Good morning!

I work for a small (8 people total) computer firm in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We provide computer and network support to small to medium sized businesses in our area. I had a serious meeting with my two bosses last week and due to our increasing amount of customers that are area banks, our company wants to have a technician focused on security and penetration testing.

I looked at various certifications and qualifications (EC-Council and SANS) and we decided that the C|EH and LPT would be a good route. (Little did I know what all was involved for a LPT, but I'm still going for it!!!)  Hopefully my bosses will decide if I'm worthy enough to miss a week of work to have Mr. Chuck Swanson cram as much C|EH v6 into my brain as possible!!!

I've got an A+ and recently obtained my CCNA (640-802) and work with servers and networking gear on a regular basis.

2 questions:

1. What can I do to prepare and have some ideas of what to expect at the C|EH v6 classes in May/ June? I plan on getting the highly recommended C|EH guide by Graves (red white and black book) and the C|EH exam prep by Que (yellow and red) and at least going through those before heading out to Myrtle Beach (if I get to go!) I plan on being an active participant in these forums to learn as much as I can to better myself and our company.

2. As our company is looking to get into penetration testing, roughly what do companies charge for penetration testing and what all does it include or cover (I understand this question may be better suited for another category, if so, please direct me in the right way!!!)

Thank you for your help and having such an awesome site. Just in the 30 minutes I've been here, I already feel a little better about taking the C|EH exam and getting into the world of computer security.

Thanks again!
Dave Koob
The Solution
Cedar Falls, Iowa
www.getthesolution.net

Not being a dick at all...

Maybe I should have phrased the question a bit differently. I guess it was more of a curiosity of mine as opposed to asking on behalf of the company I work for. I'm familiar with audits and tests that other companies perform for our customers. I do not personally know anybody in our area that is a penetration tester, so I was wondering if there is anybody here that does this on a daily (or regular) basis and what all is involved. I've seen the end reports, but I (personally) am not sure of the effort that goes in to generating them.

My bosses have approached me and stated that they want me to study and focus my time in this area, and I'm totally open to learning new things. I'm mostly curious for my own sake.

Anybody wanna take a swing at the 'revised' question?

Thanks,
Dave