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EC-Council Certifications
What is EC-Council?
The Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is the world’s largest cybersecurity technical certification body. Its programs are globally recognized and have been endorsed by the U.S. Federal Government, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS).
The EC-Council certifies individuals in numerous e-business and information security skills. Essentially, it validates that these information security professionals are equipped with the required knowledge and competencies to protect a specialized information security domain from cyber conflict.
To date, the EC-Council has certified over 200,000 security experts who work in our nation’s top organizations, including the FBI, Microsoft, and IBM. If you want to join their ranks, getting an EC-Council certification will give you a competitive edge and a direct pathway to becoming a respected encryption specialist, digital forensic investigator, or ethical hacker.
EC-Council Certifications and Degrees
EC-Council Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI)
EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
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Interested in earning EC-Council Certification? Learn about the degree that offers this cert.
What is EC-Council Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI)?
The EC-Council Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) program certifies students and professionals in the security discipline of computer forensics. It’s a respected, vendor-neutral certification, meaning no single vendor is profiled as part of the program.
A forensics investigations certification validates your skills and application knowledge in this field—making it ideal for anyone wishing to work in law enforcement, system administration, security, defense or the military, law, banking, or any other industry that’s concerned with upholding the integrity of its network infrastructure.
Computer forensics is the application of computer investigation and analysis techniques in the interests of determining potential legal evidence. If you want to demonstrate your expertise in detecting hacking attacks, properly extracting evidence for reporting crimes, and conducting audits to prevent future attacks, this is the cert for you.
Skills in this certification include:
- Incident response and reporting
- Cybercrime scene management
- Computer-based evidence collection and case files preparation
- Audit trails
- Hidden/locked data investigation, recovery, and analysis
- Reverse engineering of malware files
- Threat investigation and attack reconstruction
- Anti-forensics detection
- Proactive profiling and scenario modeling
CHFI Exam
The CHFI exam certifies your ability to identify a hacker’s footprints and properly gather the necessary evidence for prosecution. There are 150 multiple-choice questions and a four-hour time limit. And depending on which exam you get, you’ll need a score of 60–80% correct to pass.
Prerequisites for this exam include:
A minimum of two years of experience working in the information security domain.
OR
Completion of the EC-Council’s encryption training program.
This exam and certificate are ideal for:
- Police and law enforcement personnel
- Defense and military personnel
- e-Business security professionals
- Systems administrators
- Legal professionals
- Banking, insurance, and other professionals
- Government agency employees
- IT managers
CHFI Certification
Your initial CHFI certification will cost $249, along with an optional preparation course priced at $1,899. However, if you choose to earn a cybersecurity degree through WGU, your CHFI preparation and exam fees are included in your tuition—saving you thousands of dollars.
After becoming certified, you’ll need to renew your ECES certification every three years to prove that your knowledge and experience are current with new computer forensics technologies. To recertify, you must complete 40 EC-Council Continuing Education (ECE) credits per year totaling 120 ECE over the three-year span. While there is no cost for recertification, you’ll have to pay an annual EC-Council membership fee of $80.
What is EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)?
Ethical hacking is the process of penetrating your organization’s computer network system to find a vulnerability and implement preventive, corrective, and protective countermeasures before an actual attack occurs. The EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification is for professionals who are responsible for securing or testing the security of these networks.
The EC-Council is known for providing the highest quality exams and certifications in cybersecurity. And its CEH cert will help you prove your expertise in employing the latest hacker techniques and tools to find common network exploits, uncover system weaknesses, and apply effective counteractions.
Whether you work (or want to work) as a security officer, auditor, network security professional, or site administrator, this cert will enhance your skills in your current role or provide a pathway to becoming a full-time ethical hacker.
Skills in this certification include:
- 18 standard attack vectors—including the OWASP Top 10
- Emerging attack vectors—fileless malware, targeted ransomware, web API, and web shell
- Enumeration—NFS, Telnet, SMB, FTP, TFTP, IPv6, and BGP
- Malware reverse engineering
- Hacking web applications
- Cloud computing and hacking—container technology, Docker, Kubernetes, and serverless
- WPA3 encryption and hacking
- Operation technology—ICS, SCADA, and PLC; HMI and side-channel attacks
CEH Exam
The EC-Council’s CEH exam addresses common computer exploits, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures, as well as new hacker techniques and tools. It’s four hours in duration and includes 125 multiple-choice questions. To become certified, you must pass with a score of 70% or higher.
Prerequisites for this exam include:
A minimum of two years of experience working in the information security domain.
OR
Completion of the EC-Council’s ethical hacker training program.
This exam and certificate are ideal for:
- Cybersecurity auditors
- Cybersecurity consultants
- System, infosec, and IT security administrators
- Cyber defense, information security, SOC, and security analysts
- Network and network security engineers
- Penetration testers
- Solution architects
CEH Certification
The Certified Ethical Hacker exam costs $500, plus an additional $100 eligibility application fee. You can also take the EC-Council’s CEH preparatory course for $1,899. However, if you choose to do your cybersecurity education through WGU, your CEH preparation and certification fees will be covered by your degree’s tuition—which provides a significant savings.
After becoming a certified ethical hacker, you’ll need to renew your certification every three years. This proves that your knowledge and experience are current with changing hacker strategies and technologies. To recertify, you must complete 40 EC-Council Continuing Education (ECE) credits per year totaling 120 ECE over the three-year span. While there is no cost for recertification, you’ll have to pay an annual EC-Council membership fee of $80.
Learn About WGU IT Certs
Discover how WGU offers IT certifications with most of our IT degree programs.
Frequently Asked Questions about EC-Council Certification
- What is an EC-Council certified ethical hacker?
- What is CHFI certification?
- How much do EC-Council certifications cost?
- What is EC-Council certification?
An EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker is a network security professional who’s demonstrated their ability to find computer exploits, uncover system weaknesses, and apply effective countermeasures through current hacking tools and techniques.
Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) certification is offered by the Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council). Professionals earn this respected certification to validate their ability to work in computer forensic investigations, which includes identifying hacker footprints and properly gathering evidence for successful prosecution.
EC-Council certifications cost between $250–$500 and may include an additional $100 eligibility application fee. The Council’s preparatory courses for these exams range between $1,195 and $1,899. You can avoid these expenses by earning your Master of Science in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance at WGU. Both the preparation and exam fees for two EC-Council certs are included in your tuition.
The Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is the world’s largest cybersecurity technical certification body. Earning an EC-Council certification demonstrates that you’re an expert in protecting information security domains. There are numerous certs that you can get, such as Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), which can help you move into new cybersecurity roles or advance your career.
WGU IT Certifications
Each WGU IT degree comes with top industry certifications at no extra cost.
