There are all sorts of skills required in learning to hack and taking an ethical hacking course can be the best way of ensuring you learn the most pertinent and useful ones.
The Certified Ethical Hacker certification was created by EC-Council to provide a standardised qualification for ethical hacking, computer, network, application and internet security.
It also covers skills for vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, computer forensics, intrusion detection and network security essentials.
Training can taken either through online courses or through onsite classroom training at an EC-Council Accredited Training Center. For online learners all material is provided through video streaming with instructors, while on-site learning is a live session with instructors.
Students also get access to the iLab web portal which allows them to practise their hacking techniques.
EC-Council offers many other courses in the UK in addition to the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), including courses to become a Certified Chief Information Security Officer or a Hacking Forensic Investigator.
A possible course to go for that is certified by EC-Council could be the Firebrand course, which has trained nearly 60,000 students since 2001.
The intensive five-day course includes all course materials, exams, accommodation and meals for £3,425 (£4,110 including VAT).
To those concerned about the difficulty, Firebrand provides a guarantee: if you don’t pass first time, you can return within a year and only have to pay for accommodation and exams.
Another possibility is the Focus on Training Certified Ethical Hacker v9 course, which is available in London and other major UK cities such as Birmingham and Edinburgh.
With 18 modules, the course covers over 270 attack technologies that are widely used by hackers.
It costs £1995, according to the website.
If you’re looking to study at a university, Abertay is the only UK university to offer a Masters programme in Ethical hacking. This covers the core skills for working in companies where computer security is a major issue.
The course is accredited by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and the fee varies according to country of origin.
