HYDERABAD: It is time for network administrators to upgrade their skills and become Certified Ethical Hackers. According to technical director of EC Council, Haja Mohideen, it even raises your employment potential and consequent earnings. It is no crime to think like a hacker. In fact, the only way to stop a hacker is to think like one and then put preventive measures in place.

System and network administrators in India all now have an opportunity to become certified ethical hackers. New York headquartered not-for-profit organization, the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) has partnered with STQC - the training wing of Ministry of Information Technology in India - to offer the certification. "The training for 11 trainers at STQC has been completed and the first CEH batch is slated to come out in the third week of April," said Haja Mohideen, technical director of EC Council. The pricing for the certifications is being worked out.

Mohideen elaborated, the CEH Program certifies individuals in the specific network security discipline of Ethical Hacking in 22 domains from a vendor-neutral perspective. The certification fortifies the application knowledge of security officers, auditors, security professionals, site administrators… all those concerned about the integrity of the network infrastructure. What’s more, it even ups your employment potential and consequent earnings.

With academicians, industry practitioners and professionals as its members EC Council has training presence in 30 countries and according to Sangeeta Thomas, the regional director for India and Middle East, 10 more partners in Middle East are set to roll out EC Council programs in April 2004.

The concept of security audit in the Indian corporate segment will take long to take off but security is becoming an increasingly important issue as the back office operations in India grows in magnitude and climbs up the value chain. "Information assets have to be guarded," said Mohideen.

He added that the organization currently has 1,000 members across the globe and is adding on an average 120 members a month. "Though EC Council is not looking at numbers and the certificate is being offered selectively, only after a non- disclosure agreement and the scaling up will be fast. India has a lot of catching up to do," said Mohideen.

He also revealed that the next in line for India is a range of certifications including Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator and a Masters in Security Science.

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