I have taken the GREM and the class is rock solid however, if you have experience doing any kind of exploitation, chances are you have also reverse engineered something during the course of your career or hobby. This makes the static analysis portion of the class simpler. I can't speak about the CREA because I haven't taken that class so instead I will offer an opinion based on the CPT and CEPT which comes from InfoSecInstitute.
When I took the CPT and CEPT the content was spot on as were the videos. My only gripe was that they were pre-recorded so any questions you would need to ask could not be asked. In comparison, I took GREM via vLive which enabled me to ask away and point out alternatives to not only the class but the instructors. It also enabled me to clarify my interpretation of what I was learning.
Content:
GREM - rock solid and whether or not you pass or fail, you *will* learn a lot in order to get your feet wet with analysis.
CPT/CEPT - if the CREA was done in similar fashion, you *will* learn alternative and obscure methods and tools to do the work.
Now, because I haven't taken the CREA, I will share an e-mail from last year when I asked someone who
DID take the exam:
The CREA course was very interesting to me, a lot more interesting than the CEH. It teaches RE methodologies using real life examples such as cracking s/w registrations, unpacking malware - using Ollydbg and IDApro.
Unfortunately, half of my class did not posses the required prerequisite knowledge, and were more interested in automated tools and step-by-step methods to RE code. ie "toolies". The learning materials were disorganised, and the print quality of the powerpoint slides in the book was very poor.
Thankfully I had a very talented instructor, who is an expert in RE and Malware. He was able to teach the material in a much better way than the course layout, and impart some of his wealth knowledge on the subject matter. Becoming skilled at RE requires lots of practice and skill, something that no course could really teach in a week.
In summary, although I think there are better courses for RE available, I am glad I did the course mainly due to the high ability of the instructor and the amount of his own knowledge he was able to pass onto me, and provide me with a hands-on head start into the world of RE.
Hope this helps,
Gxxx
On 06/22/10 7:58 PM, sil wrote:
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xxxx, Sorry to bug you but I have a quick question. Was the CREA training/certification worth taking. I'd rather ask someone whose taken it and can give an honest opinion.
With that said, you should see about potentially taking the GREM followed by a class taught by Joe McCray and company
http://www.trainace.com/courses/advancedmalwareanalysis/ or any of the classes at Recon.cx, Recon is what I call "top of the food chain" in this area
http://recon.cx/2011/training.html
OSCP - Offensive Security Certified Professional : Failed my first attempt at the OSCP exam
