Josh Evitt

A neighbor of mine works at the local New Horizons Computer Learning Center, and he told me about a new class that they're teaching for a new certification called Certified Ethical Hacker.  The certification is run by a group called International Association of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council). It looks like they offer six certifications:

• Certified e-Business Consultant (C|EC)
• Certified e-Business Professional (C|EP)
• Certified e-Business Associate (C|EA)
• E++
• Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH)
• Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI)

The C|EA certification is a prerequisite for the C|EP certification, and the C|EP is a prerequisite to the C|EC certification.

It looks like the E++, C|EH and CHFI certifications are stand-alone certifications.

I didn't see a lot of information about the background of the EC-Council, so I'm not sure how long it's been in existence. It looks like an interesting program, but the value of the certification will lie in how many businesses accept these certifications as valid and indicative of a specific skillset. The CIW program had a lot of promise, but I'm not sure that it ever took hold in the corporate world as being indicative of a specific skillset. Security is a hot topic now in IT and in certification, so maybe this certification will take off. The CISSP certification seems to be, by far, the most respected IT Security certification for administrators. Perhaps the C|EH can fill the gap between CompTIA's Security+ and the CISSP?