Funny story (kinda)

So, I've seen a lot of people writing good things on this forum about elearnsecurity. I decided to check the website out and see if it was something worth pursuing in the future. I tried their free demo and wasn't overly impressed, but I kept hearing good things about the company. During my browsing, I discovered that they occasionally give away free invites to the bare-bones PTSv3 course. I hounded them on Facebook and Twitter for months for an invite, because I was bored and a cheap bastard.

Well, last night, one of their PR guys actually gave me an invite. I couldn't believe it!

I logged in and checked out the material. I think their demo doesn't do their courses justice. Their setup and teaching style is much better than the demo led me to believe. I'll be upgrading the bare-bones to Elite this weekend, and probably get the bundle deal the next time it goes on sale.

Bottom line, don't judge their courses by the demo, and if you are on the fence, you should go ahead and get the course. You won't be disappointed.

(Or you could annoy them for months, like I did, in hopes of getting an invite to see what the courses are really like. LOL)

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636-555-3226

I've either taken or reviewed infosec training materials for most major training orgs, but elearnsecurity has always stayed out of my hands for some reason, despite me also hearing lots of good things here. I'd love to review their materials, but I've never had an opportunity. I'm one of those managers that prefers to steer my guys to material that I know is good (and away from material I know is bad), so I keep sending my team to the major players in the game. Maybe if I could find that PR guy I could add them to my list of preferred training providers if the stuff really is that good.....

adrenaline19

Look up their Twitter and Facebook pages. Anytime they post an update about celebrating or special event, try to hit them up for an invite, lol.

Their material is much better than I expected.

If your guys are past their CompTia stuff but not quite ready for the OSCP, send them towards elearnsecurity stuff. That's where I think they fit in well.

UnixGuy

Good job! PTSv3 was a great course and now I'm doing PTPv3, really challenging (to me)

Bodanel

I've paid for the PTPv3 from my own pocket. A friend of mine got OSCP paid by his company. After we finished both we've had a chat over a beer. While the end goal is pretty much the same the major diferences between courses:
1. Labs by eLearnSecurity are guided, great if you are new to security. Main disadvantage here, just few black box testing labs.
2. Labs by Offensive Security are much more a black box testing. Very good for practice after you learn the theory.
3. While neither of the 2 courses is focused on web application testing the eLearnSecurity's course has much more on the subject than Offensive Security's. This was the main disapointament for my friend.

From my point of view, if you have several years as a full time sysadmin you can go for OSCP directly for better recognition but if you want to remain on the defensive side but have a good ideea of the topic I think it's better to go for PTPv3.

This is my main struggle right now, offense or defense. For offense you just need to be good once for defense you need to be good always.

UnixGuy

@Bodanel: I want to *eventually* do both. I've recently finished eJPT and started eCPPT.

The main disadvantage I see is that no one seems to know nor recognise eLearnSecurity in Australia (not yet anyway), but people seem to know about OSCP

Bodanel

Joke : on that island you dont know what happens around the world, right ? In Europe eLearnSecurity started to be noticed. Maybe someone in the US let us know how about their new move to Silicon Valley and how well know they are.
I think it's a waste of money if you are paying for it. But if the company pays for it I think it would be a great experience.

UnixGuy

@Bodanel: not a waste of money at all, it's a quality training for a very reasonable price! if I wait for employer to sponsor me for something, they will send me to stuff that are 100% applicable to what I do, and they will make sure to cut off anything from the course that I won't be using on the job....so I better train myself. eLearnSecurity is an excellent deal compared to SANS and other providers , can't beat a lab based training

adrenaline19

I don't consider it a waste of time or money. Actually, I don't work in IT at all. I do all of this as a hobby. I'm finishing several certs right now but will never use them to get a job because I don't have any paid experience, lol. The IT hiring system in the U.S. is so rigid and stupid.

Oh well, I love learning this stuff for fun.

I think elearnsecurity and Off Sec both have great courses. In fact, I've use my own money and time to get courses from both companies. Each is special in its' own way.

Elearnsecurity is better for learning the process, Off Sec is better at mastering it. (my own opinion)

Bodanel

@UnixGuy
I think that you will not learn anything new by doing OSCP after PTP that's why I think it is a waste of money. But maybe I'm biased because here a training within the price range these company's offer it's equivalent with 1-3 months of pay(depending on the position you're working) so you have to be very carefull when choosing a training. Actually, about 3-4 years ago when I took my RHCSA the exam was one month pay. Best decision I took.
Anyway, both trainings are very good and worth the money they are asking.

Danielm7

adrenaline19 wrote: »

I don't consider it a waste of time or money. Actually, I don't work in IT at all. I do all of this as a hobby. I'm finishing several certs right now but will never use them to get a job because I don't have any paid experience, lol. The IT hiring system in the U.S. is so rigid and stupid.

Oh well, I love learning this stuff for fun.

I think elearnsecurity and Off Sec both have great courses. In fact, I've use my own money and time to get courses from both companies. Each is special in its' own way.

Elearnsecurity is better for learning the process, Off Sec is better at mastering it. (my own opinion)

You really might be selling yourself short. If you're doing security certs for fun there are probably a number of companies that would take you on.

chazb0t

I have zero background and zero industry experience and I found eLearnSecurity through Reddit, I passed the eJPT(PTSv3) at the end of last year and I'm finishing up the eCPPT(PTPv3) hoping to have the cert by the end of the month.

I skipped Network+, Security+, and CEH, because I didn't want glossary exams where I can learn the material, pass the test, and then still have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to pentesting/security.

I hate to use the term spoonfeed, but they teach you the underlying material with lecture slides and videos, and then how to use it practically in a lab scenario.

I'm signing up for the OSCP afterwards and confident that eLearnSecurity has prepped me for the challenge that is the OSCP.

UnixGuy

Definitely not spoon feeding.

So if someone wants to learn Biology, they go and get a biology book, and expect that book to have the necessary knowledge. They can even do lab work by following book instruction.

Not sure why when it comes to IT people have the impression that you have to work hard and sift through pages of Google searches and read blog written by random dudes about things...this is not ideal and time is money! let's not waste it IF WE CAN.

chazb0t

One of the things I really like is they provide sources for the lecture slides, so if you want to read up more on a subject or dive deeper into a particular topic that interests you, they provide the textbook, website, RFC pages, or technical manuals they quoted/sourced it from.

eJPT took me like 2 weeks to do the full course and exam, because I went full retard. I would wake up at 530AM, study from 530AM - 930AM, work from 10AM-7PM, study 1 hour on my lunchbreak, and then a couple hours after work until my wife would get home.

The eCPPT has taken me about 6 months to get to the end, but I'm doing it at a much more relaxed pace and enjoying the **** out of it.

luger

chazb0t wrote: »

One of the things I really like is they provide sources for the lecture slides, so if you want to read up more on a subject or dive deeper into a particular topic that interests you, they provide the textbook, website, RFC pages, or technical manuals they quoted/sourced it from.

eJPT took me like 2 weeks to do the full course and exam, because I went full retard. I would wake up at 530AM, study from 530AM - 930AM, work from 10AM-7PM, study 1 hour on my lunchbreak, and then a couple hours after work until my wife would get home.

The eCPPT has taken me about 6 months to get to the end, but I'm doing it at a much more relaxed pace and enjoying the **** out of it.

I completed eJPT in the same time frame as you going full blast on it and planning on taking eCPPT soon but will surely not let it take 6 months

How long do you think it would have taken you if you went all out on it same way as eJPT?

We both seem to have the same road map....skip Net+, Sec+ and CEH and just go to the real hands on stuff! OSCP will be up after eCPPT and hoping for a full time pen testing job after that as i'm getting tired of doing Security projects at my workplace. I learned alot but pen testing is what i really want to be doing.

chazb0t

luger wrote: »

I completed eJPT in the same time frame as you going full blast on it and planning on taking eCPPT soon but will surely not let it take 6 months

How long do you think it would have taken you if you went all out on it same way as eJPT?

We both seem to have the same road map....skip Net+, Sec+ and CEH and just go to the real hands on stuff! OSCP will be up after eCPPT and hoping for a full time pen testing job after that as i'm getting tired of doing Security projects at my workplace. I learned alot but pen testing is what i really want to be doing.

PTS is roughly 4 hours of videos, 1500+ slides, 12 Labs.

PTP is roughly 14 hours videos, 4500+ slides, 27 labs.

It feels like it's about 4 times the size/length, so you could probably bang it out in 6 - 8 weeks, but that pace was rough that I set the first time. Keep in mind PTP is much more in-depth and more difficult to grasp at least for me, the reverse engineering/assembly stuff took me a month in itself.

chazb0t

I asked veritas_libertas in this thread if they are going to test you on the Ruby and Assembly stuff: http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/112635-ecppt-thread-2.html

"You're going to need have some understanding of programming. Not an expert, but at least a novice. You'll end up doing doing some exploit writing to pass the exam. Assembly and Ruby are not required. Know C++.

Comparing it to the eJPT is hard. It's much more difficult."

luger

chazb0t wrote: »

PTS is roughly 4 hours of videos, 1500+ slides, 12 Labs.

PTP is roughly 14 hours videos, 4500+ slides, 27 labs.

It feels like it's about 4 times the size/length, so you could probably bang it out in 6 - 8 weeks, but that pace was rough that I set the first time. Keep in mind PTP is much more in-depth and more difficult to grasp at least for me, the reverse engineering/assembly stuff took me a month in itself.

Thanks for the info

franziskaner

adrenaline19 wrote: »

So, I've seen a lot of people writing good things on this forum about elearnsecurity. I decided to check the website out and see if it was something worth pursuing in the future. I tried their free demo and wasn't overly impressed, but I kept hearing good things about the company. During my browsing, I discovered that they occasionally give away free invites to the bare-bones PTSv3 course. I hounded them on Facebook and Twitter for months for an invite, because I was bored and a cheap bastard.

Well, last night, one of their PR guys actually gave me an invite. I couldn't believe it!

I logged in and checked out the material. I think their demo doesn't do their courses justice. Their setup and teaching style is much better than the demo led me to believe. I'll be upgrading the bare-bones to Elite this weekend, and probably get the bundle deal the next time it goes on sale.

Bottom line, don't judge their courses by the demo, and if you are on the fence, you should go ahead and get the course. You won't be disappointed.

(Or you could annoy them for months, like I did, in hopes of getting an invite to see what the courses are really like. LOL)

That's interesting, I too wasn't that impressed with the demo stuff, seemed pretty basic. Good to hear the full lot is worth it.