Great article! Glad to see the writer added to the list of excellence here at EH Network. I look forward to reading future columns.
 I purchased his book as soon as it hit the market. Truly one of a kind; an excellent read! I dream of taking a course like his someday, but we in the northeast are on the forgotten list when it comes to great speakers and courses. Will glean what I can from these columns.

Your issue was installing, not using, so how is it going now? Any problems with the actual operation of the program? You following a course or just doing your own exercises?

This is a very hard book to get through without a very strong file system background. Some of the information is really at the level of a full time dedicated lab. There are areas that you won't get into without some very expensive equipment. The concepts are valuable, but you may want to start with a book about the file system operation before you learn the forensics. Might be a more logical progression for getting the information that you are seeking.

Well, 2008 is not too bad for the information it contains. Only recently did CEH change to include newer OS's. The data still flows from a to b in the same way it did then. Older is not always useless. As the others have said, the OSCP is a more advanced type of exam. You may be better served to aim for some lower level exams that can really help with the terminology and the philosophy of what we do. The foundation is all-critical in most areas, even more so in Ethical Hacking or PenTesting. There is much more riding on it then whether or not a user can print to a shared printer, but the network is still the network. You need a very unique point of view about it to really enjoy and excel in the securuty field.
Lots of great resources out there, just be sure not to jump so fast that you are not prepared for the landing.

Great introduction! Like many others here, I see alot of similar ideas and likes with your path and your goals. The foundation that you are trying to build for yourself is, I believe, the best first step one can take. I also am hoping to complete the eCPPT, it really looks and sounds like a great course.
Welcome to the group!

Welcome aboard! Don't have to tell you what a great resource this is since you have been here a while. Glad to see the introduction.

Wonder if I ever did one....

Welcome to both of you to the forum. I think you will find it a great resource if you take the time to get to know your way around. The more you can tell us about yourself, the better we will be able to assist you when your questions arise.

Welcome to the board. Lots of great people here with good advice. Hope you can participate often. And good luck in your certification pursuits!

This is a great course to aim for, but you need to have something to stand on when you get there. There are plenty of great sites out there with all kinds of hacking challenges as well as vulnerable VM's that you can download and test yourself on. This site as well as others have exercises to try as well. This is not like sitting and writing in memorized answers, it is a practical and will take more work to get ready for.

I think one common requirement that you will find is that you are expected to be an expert in at least one area of networking. You need to have a very good grasp of data as it is supposed to work before you can learn to manipulate it and take advantage of its inherent qualities. I cannot offer you much advice on training in your area, but I can tell you that you need a very strong foundation before jumping into pentesting or ethical hacking.

You would be better off at this time to let us help to determine where you are at technically so that you do not waste a lo t of money. These courses are not inexpensive and by the time you add in lab time or building your own lab, supplemental material it adds up really fast. We would hate to see you lose money or worse, get frustrated early in what can be a very rewarding career.

I will be keeping the material. I have a hard time parting with books and the dvd's from Career Academy are not that useful. There are better resources, many here on this site than the dvd's. I am also not sure whether I could sell the books since it is designated "Official" courseware and has the authorization code tied to it for the exam.

CISSP for sure. Hopefully before summer starts.
I need to take a Cisco so I can keep what I have current so I am going for the CCNA-Security.
I am also going to shoot for the Pentest Pro from eLearnSecurity.
And last, maybe try for the Wireshark Packet Analysis

Thats all, for now....

I would love to get a call like this. I would act like my mother does when I am trying to help her remotely. The caller would get so frustrated he would probably need to take a 15 minute break to regain himself. I think we could have great fun with something like this.

I have not taken the official course, but have read her books as well as have viewed several training sessions with Laura. She is a great teacher and I think that the course must be worthwhile. I also would say that her three books would more than get you through the exam as well as make you an excellent troubleshooter of packet flowing through a network.

This is a great skill to learn and can really seperate you from the others. I highly recommend any of her material.

Wishes of the same to every one here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!


Kerry

MCITP:EA | MCTS(x5) | CEHv7 |MCSA+Sec | MCSE+Sec | Security + | CCNA-V | WCSP | DSCE | PCT |CIW Security Analyst | CSSA

Technology and Systems Consultant
iCorps Technologies, Inc.