You saved some extremely important data yesterday and logged in today to access it. But, after exploring every drive of your PC, that information is gone. How? The most likely reason can be that someone attacked your system with malicious intentions and your data fell prey to it. In order to save your company from these intruders, the significance of a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is gaining momentum around the world.

A CEH holds the reins of system and network security tightly in their hands. The latest addition to this certification is CEH v7, a security professional that is certified as a Penetration Tester and an Ethical Hacker.

Before taking this course, you must have the following qualifications:

• Good knowledge on TCP/IP
• One year of experience in managing Unix/Windows/Linux systems or similar expertise

In the CEH training, you will be taught rigorously on securing, hacking, scanning and testing data. This training enables you to obtain flawless proficiency with the latest and essential security systems. The training begins by explaining perimeter defenses and after that, you are trained to hack your own networks. In this manner, you will acquire practical experience to hack the ethical lines without harming any of the real networks. You will also gain knowledge on how to trace the attackers’ steps and learn how they obtain privileges. Additionally, you will also learn about social engineering, buffer overflows, intrusion detection, virus creation, DDoS attacks and policy creation.

Merits of CEH

CEH endows the companies with various benefits that include:

• Arming you with the capabilities to hit the weak points and loopholes of networks and systems and secure them against illegal hacking.
• Placing a lock system on your servers and networks that cannot be unlocked by any kind of master key. By playing on the lines of a hacker, you can zip the systems.
• Utilizing different mechanisms for penetrating and testing computer networks and systems with a CEH degree.

CEH acts like an umbrella that safeguards the networks and systems from the heavy downpour of the intruders that cause huge holes and pits in companies’ computers and servers. If you want to settle in IT security domain, you must and should obtain training in CEH.

This domain has a great future ahead as data security is an extremely important aspect in many organizations following DevOps’ approach. To secure this data, a certified ethical hacker is required. Due to this, there are so many job opportunities available in this field that organizations are preferring the people who are trained extensively and certified in this field. If you observe the salary trends, CEH certified professionals are receiving higher salaries when compared to professionals in other domains.

The CEH credential is used to:

• Govern and establish standards for providing credentials to professional information security specialists in the measures of ethical hacking
• Notify the public when credentialed individuals exceed or meet standards
• Strengthen ethical hacking as a self-regulating and unique profession  

The CEH training program is the most desired related to information security. This course provides modern hacking techniques and tools used by information security professionals and hackers to access an organization. This training will enable you to think like a hacker so that you can prevent attacks in the future. In any organization, the security mindset should not be limited to pieces of equipment, technologies or a particular vendor.

CEH training enables you to be in the driver’s seat and learn how to attain optimal information security through hacking. You will secure, hack, test and scan your own systems. You will come to know the five aspects of ethical hacking and the means to reach your goal and be successful in the hacking process every time.

The five aspects include:

1. covering your tracks
2. maintaining access
3. reconnaissance
4. gaining access
5. enumeration

We live in a world where unauthorized exposure to information can be accessed from any place and any time and we are seldom aware of how persistent, skilled or well-funded the threat may be. Throughout this program, you will be submerged in the mindset of a hacker, evaluating the security physically and logically. Searching every possible entry point to find the weakest link in a company from the perspective of the end user, CEO, security, vulnerable times during migrations, data left in the trash, and misconfigurations.

Ethical hackers require on-the-job training to gain expertise. Major IT giants like IBM and other organizations are employing a team of ethical hackers to maintain security of their systems. Today, hiring of ethical hackers has become necessary for almost all organizations.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expecting the IT security field to grow up to 37 percent by the end of 2022 and according to Ponemon Institute’s survey, almost 30 percent of the IT security jobs are vacant and demand for IT security professionals is very high. The pay is also extremely good for certified ethical hackers. The average salary for an information security analyst in the U.S. can range from $90,000 to $100,000 a year depending on expertise. If you are ready to wear your “white hat” and invade systems for a good cause, this role can be an excellent career opportunity.

Ravindra Savaram is presently working as a Content Contributor for Mindmajix.com and Tekslate.com.