What’s Next After Linux +

[cleanwithit0607]

Alright guys. I’m scheduled to take my Linux + in two months. I need to figure out what I should study for next. Here are my choices:

-CEH
-CPTS
-OSCP

Which one should I go for?

I don’t have any experience for the CEH, but I have heard you can have the requirement waived for education, Is this true?

Thanks for the help.

[BillV]

@cleanwithit0607 wrote:

Which one should I go for?

Are you talking about doing one between now and the time you take your Linux+ or are you trying to figure out what you’re going to do afterwards?

@cleanwithit0607 wrote:

I don’t have any experience for the CEH, but I have heard you can have the requirement waived for education, Is this true?

Thanks for the help.

I don’t think so, but you can always fill out the application form from here, submit it and see if they’ll approve you to take the exam.

BillV

[cleanwithit0607]

@BillV wrote:

@cleanwithit0607 wrote:

Which one should I go for?

Are you talking about doing one between now and the time you take your Linux+ or are you trying to figure out what you’re going to do afterwards?

@cleanwithit0607 wrote:

I don’t have any experience for the CEH, but I have heard you can have the requirement waived for education, Is this true?

Thanks for the help.

I don’t think so, but you can always fill out the application form from here, submit it and see if they’ll approve you to take the exam.

BillV

Yes, I want to know which one I should do afterwards. I wish I could do one before, but that would be overkill.

Thanks, I will do. Maybe with the economy the way it is, perhaps I will get lucky, and get the requirement waived 😛

But If I don’t get approved, then which certification should I study for next?

[shednik]

@cleanwithit0607 wrote:

I don’t have any experience for the CEH, but I have heard you can have the requirement waived for education, Is this true?

Yes it is possible I know a user on a different forum who wrote to EC-Council and stated his reasons for wanting the certification and they allowed him to earn the certification w/o the course or the experience…

[pseud0]

Just my observation from various clients:

-A lot of them know what the CEH is, most consider it a good cert, but a smaller group of the more technical clients view it as a paper cert that almost anyone can study for and take without having a lot of hands on knowledge

-There haven’t been many clients that know what the OSCP is, but those who do have knowledge of it hold it in fairly high regard since it is more of a hands on testing process

I am not stating my opinion for either mind-set, this just seems to be what I’m seeing at the moment.  It’d be a trade off.  Take the more well known but less techy cert, or take the less well known but more techy cert.

[RoleReversal]

cleanwithit0607,

I’m currently working my way through the OSCP course, it is an excellent course from a learning perspective but as Pseud0 states it isn’t aswell known as the CEH.

I haven’t taken either CEH training or certification yet, however I have seen the CEH material from a colleague who has taken the course and exam and at first site I can see plenty common crossovers between the two in terms of topics. It seems to be training and testing methods that really separate the two certs.

I’d imagine (and hope to prove in the near future) that taking either cert so give you a good foundation to quickly achieve the other aswell (again I haven’t sat the CEH so don’t take this as gospel, hopefully someone who has each can confirm or deny this).

Good luck whichever way you go.

[cleanwithit0607]

@RoleReversal wrote:

cleanwithit0607,

I’m currently working my way through the OSCP course, it is an excellent course from a learning perspective but as Pseud0 states it isn’t aswell known as the CEH.

I haven’t taken either CEH training or certification yet, however I have seen the CEH material from a colleague who has taken the course and exam and at first site I can see plenty common crossovers between the two in terms of topics. It seems to be training and testing methods that really separate the two certs.

I’d imagine (and hope to prove in the near future) that taking either cert so give you a good foundation to quickly achieve the other aswell (again I haven’t sat the CEH so don’t take this as gospel, hopefully someone who has each can confirm or deny this).

Good luck whichever way you go.

Thanks, RoleReversal. Yea, I think I may send in this eligibility form to EC-Council. Then if I don’t get approved, I will take the OSCP. I plan on taking both, just so I don’t get burned by having one or the other; When I get the required experience. The thing I just realized about the CPTS is that their isn’t any study material, but I have heard the OSCP got people ready for the CPTS. So I guess, OSCP, CPTS, then CEH.

[BillV]

I wouldn’t bother with the CPTS.

For one, there will be too much overlap between what you’re doing (CEH/OSCP) to make taking the CPTS worthwhile. The CPTS doesn’t seem to include (at least from what I’ve seen listed on Mile2’s website) any more information than what you’ll gain from the CEH/OSCP. And second, I’ve yet to see anyone that a) knows about the CPTS, or b) is hiring and has the CPTS listed in their job posting.

I have taken both the CEH course and the OSCP course and there was a little bit of overlap, but the OSCP is more directly focused whereas the CEH is a much broader, overall perspective. As already pointed out, the CEH is more widely known but the OSCP has a more technical exam, rather than studying for and passing a multiple choice questions you actually have to do it.

A lot of the bad stuff you hear about the CEH comes from people that took it earlier on (v4 or earlier). The newest versions, 5 and 6, are significantly different in that the material has been updated to be more relevant. I can’t speak first-hand for v6, but I do have v2 and v5 at home and have read through v4. The changes are quite dramatic. Unfortunately, EC-Council kind of messed that up and it’s still hurting them today.

If anything, I would say that they complement each other very well. The OSCP basically covers what’s missing in the CEH. While the CEH labs (v5) do have you work with some good tools, it still includes a lot of extra tools that you’ll probably never use in the real world. But, as is the nature of the certification, it’s meant to give you a good overall understanding. The OSCP gives you direct tools to use and the actual training videos are very well done and easy to follow/understand.

The follow-on courses to CEH (ECSA/LPT) are much more targeted directly using specific tools, a methodology and the business aspects of penetration testing (more comparable to the new SANS course SEC560).

Hope that helps.

BillV

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