The CEH acronym of Certified Ethical Hacker is a core training program for professionals of information security and is also known as a white-hat hacker. This hacker systematically tries to inspect network infrastructure with the agreement of the owner to look for security breaches that a potentially harmful hacker can use to exploit the company. Through this exam, you will be able to assess the security structure of the organization by identifying the threats to the network and system infrastructure to know if unauthorized Access is possible into the system. The CEH is the most comprehensive and detailed program about ethical hacking in the world. It is one of the three courses in the Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) track.
Through this certification, you will be able to get trained on the most advanced tools and techniques that are used in black and grey hat hacking to break into an organization. These hacking ways can allow hackers to assess, document, and remediate vulnerabilities from the vendor-neutral perspective. CEH will allow you to sit in the driver’s seat of a hand’s learning environment that is interactive, which challenges you to test the compatibility of the systems and networks by hacking them.
There are 5 phases of ethical hacking, i.e.
• Reconnaissance
• Gaining Access
• Enumeration
• Maintaining Access
• Covering Your Tracks
A CEH certification will be of high importance while being in an Information Security system. It will help you get advanc3ed in your career, will allow you to think like a grey or a black hat hacker, it will allow you to go beyond penetration testers, will help you improve your knowledge about risks and threats to the system, you will get a boost in your salary. You will learn real hacking tools and techniques to look deeper into the world of hacking. A CEH will allo0w you to qualify for more than 80,000+ Cybersecurity jobs instantly and can get an average salary fo $110,000 in the United States.
The CEH exam consists of 125 multiple choice questions, and you are allowed to perform them in a four-hour duration. To pass this exam, you must score at least 70% or get 88 of the questions correct. The CEH exam has a fee of exam of $1199 and a renewal fee of $80 that you will have to pay each year. It is considered one of the hardest exams in the IT world, but to pass it, you need to prepare your best. And it will be possible for you to stand apart from your peers and excel in your career bearing the certificate of an exam that is the most difficult to pass worldwide. The following are some of the tips to help you prepare well enough to pass the CEH exam in the first try.
1. Have A Checklist To Study
The 125 question ins the exam will cover many subjects, and you will require to study them all very deeply. To be able to cover the whole syllabus, the best technique is to break up the subjects into a list. It will make sure that you don’t get too overwhelmed after studying one part and forget about the rest. You must include the following topics in your checklist.
• Footprinting
• Reconnaissance
• Scanning
• Enumeration
• Sniffing
• Social engineering
• Session high jacking
• Firewalls
• IDSs
• SSL
• TCP handshake
Threats
• The issues with windows 7 and 8 OS
• Latest Trojans, phishing attempt schemes, viruses, and malware types
• Latest mobile hacking techniques and tools
• Hacking the cloud
• SQL injection
• DDoS attacks
• Sniffers
• Heart bleed
• Shelllock
Countermeasures
• The security laws and industry standards of current times
• The security controls
• Cryptography
• Knowing the access points for penetration
2. Study With Official Courses
You need to be aware that this difficult exam can not be covered with preparation material that is not official. Though such material helps in covering the subjects partially through official course books, you get able to study the subject deeply by covering all required subjects. There is a CEH exam blueprint that must be referred to as the main material for preparation. The official blueprint has the relevant documents about the CEH, and it includes a Handbook, Blueprint, Eligibility criteria, Exam FAQs, exam details, and the course outline. All these materials will help you cover the course subjects with complete detail and in-depth into each topic you made a checklist of in the previous step. You will know the most in-depth details about hacking and will be able to tackle the questions in the exam just like you should. Always trust on official handbooks for consultation of the course subjects as they are the most trustable sources of knowledge and will provide you with a complete definition of each term you refer to.
3. Perform Practice Tests
The best way to assess your preparation is to perform practice tests for the CEH exam. You will never be able to just ‘know’ when you are ready to take the exam. For this, you will have to take several practice tests so that you can assess what parts of the subjects you are good at and what subjects need improvements. Practice tests will also improve your knowledge by pinpointing every question that will have four options out of which one could be true. Looking at these options will allow you to critically observe what you must be looking for as the correct option. You can take online practice tests that highlight the routes of study for the CEH exam. You also get study suggestions on what topics need revision.
4. Take The CEH Training Course
You need to look out for training centers that provide you with official training in the EC Councils that are authorized to train. These centers follow the official outlines to train the candidates for the final exam test. Some training costs are charged according to the EC Council and can also be varied according to the area depending on the currency and the charging routes. Getting trained for the exam will help you be relaxed while you appear in it and can assist you in understanding the questions asked to allow you to answer the best option.
5. Use Study Guides
Once you get to know the structure, content, and type of the question that will be asked in the exam, you will be able to cover the topics better. The CEH exam will have 125 questions that need to be attempted within 4 hours. You can find many guides online that will help you understand the topics and exam questions better. You can have a sound knowledge of these from paid materials on Amazon as well. Some of the best study guides, namely Certified Ethical Hacker Exam Guide (All-in-one) by Matt Walker, must not be missed for preparing the CEH exam.
6. Join CEH Community
There are several forums and CEH blogs where people with the same objective get gathered up and help each other to get a better understanding of the topics and subjects covered in the CEH exam. People from around the globe share their practices and experiences with the CEH exam. You can get very practical knowledge from the tips covered in these communities. This will help you know how to pass the CEGH exam with distinction. You can find the top forums at Techexams CEH forum and CCCure forum etc.
7. Join Preparation Groups
Many preparation groups online can help you get a better like-minded environment to help you prepare better. Such groups have people who are all appearing in the CEH exam or those that have appeared and are now helping others out with their success stories and exam tips. Joining these groups on Facebook and LinkedIn will get you surrounded by other CEH appearing candidates who have their own sets of best practices and knowledge that might solve your biggest problem and issues you are facing while preparing. People who have passed the exam can share what helped them pass it, and it might benefit you very well.
8. Learn What To Study
Form the very start of the introduction to the topics like Cryptography, CEH modules include very extensive knowledge about the security. You will have to cover each subject and to do so you must know what you should study in each category. You can find several documents online that divide the entire module structures into categories and also give you suggestions on what to study and a complete study guide collectively. These online documents have a division of each category, and that is the efficient structuring of security modules. You get every topic covered right from the background to the assessment, security, procedures, tools, policies, and the ethics of hacking. This is the best approach to get an understanding of what you are studying and how to cover each part, of course, without leaving anything behind.
9. Create A Study Plan
Now at this point, you know what you need to study and all the topics you are required to cover. Know is the step to divide your time and ability to study per day. A study plan helps you not miss any part of the course and subjects. You must be realistic while making the study plan as you are going to follow it, and being unrealistic will put you in a situation where you won’t be capturing as much knowledge just to follow the plan. You must know how much you can absorb per day. If you are preparing through some other materials like seminars and briefs, then plan to study before, during, and after the seminar. If you are working and are in the job, then scheduling hours when you are the most present and fresh would be of great help. These are some factors you must consider before jumping into making the study plan
•How Soon Do You Plan To Take The Exam
This time duration will decide how much you will be prepared per day. You must plan to take the exam after a duration in which you believe you will be able to cover the complete exam course subjects. You can check the EC-Council Exam Center to check nearby locations for exam centers and also the time that works for you.
•How Much Can You Spend On Preparation Material And Taring Courses?
You must look for all the official courses and practice materials to be able to cover all the topics that will be covered in the exam. Certified study materials must have relied on the most.
•Which Training Technique Suits You The Most?
You might be someone who can do the best preparation in self-learning mode while some other people like being under the supervision of a CEH expert who can train them well. It is up to you to choose what suits you the very best. You must use your past learning experiences to know which method would work for you.
•How Much Experience You Already Have With The Exam Subjects?
You might already have some experience with the subjects of ethical hacking as you are interested in getting the certification. But make sure you do not rely solely on your experience. You must try covering your well-experienced subjects as well as those you haven’t covered. Skipping any subject because you have an experience of it will put you in a difficult position.
Conclusion
CEH exam will be the most difficult exam you will appear in, and this will require you to give in the best efforts while preparation to pass it in the first attempt. Having this certification will let you start apart from the rest of your peers and will also entitle you with a great salary. People who have acquired this certification get a deeper knowledge about the hacking world and helps them know what threats and vulnerabilities a system might be facing.
