CEH Review

TLDR

First off, this review is going to be really biased. The only reason I took this certification was to meet a contract requirement that was mandatory for the current position I am in. I had a handful of certifications such as OSCP, CRTO, etc before I took this exam as well as experience as a penetration tester / security engineer / red teamer. I did not come into this certification being brand new to the industry (the certification is definitely more entry level). If you are reading this and interested in gaining a certification to jump into the offensive security world, there are a lot better ones. To name a few: Anything from TCM security, Offsec, Zero-Point Security, even CompTIA in my opinion has more traction. With that being said, CEH is well known and still asked about on a lot of applications. It is also a DoD8570 approved certification.

Study

Like I said above, my experience is different due to taking this certification later in my career for contract requirements. If you have a few years experience in cyber security, this test can be passed with just doing a bunch of online free flashcards. I used many different online flashcard sets to study for the test. Combined with being up to date on definitions for specific processes/attack vectors/protocols/applications (thank you flash cards) as well as my former experience, that is all I needed to do for my attempt.

Now, if you are someone coming into the industry with almost zero -> zero knowledge, I would not recommend that path. You can check out EC-Councils OCG or buy the OCG book off amazon. EC-Council charges WAY too much money for the content they put out in my opinion, so paying thousands of dollars to take one of their "courses" for CEH is NOT worth it (Unless someone else, like a company, is paying for it). I'd recommend studying the OCG CEH book, studying flash cards, and doing online practice tests (or paid, BOSON is a nice paid test simulator). With that combined, you will be ready for the test!

Exam

The exam is just your typical multiple choice question test (Not talking about the CEH Pratical). If you have done any CompTIA tests, it reminded me exactly of that. If you have put in the time to study the OCG, flashcards, practice tests, etc you will be fine :)

Ending Thoughts

It took me about two weeks of cramming flash cards to pass this certification. There are a lot of better reviews out there for CEH so if you have read this and it doesn't help, please research and read some more! If you are interested in this certification to actually LEARN valuable information, please read the TLDR portion as there are a lot more certifications platforms that are more beneficial. If you are taking this certification to put on a resume or meet a contract requirement, goodluck with your studies/exam!