A Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is a person trained to penetrate their own computer system or that of a client in order to determine what vulnerabilities exist and how to apply protective, corrective, and preventive countermeasures. This helps to mitigate risk and protect the system from being compromised by an unethical hacker or cybercriminal. The CEH is trained to look for weaknesses that can be exploited using the same tools a hacker would use to attack. Their job may include making recommendations for how to patch vulnerabilities or creating strategies to prevent malicious attacks.

Those taking the CEH exam must be 18 years of age or older. Minors may qualify if they have a letter of consent from their parent or legal guardian and a supporting letter from a nationally accredited institution of higher learning. There is a nonrefundable $100 exam fee, and the passing score can range from 60% to 85%, depending on the exam form used. Before taking the exam, you will need a wide knowledge of malicious hacking methods and tools. Experience can be gained through a course at a learning institution or through a minimum of two years’ work experience in the industry. Once certified, all CEHs are required to maintain certification by earning and submitting credits.

The Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification exam supports and tests the knowledge of auditors, security officers, site administrators, security professionals, and anyone else who wants to ensure a network is safe against cybercriminals. With the CEH credential, you can design and govern the minimum standards necessary for credentialing information that security professionals need to engage in ethical hacking. You can also make it known to the public if someone who has earned their CEH credentials has met or exceeded the minimum standards. You are also empowered to reinforce the usefulness and self-regulated nature of ethical hacking. The CEH exam does not cater to specific security hardware or software vendors, such as Fortinet, Avira, Kaspersky, Cisco, or others, making it a vendor-neutral program.