School Teaches 'Ethical Hacking'

Yardboy writes "A Yahoo! News/Reuters story discusses students in Los Angeles paying $4,000 to attend 'Hacker College' and become 'Certified Ethical Hackers'. Apparently: 'Instructors race through topics like symmetric versus asymmetric key cryptography (symmetric is faster), war dialing (hackers will always call late at night) and well-known TCP ports and services (be wary of any activity on Port 0)', and the president of the college: says 'What we attempt to do in our classes is teach how the hackers think.' Hmmm, perhaps 'Certified Script Kiddie' would be a more accurate designation."

Comments

Re:dumb answer

[MadRocketScientist]

ICMP is not port 0, it is IP Protocol 1. TCP/UDP port 0 is officially "Reserved"

CEH vs OPST (from pen-test)

[jrl]

For me, the value of a class is not in the test or even the certification at the end. The lasting value is in the knowledge and skill set that you refine and take with you back to your job. I also have made lasting relationships from the classmates, students, and instructors that I've met over the years. All of these mean a lot more to me than the "e-i-e-i-o" at the end of my name.

I gravitated towards ISECOM's OPST/OPSA classes because they fill a role I felt was missing in the security class space. Many non-vendor specific security classes have a very narrow tools based focus. While I agree that knowing how to use your tools in a test is important, I feel knowing why and when to use them is far more important. Knowing the politics involved in testing, going over internationally accepted testing practices, and reviewing regional and national legal regulations are just as much part of the job. These things are not merely important, but are required to be successful in your role as a security tester. In addition to the intensely technical aspects of the testing process, this is what the OPST represents; the "professional" side of security testing. Also, the ISECOM classes teach from ISECOM's Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM) which provides a much needed methodical framework to bring a scientific method style to the chaotic world of security testing.

The CEH class represents the other kind of class. One that is "flashy", "fun", "exciting", but not overly useful to the serious professional. While I have a lot of respect for Clément (one of the instructors for Intense School), I have very little respect for any organization that markets "hacker" classes. This includes the so-called ethical hacking, applied hacking, exposed hacking, grandmother hacking, squirrel hacking, super-duper 3y3 4m 31337 hacking, or any other fancy way of saying "Learn how to think and act like the bad guys".

While choosing where to spend your time and money, consider the community you are aligning with. If you look at ISACA, SANS, ISC2, ISECOM, etc.. they all have a true dedication to security and the betterment of the global information security community. Contrast the value of being affiliated (via education/certification) with any of those organizations over a piece of paper and a cd of toys.