CEH — Certified Ethical Hacker (v13)
EC-Council's flagship certification and one of the most widely held security credentials globally with 350,000+ certified holders. DoD 8140 approved across 28+ DCWF work roles, which is its primary and most defensible value. The 125-question MCQ-only format is purely theoretical — zero practical component — and the practitioner community has consistently criticized it as a checkbox cert that doesn't validate actual offensive skill. If you need DoD 8140 approval for a government role and can't get OSCP, CEH gets the checkbox. If you're not targeting government positions, spend the $950 on PJPT and PNPT instead.
| Issuer | EC-Council |
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| Level | beginner |
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| Domains | Offensive Security, Threat Intelligence |
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| Practical weight | 0% |
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| Cost (USD) | 950 |
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| Renewal | 3 years (120 ECE credits + $80/yr membership) |
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| DoD 8140 | Yes |
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| Skills | attacker_methodology, reconnaissance_techniques, network_scanning, vulnerability_identification, exploitation_awareness, social_engineering_awareness, malware_concepts |
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Official certification page
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