SSCP or CEH

rstrong4

I recently passed my Security+ certification two weeks ago and I also have A+ which I achieved last year. As of 9/25/2012 my unit is giving me two options to take either CEH ( Certified Ethical Hacker) or SSCP ( Systems Security Certified Practitioner) because to use certain systems in my unit we have to be certified with a higher certification (Level II) in accordance to DOD 8570. No one in my unit has taken the SSCP (that I know of) because its harder than the CEH but CEH has nothing to do with my job at all. My question is which one is more valuable if I were to get out and get a DOD job? I may be able to get both but I am not sure if that is smart because those certifications go down two different roads. I want to stay in the security field because my major is Computer Network and Security and if I get security certifications that will increase my resume/credibility for when I try to get a good contracting job IF I were to get out of the AF. Any advice would be awesome. Thanks a lot.

Ivanjam

Check this link: DoD 8570 Information Assurance Workforce Improvement Program
DoD 8570 also relates to DoD jobs, not just to contractors.

spicy ahi

The easy answer is SSCP, mainly because it's going to be a good stepping stone to building up to the CISSP which is never a bad thing in DoD. The CEH, at least in my experience, isn't valued much in the DoD unless you're in the CND-IA realm. The CISSP, however, is much easier to tout for any DoD job (being that it covers all the IAT levels so you'll never have to worry about that aspect of the 8570 directive) And as I mentioned before, SSCP is a good stepping stone for that holy grail cert. I can attest to this situation because I had a similar offer by my company to choose either/or. I opted to go straight into the CISSP and skip SSCP and it worked out for me. So if that's an option, maybe consider that as well?

Then again, as you mentioned, you may have the opportunity to do both. IF you're really dedicated to that plan, then I'd say knock out the CEH first so you can then go after the SSCP and work into the CISSP. If you can do it, then you'll be ready for anything IA related in the DoD, whether you're going to go into CND, IA, or just plain old systems/network engineering. Lots of choices! Good luck in whichever path you take and let us know what you decide to do and why!