Tag Archives: penetration testing

October 13, 2011

The CHFI at Hacker Halted is Soon!

By vmtrain

We have been receiving a lot of feedback from readers who have signed up for the CHFI training class at Hacker Halted and the majority of people set to go are extremely happy that they are set to do so.

Similar to the way the Certified Ethical Hacker certification has blown up to be arguably the most highly sought after certification in the IT industry, the CHFI is next in line to do so. Much of the reason the CHFI cert is going to blow up in popularity is because the people that took the CEH, now need the forensic skill set to greater protect their company or organization by being able to prosecute attackers in the appropriate manner.

The other main reason is that the industry is buzzing with the belief that the CHFI certification will be added to the DoD8570 directive. Which makes sense, because the CHFI has become the premier forensics certification in the business, so why wouldn’t it be added.

Anyways, apparently there are still a few spots left for the CHFI training class at Hacker Halted. Register by using the coupon code: HHACE

HHACE:

Register for CHFI at Hacker Halted Online Here

Comments Off   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

September 22, 2011

Computer Forensics Training in Miami, FL

By vmtrain

Computer forensics is a topic that hackers are paying a lot of attention to lately. Ethical hackers are signing up for computer forensics training in large numbers because the work is now dictating that it is no longer good enough to be able to exploit vulnerabilities on our website, now you must be able to accumulate the evidence in an actionable manner for a court of law.  People aren’t just relying on protecting their own network, now they want to be able to prosecute violators and attackers. If you haven’t noticed, the industry is maturing quickly.

And with that maturity is the spread of computer forensics training. The leading certification in this vertical is the CHFI by the EC-Council. In fact, the EC-Council is holding its annual Hacker Halted security conference in Miami, Florida from 10/21 – 10/27. The first four days are dedicated to training class and then then last three are the security conference, which includes an amazing list of speakers. Hacker Halted has become the leading conference to get away to and learn some new tricks. The venue is exceptional, the speakers list is top tier, the presenters / instructors are industry leading and the party that they hold is world renowned!!

To join the CHFI or any other class at Hacker Halted, use this coupon code: HHACE

and then go here: http://www.hackerhalted.com/2011/

Comments Off   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

July 14, 2011

Booz Allen Hamilton Hacked – Advanced Persistent Threat Leads the Way

By vmtrain

For those readers of the Certified Ethical Hacker blog here that don’t yet know what Advanced Persistent Threat is, you are officially introduced via the recent Booz Allen Hamilton hacking. Advanced Persistent Threat is the emerging buzz-word in the hacking industry and Booz Allen Hamilton was one of the early adopters of combating and protecting clients against this concept. Ironically, it appears as though Advanced Persistent Threat was the cause for BAH’s hacking breach the other day.

Advanced Persistent Threat essentially means that an agency, typically with an espionage mission structure and in most cases a Government or mafia-like entity, targets a business or other Government unit and attempts to penetrate that unit using all hacking approaches necessary. So in other words, that stuff we learned in the CEH training class about the different security sources of compromise, application layer, network layer, social engineering etc. are all attacked with advanced methods for a consistent period of time.

Booz Allen Hamilton employee training consists of Advanced Persistent Threat techniques so that employees know where to find vulnerabilities.  The main problem is, there are hackers that are better and that are consistently progressing. If employees are trained in baseline penetration testing and then expected to harden a complex network, the malicious entity, in this case likely a (very large) country’s Government, has people with higher level training, perhaps in things like advanced exploit development or advanced wireless network hacking, and so they eventually get to their data.

High level hacking training is hard to find, only a few (ie Advanced Security) do it very well. Why? Because not many companies have the experienced minds behind their classes. The old saying, if you want to beat the hackers then you have to think like an attacker is true in this case, but the hackers may have been better trained.

Comments Off   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

June 14, 2011

EC-Council Holds a Conference in the Washington DC Area

By vmtrain

The DC and Baltimore metro-area is arguably the largest concentrated region in the country for IT security professionals, hackers, penetration testers, application security specialists etc. The fact that a highly advanced and technical conference by the EC-Council is coming to the area, should have the DC cyber security scene pumped up.

EC-Council has made a commitment recently to bring highly technical and advanced training seminars and conferences to the market. The recent launch of TakeDown Con and then the existence of their Hacker Halted conference has them emerging as a leader in this space. The reviews from TakeDown Con were excellent. They are clearly doing what it takes to get some of the top experts in the field to present and teach shorter version classes at these conferences.

Many of the security conferences that are out there these days leave a true seasoned IT security professional wanting more. The lack of deeper, advanced technique training is always what keeps the pros away and seems to attract more and more newbies to them. The recent launch of the EC-Council conferences is a sigh of relief for many in the field. Being able to visit great locations for a conference and walk away with advanced skill sets, on the company dollar, is what many in our field are hoping for. Now with the CAST Summit Washington DC, many in the MD, VA and DC area should be able to easily justify this with the training budget managers. Here is the series of classes being held:

You can register through the featured reseller, Advanced Security by ACE:

CAST Summit Washington DC Registration

Comments Off   |  tags: , , , | posted in Uncategorized

April 6, 2011

Assessing the Value of the ECSA and LPT Certifications by the EC-Council

By vmtrain

The EC Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA) and Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) certification is the most advanced ethical hacking certification by the EC-Council. The certification is based on the analytical process of ethical hacking and complements the more basic Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). While CEH presents hacking technologies and tools to the learner, ECSA focuses on analyzing what the outcome of these tools are. Learners who go through ECS training and certification are able to identify security risks to a network, system or infrastructure and mitigate these risks, thus keeping data safe.

Given the highly sensitive nature of this kind of training, it is important that learners enroll with licensed content providers called ATC’s (Accredited Training Center) and get authentic training from CEI’s (Certified EC-Council Instructor). Achieving the ECSA certification ensures that you get a high quality, recognizable certificate, which can help you work on security architectures of many types.

The ECSA certification is approved by ANSI. Many of the other competing certifications are not licensed by ANSI and typically carry no value ( Google “certified penetration tester” and see what arbitrary made up wonders you come up with). Getting certified by such bodies is virtually worthless as anyone, literally anyone, can found their own “Certification body”. So stick with the ANSI approved certs like the ECSA and most of the SANS certs.

You must obtain the ECSA exam before enrolling for the Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) certification. The LPT is advanced course content as well, covering pentesting and security based on intense past assessments and best practices.

Both the ECSA and LPT certification curriculum are developed by the top brains in the field. A minimum of 47 modules and topics are taught, including basics such as need for security analysis and War Dialing, Advanced Sniffing techniques, advanced wireless testing, log and snort analysis and advanced exploits and tools. Penetration testing includes pre-penetration testing checklists, VoIP, VPN, database, log management, broadband, Bluetooth/hand held and physical security penetration testing.

EC Council certifications are not just extensive but credible too. The ECSA and Licensed Penetration Tester certs are just now hitting the popularity levels that CEH was at about two years ago. Once CEH saturates in the market a bit more, expect these two certs to be right where CEH is now. Because, well, hackers aren’t going to want to stop learning how to hack. Right?

Comments Off   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

May 18, 2010

DoD 8570 Directive and the Certified Ethical Hacker

By vmtrain

A further testament to two main trends arose recently when the DoD 8570 directive had Certified Ethical Hacker added to its list of certifications that prove worthiness to work in a certain capacity that serves the DoD community. Those statements were:

1) The Certified Ethical Hacker is, without argument, the hottest certification out right now.
and
2) Hacking / Pentesting is the future of IT security / information assurance workers.

Delving more into item #1, the CEH is the most highly sought after cert in the business. The searches per month on google (use the keyword tool) will prove that to you if you need subjective information about that. The certification has been done the right way entirely, from top to bottom, by the EC-Council management. Marketing, content etc.

As for the second topic, hacking and pentesting has become the main training priority of information assurance workers. Not only are people going in large numbers to learn the concepts or the Certified Ethical Hacker, but now, more than ever before, employees are being trained on advanced defense tactics (ie from the ECSA / LPT) and advanced hacking concepts like the Advanced Penetration Tester (APT) certification. Sorry CISSP, but your days of being at the top are so limited its not even funny. Theoretical / conceptual information assurance practitioners are taking a back seat to people who can break into a network from a major corporation that has a huge annual security budget and spends millions on their firewall and security software. Because I would trust my network to that guy (again see APT).

Certified Ethical Hacker Training Information

Get more information on this course!

Comments Off   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.