ECSA – Penetration testing certification is a security credential like no other! – My review & thoughts
Author: admin | Category: Cyber Security, Information Security, Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Assessment | Leave a Comment
Akhil Ravi
Information Security Specialist at EY | ECSAv9 | CEHv8
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ecsa-penetration-testing-certification-security-credential-ravi?trk=prof-post
Undertaking the EC-Council Security Analyst Course was an excellent experience for me. It redefined my perspective on how the information security industry works and my perspective regarding the functionality of it. Having successfully completed my Certified Ethical Hacker course previously, the ECSA was a major positive step towards my career advancement. It gave me a wider approach towards system and analytical security and refined my information security skills.
As the course in itself, it provides for a better subject matter understanding both theoretically and practically. Exposed me to various security scenarios that need to be dealt with on a daily basis and taught me necessary tools and techniques to analyze the very same. My knowledge of eliminating system vulnerabilities increased and gained skills required to test and mitigate them.
The ECSA course has a major advantage over other courses as it provides a virtual lab that brings in the practical part to the theoretical concepts. The lab which was introduced in the Version 9 was my most interesting experience as I had had never had hands-on training in the courses I had previously studied, more so because with each completion of task in the lab kept boosting my confidence and helped me gain real-time experience. The one weakness I feel is the lack of depth in some topics because of unavailability of lab sessions for their application. I would suggest virtual labs for all theoretical topics and a VPN at that because sometimes even though the server connection was strong, I experienced latency issues.
As far as my position in my organization, I must say the subject matter knowledge I have gained through the ESCA course has had a drastic change in my confidence level and being in my company’s’ information security team. I now meet the requirements my company needs at the current position with the acquired skill set. It has definitely given me an advantage as a pen tester.
Overall, the ECSA course I found is definitely a step one must take to move deeper in the field of information security. Special appreciation and thanks to my tutor, Mr. Shafeeque Kunnikkal who with great enthusiasm and proper guidance throughout the course imparted the full essence of the topics covered and also managed to successfully completed the course within the stipulated time-frame mentioned. He is one of the finest tutors of the lot under whom I had a fantastic learning experience.
