7 Ethical Hacking Certifications for Your IT Career
Nowadays, the necessity of technology is increasing every day. Industries consider it as a means to achieve success. The growing usage of the internet and technology has made the industries and individuals vulnerable against cybercrimes. It has resulted in the need for cybersecurity professionals that are skilled in defending an industry against hackers and cyber threats.
Ethical hackers are known for using the same tactics and tools like that of the hackers, although in a legal manner. They are in-charge of predicting the moves of a hacker and to successfully defend against them. They penetrate into the network to find and locate the weakness present within a system and to search for ways to eliminate the vulnerabilities.
If you are interested in pursuing a career in Ethical Hacking, you can opt for the ethical hacking certifications to boost up your career level.
Best Ethical Hacking Certifications
Some of the best ethical hacking certifications are as follows:
- Certified Ethical Hacking Certification (CEH®)
It is one of the most popular certifications present in the field of ethical hacking. If you obtain this certification, it will enable you to have the skills and knowledge required to become a professional. It validates your skills and proficiency in identifying the weakness/vulnerabilities present within a system. In addition, you must use the exact same tools like that of a hacker in a legal way to measure the security level of the system that is being targeted.
It is a vendor-neutral certificate. This certificate helps in enhancing the level of your career. It will enable you to think like a hacker. This is a useful method that will help you to protect your organization against any cyber threats. You can also acquire practical experience through this certification.
- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP®)
This certification is widely popular amongst the individuals pursuing a career in ethical hacking. This certification has gained an immense amount of popularity, reputation, and durability over the time period of ten years. It includes both training course and exam. Through the OSCP training course, you will acquire the knowledge regarding the public exploit code and how to apply, modify and attain it. You can also take up the PRN testing exams along with the courses like web, wireless, advanced Windows exploitation, and so on.
OSCP examines an individual’s skills inaccurate, proper, practical, and precise knowledge or understanding of the penetration testing methods. It also verifies the knowledge and skills of an individual in determining the vulnerabilities, produces and modify exploit code, exploits hosts, and so on.
- GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN®)
This is yet another certification present under the field of ethical hacking. You can obtain additional skills and knowledge after completing the courses of GPEN®. This certification is provided by the SANS. The demand for this certification is growing drastically across numerous industries.
It verifies an individual’s knowledge and skills in performing a penetration test accurately with the use of best practices and methodologies. This certification is best suitable for ethical hackers, red team members, blue team members, defenders, auditors, and so on.
You can acquire the knowledge and skills regarding Web App Pen testing and Password Attacks. In addition, you get the skills to scan and exploit. IF you wish to pass the GPEN exam, you must work on strengthening your practical skills.
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA®)
Certified Information Systems Auditor Certification verifies the individual’s skills to control, manage, and govern the IT services. It is offered by ISACA®. This certification examines the skills of an individual to identify and analyze the weakness or vulnerabilities present within the targeted system. It is a higher level of certification available for individuals that wish to expand their careers in ethical hacking.
The CISA certified professionals are normally responsible for monitoring and tracking the systems constantly to detect any suspicious activities. They also determine the weakness available inside a system.
This certification enables you to prove your dedication. The employers normally prefer the candidates with CISA certifications over the uncertified individuals. If you are successful at obtaining this certification, you have to maintain it every three years by earning 20 credit points each year.
- CompTIA Security+
It is known to be the most popular certification for the individuals that are beginning their career in the field of ethical hacking. It is best suitable for network administrators, junior IT auditors, security engineers, and so on. It examines your skills and knowledge associated with cryptography, risk management, PKI, design, tools, and so on.
However, to obtain this certification, you must acquire the Network+ certification first. In addition, it needs an experience of two years in Network security.
- Certified Penetration Testing Engineer (CPTE®)
This type of certification helps you to gain knowledge about the various key components of information security. These key components include a collection of data, data scan, testing of data, report making and exploitation. In addition, CPTE® certification provides you training about hacking principles and also tells you the information required to achieve the status of an ethical hacker. This cybersecurity certification is globally accepted, and also it is part of the core for credentials of cybersecurity.
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP®)
It is a globally acknowledged certification. The demand for CISSP certification is growing rapidly across industries all over the world. It is issued by the (ISC)2. It validates an individual’s skills in designing, maintaining, managing, and implementing the best security software or programs. It offers you a chance to grow your career in this field. You can also receive a higher salary along with better and stable job opportunities.
CISSP examines the knowledge of the candidate across the domains of CISSP Common Body of Knowledge or CBK®. Thus, you can acquire the necessary skills required to defend against hackers and cyber threats through the process of obtaining this certification.
Conclusion
There are many industries that fail to protect themselves from these cybercrimes and cyberattacks. It results in the loss of crucial data and does irreparable damage. Thus, ethical hackers are a necessity for these industries since they are skilled in identifying the risks and ensure protection against the attacks of the hackers successful.
