Just found this site searching around. Glad that their is a community of people who are getting or have their certs and are willing to share with others.

I am a technical school instructor, part time and programmer the other part.

I have my Network+ and Linux+ certs. My question is - Is it better to go for Security+ first before CEH or just skip that one and go on to the CEH?

Thanks for the site and for your answers in advance.

Hi again,

I should have read this post before replying to the other one, but I think my response will still help out.

As already pointed out, Security+ will provide a solid security foundation to build upon. You can't go wrong with earning your Security+ as it is a well recognized certification. The CEH is still young, but seems to be picking up more respect all the time.

The Security+ and CEH are two completely different certifications though. A Security+ will go through a brief overview of more defensive security, where the CEH is all offensive and (obviously) geared towards ethical hacking/penetration testing.

I tackled the CEH first, but I did read through a Security+ guide prior to taking the course. Did it help? Maybe. It's really hard to say. The CEH courseware and the official CEH review guide is what you want if you're going to study for CEH though. I would recommend reading through the courseware and doing the labs associated with it. When you're ready for the exam, buy the review guide and use that to study for the test.

Hope that provides a little insight and helps to answer your question.

I appreciate your comments. As I am fairly new to the security end of things, just trying to see what is out there. I have read up on the various certs and which angles that they are covering. It is sometimes confusing to those who are starting out and many of the certifications state "we are the best".

I appreciate this site coming along at this point and the people in the community helping out and trying to steer me in the right direction.

Thanks for the link - I went there but it looks like the site is not maintained or has been abandoned since 2006. 

Root:
Certainly understand your question... it seems like you could spend the rest of your life getting 'valuable' certs!

I have my Security+ and I found it very helpful in getting my C|EH.  Many sections seemed like they were right from the Sec+ documentation.  Also, as others have mentioned here, they are two different certs concentrating though both about security.

I'm glad I have both, as far as I'm concerned.  BUT... a warning!!
I tried self study for Sec+ and for awhile, was starting to wonder if I knew anythang! 

I came across NUMEROUS conflicting statements, until I figured out that I was right and some of these 'experts' were wrong!  I documented a lot of the errors and have even had replied email to me with apologies and that their erroneous statements would be corrected immediately.  So be careful about what material you are studying from (and yes... I'm talking about industry-recommended material, not just some off-beat whitepaper)

ANY way   just thought I'd toss in my two bytes!  Good luck on your pursuit!

Hi carmen,

I have a doubt here. Maybe if you can help to clear my doubt.
I understand that CISSP require 5 years of relevant working experience.

I was once taking a CEH training course and happened to get to know a trainer at the computer school. What I learnt from him that it doesn't really require 5 years of relevant working experience but rather just 5 years of working experience in any field and an endorsement from a CISSP professional.

Hope you can answer if the above statement is true.

Regards,
Kevin

I agree that the requirements have become much stricter for the CISSP. As I pass my CISSP Exam at Chicagocon and I was the lucky guy that got audited. They called all my old employers and also my references. It was a lot of work getting and locating the numbers and documents but I feel this proves that they do take the cert serious. In the end I check out fine and was awarded my CISSP. I feel the certs you decide on working toward are best picked by what your interests are and what kind of job you are looking for. 

Brian