If you want to stop hackers from invading your network, first you've got to invade their minds.

Computers around the world are systematically being victimized by rampant hacking. This hacking is not only widespread, but is being executed so flawlessly that the attackers compromise a system, steal everything of value and completely erase their tracks within 20 minutes.

The goal of the ethical hacker is to help the organization take preemptive measures against malicious attacks by attacking the system himself; all the while staying within legal limits. This philosophy stems from the proven practice of trying to catch a thief, by thinking like a thief. As technology advances and organization depend on technology increasingly, information assets have evolved into critical components of survival.

If hacking involves creativity and thinking 'out-of-the-box', then vulnerability testing and security audits will not ensure the security proofing of an organization. To ensure that organizations have adequately protected their information assets, they must adopt the approach of 'defense in depth'. In other words, they must penetrate their networks and assess the security posture for vulnerabilities and exposure.

The definition of an Ethical Hacker is very similar to a Penetration Tester. The Ethical Hacker is an individual who is usually employed with the organization and who can be trusted to undertake an attempt to penetrate networks and/or computer systems using the same methods as a Hacker. Hacking is a felony in the United States and most other countries. When it is done by request and under a contract between an Ethical Hacker and an organization, it is legal. The most important point is that an Ethical Hacker has authorization to probe the target.

The CEH Program certifies individuals in the specific network security discipline of Ethical Hacking from a vendor-neutral perspective. The Certified Ethical Hacker certification will fortify the application knowledge of security officers, auditors, security professionals, site administrators, and anyone who is concerned about the integrity of the network infrastructure. A Certified Ethical Hacker is a skilled professional who understands and knows how to look for the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems and uses the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker.

To achieve the Certified Ethical Hacker Certification, you must pass the CEH exam 312-50

WARNING: Students are warned against attending CEH training at unauthorized training centers. Only those who attend CEH training at EC-Council ATCs are eligible for CEH certification. Also you will be required to show proof of official CEH training attendance when you apply for EC-Council's LPT certification and Master of Security Science (MSS) degree program. Please e-mail us at info@eccouncil.org to check the authorized validity of a training center.

EC-Council has certified IT professionals from the following organizations as CEH: (Selected list)
 

• Cisco Corporation
• Novell
• Canon
• Hewlett Packard
• US Air Force Reserve
• US Embassy
• Verizon
• PFIZER
• HDFC Bank
• University of Memphis
• Microsoft Corporation
• Worldcom
• Trusecure
• US Department of Defense
• Fedex
• Dunlop
• British Telecom
• Cisco
• Supreme Court of the Philippines
• United Nations
• Ministry of Defense, UK
• Nortel Networks
• MCI
• Check Point Software
• KPMG
• Fleet International
• Cingular Wireless
• Columbia Daily Tribune
• Johnson & Johnson
• Marriott Hotel
• Tucson Electric Power Company
• Singapore Police Force
• PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• SAP
• Coca-Cola Corporation
• Quantum Research
• US Military
• IBM Global Services
• UPS
• American Express
• FBI
• Citibank Corporation
• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Wipro
• New York City Dept Of IT & Telecom - DoITT
• United States Marine Corps
• Reserve Bank of India
• US Air Force
• EDS
• Bell Canada
• SONY
• Kodak
• Ontario Provincial Police
• Harris Corporation
• Xerox
• Philips Electronics
• U.S. Army
• Schering
• Accenture
• Bank One
• SAIC
• Fujitsu
• Deutsche Bank
• Symantec
• Sun Microsystems
• Google Corporation
• McAfee
• Dell Corporation
• Verizon
• Motorola
• Singapore Airlines
• Infosys
• TATA Consultancy
• Wipro
• Deloitte
• Oracle