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Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking

Master essential offensive security skills and practice addressing real-world cyberthreats to elevate your career in cybersecurity.

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Think like a hacker to advance your career in offensive security

Cisco certificate in Ethical Hacking

Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking

Broaden your skill set in the ever-growing field of cybersecurity with the Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking. Build the expertise needed to proactively discover and mitigate vulnerabilities, and validate your expertise with a certificate and domain-specific digital badges.

Get real-world offensive security experience

Stand out in a competitive field by demonstrating your practical knowledge. Themed Capture the Flag challenges show you can tackle the toughest issues in cybersecurity and work with key technologies, like Splunk.

Show off your skills with a certificate and digital badges

Your certificate proves you’ve got what it takes to play offense on a cybersecurity team. Collect additional badges to show you’re always a step ahead of threat actors.

Is this program right for you?

No formal prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites for this certificate, but candidates often have:

  • The Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity certification or equivalent entry-level cybersecurity experience
  • Basic programming knowledge

Example learner profiles

  • Entry-level and college students looking to get into cybersecurity, display offensive security skills like pen testing and ethical hacking
  • Pen testers or ethical hackers looking to stay current with their skills
  • Cybersecurity professionals looking for a credential that shows offensive security know-how to address vulnerabilities

Minimize security risks and maximize your career potential

Pen testing job growth

33%

Penetration tester employment is projected to grow 33% from 2023 to 2033 - much faster than average.

Average salary for offensive security pros

$120,360

Salaries for ethical hacker, penetration tester, and vulnerability assessment positions are approximately $120,360 per year.

Available cybersecurity jobs globally

4 million

An estimated 4 million jobs are unfilled in cybersecurity globally.

How the program works

Step 1: Complete required ethical hacker training

Cisco Networking Academy’s Ethical Hacker course is your first step toward your certificate.

  • Become proficient in the art of scoping, executing, and reporting on vulnerability assessments, while recommending mitigation strategies. Follow an engaging gamified narrative throughout the course and get lots of practice with hands-on labs inspired by real-world scenarios.
  • Pass the final course exam to earn your Ethical Hacker badge.
  • Your next mission, if you choose to accept it—navigate to Cisco U. and select at least one Capture the Flag challenge.
View Ethical Hacker course details

Step 2: Pass a Capture the Flag challenge

Now that you’ve completed your Ethical Hacker course via Cisco Networking Academy, you can put your skills to the test with Capture the Flag challenges on Cisco U.

  • Complete at least one of your favorite challenges to receive your Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking.
  • Challenges are themed to reflect the key skills required for the current threat landscape and expire after 90 days of purchase. They leverage what you learned in the Ethical Hacker course to expand your skills and propel your career in safeguarding against cyber threats.
  • Watch for new challenges and continue to complete them quarterly to accrue more ethical hacker badges—one per challenge.

Current challenges

Challenge #1

Wireshark-fu

Investigate an event and determine whether it is suspicious or a false positive.

Explore challenge on Cisco U.

Challenge #2

DNS Event

Use query tools to analyze a DNS event and determine whether it's suspicious.

Explore challenge on Cisco U.

Splunk Certified Cybersecurity Defense Analyst Certification

Validate your skills to start as a Security Operations Center analyst using Splunk analytics, threat-hunting, risk-based alerting, and industry best practices.

Learn about this Splunk certification

Watch the Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking virtual event

Join our experts for a virtual event where you'll learn how to start your ethical hacker journey. Take a deeper dive into the Cisco Networking Academy’s Ethical Hacker course and Cisco U. Capture the Flag (CTF) challenge topics — even get a sneak peek at one of the CTF challenges.

Watch the webinar

Sources

  1. Occupational Outlook Handbook, Information Security Analysts, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
  2. Strategic Cybersecurity Talent Framework, World Economic Forum