I have been a full time penetration tester working for an international security consulting firm for the last 15 years. Penetration testing is still my day to day business.

To be fair, Mile2 courses (CPTE, CPTS, CDFE) in a way are more structured and organized than EC's one. If you are a new comer to Pen Testing arena, the last thing you want is to attend a course that shows you all sort of different tools but didn't teach you much in theory and practical, e.g. CEH

Some of the common mistakes new comers make (in evaluating effective pen test trainings):

1. Tools + Tools + Tools: If you want to learn about pen testing, learn about the theory behind exploits, not which tools to use. In this case, Mile2's CPTE beat CEH flat!

2. OS, software versions: Don't be surprise to see even the latest pen testing courses still teaching you how to hack Windows 2000. Remember, you want to learn the fundamental that matters, not just tools!

Just to give you another example, SANS Advanced Cutting Edge Hacking  517 (2012) still teaching how to hack Win XP!

3. Look at the certification value: I have personally seen way too many "CEH" who don't know shit about ethical hacking. Google for CEH braindump, it's not hard to find abundance of questions.

4.  Myth on Latest & Greatest tools + exploits: Don't be fooled by trainings that promised latest and greatest tools (e.g. CEH), I'd recommend you to check out the latest CEH training courseware (be resourceful, google for: Rapidshare CEH slides etc....), one word: junk.


I'm not bias against any pen testing courses, but if you want to compare the quality of CEH and Mile2's CPTE. You can forget about CEH, and yes, you hear this from a 15 years veteran in Penetration Testing industry.


best regards,

repins13