doing a little research, I see that obtaining the CISSP certification is something that isn't doable due to the experience requirements (I'm on the sunny side of 55 right now, and am planning on doing something unrelated in my later years). I am interested in becoming a CEH, and would like to know what kind of background (programming languages, hardware experience) I should have before signing up for any kind of training. I have done a little programming, and would call myself an "intermediate" computer user (comfortable making changes to settings, I understand what the tech is telling me when I take my laptop in). Thanks in advance for your guidance.

cisco_trooper

I would at 55 you are going to need to enjoy what you are doing. If you aren't using computing in a technical capacity you are likely to find there is a lot more to learn than you are expecting. This comes from not knowing what you don't know. I'm not trying to dissuade you from this path, but as a friendly suggestion to consider your 5 and 10 year plan. Are you planning on retiring, etc.? It will take a couple years or more to become an efficient CEH, and much longer for a SSCP or CISSP. Also, while you will gain some technical proficiency heading down these paths, I don't know that they will directly impact a career in fraud investigation. I'll let someone with more knowledge of fraud investigation chime in and give their thoughts.

Now all that being said, I don't see myself ever retiring so I wouldn't hesitate to go down a new career path at 55. Others feel differently, so my bottom line I guess is to be honest with yourself about what you plan to do with your time. To get more specific answers specifically about CEH, SSCP, and CISSP certifications I believe there is a section here on the forums devoted to those certifications with some VERY good technical information available.

Best of luck.

OldSchool

Thanks for your candor. My future plans include work very different from my current field. While awaiting an answer to my post, I saw there is a certification as a step towards SSCP, which sounds like a better fit for me, as some of my past work came out of cases involving events such as phishing. I understand that there is an associate of (ISC)² , which would be a first step to the SSCP. Again, thanks for your candid answer. Always good to talk to someone who knows the reality. Take care.

Darril

You mention SSCP and SSCP only requires one year of direct full-time security work in one of the domains. I think you meet that already based on your posts. CISSP requires five years of experience (though you can often waive one year for different types of education or certification). You may also like to investigate the CompTIA Security+ certification. SSCP and Security+ aren't as technical as CEH but they do include many of the current security-related issues in IT.

I can't speak directly to what is required for the CEH but you may like to check out the EC-Council CEH and CHFI forums on this site (EC-Council CEH and CHFI). People there can give you much better answers on programming requirements.

HTH,

Darril Gibson
Security+ blog
Security+ Tip Of Day