Getting certified in ECSA
A follow-up to the well-known CEH certificate is ECSA (EC-Council Certified Security Analyst) from EC-Council. The course is booked at the same time as the CEH course and would therefore take place on location at the training institute.
EC-Council Certified Security Analyst v10
The course had been planned for several months and then COVID-19 came along which resulted in a lockdown. The course would no longer take place on location, but online. Fortunately, they had an empty room at the course institute where I could follow the online course. In this way I was not disturbed at home and I could keep my attention on the course. The course material was already sent in advance so that it would be with you on time.
The course was taught by the same teacher as the one who gave the CEH course. I was very happy with this because we would then pay a lot of attention to practice and do the theory next to it. We were in an online course for five full days in which we were in close contact. The group was very small, so we had plenty of time to work and do exercises. The days flew by, but that always happens when it’s fun.
Modules in course
| Module nr. | Module |
|---|---|
| Module 00: | Penetration Testing Essential Concepts |
| Module 01: | Introduction to Penetratiaon Testing and Methodologies |
| Module 02: | Penetration Testing Scoping and Engagement Methodology |
| Module 03: | Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Methodology |
| Module 04: | Social Engineering Penetration Testing Methodology |
| Module 05: | Network Penetration Testing Methodology – External |
| Module 06: | Network Penetration Testing Methodology – Internal |
| Module 07: | Network Penetration Testing Methodology – Perimeter Devices |
| Module 08: | Web Application Penetration Testing Methodology |
| Module 09: | Database Penetration Testing Methodology |
| Module 10: | Wireless Penetration Testing Methodology |
| Module 11: | Cloud Penetration Testing Methodology |
| Module 12: | Report Writing and Post Testing Actions |
ECSA lab environment
Similar to CEH, there is an iLabs environment. After each module there was the opportunity to practice the new knowledge in practice. During the exercises you were guided step by step through the explanations at the labs. You had to tick each step if you had done that. There were often multiple virtual machines available in the environment. During the labs a lot of things were already covered in the CEH labs. A few new things came along which I had written down in my notes.
Books
The book that came along at the ECSA course was just like the CEH books. It exist of slides from a presentation and printed and bind together in a book. This was as expected based on the CEH course material. I did not buy any other books for this course, I believed the book CEH v10 Certified Ethical Hacker Study Guide 1st Edition which I bought for the CEH exam preperation would be enough for the ECSA exam preperation.
Flashcards
Since I already had the book for CEH I could reuse the flashcards for preparing for the exam. The lockdown was still present and if possible I would go outside to the garden to enjoy the company of my family outside. Since the exam was a few months ago, I noticed that I still remembered all the flashcards pretty well.
ECSA Exam outline
The ECSA exam is an ANSI exam (just like the CEH exam) in which you have to answer 150 multiple choice questions in 4 hours. The exam can be taken at Pearson Vue and booked under code 412-79. As I mentioned for the CEH exam, the 4 hours that stands for 150 questions is, in my opinion, very long, as well for the ECSA exam. So there is no need to really stress about time. All these information is written by EC-Council in an exam blue print which I used for preparing for my exam as well.
Practice exams
During the course I had not been given any practice questions or practice exams. We were told during the course that the questions would be similar to those of CEH. So with this in mind, I decided to remake the practice questions and practice exams from the book CEH v10 Certified Ethical Hacker Study Guide 1st Edition .
The exam
I had scheduled the exam on June 29, Monday morning at 09:30. I prefer to take an exam in the morning, because I’m still fit then. I calmly drive the car to the exam location that is not too far away from me. After reporting to the reception, I can leave my things in a personal safe like last time and personal details were checked, after which I was escorted to the exam room. The exam consisted of 150 multiple choice questions for which I had 4 hours. I was able to start the exam after agreeing to the terms and conditions. The questions I got were slightly different than I had prepared. But because I had taken the ECSA course with a great teacher, I was able to answer the questions anyway. After I had answered the last question and indicated that I was done with the exam, the result appeared on the screen. I was happy with the result, it was a good score, unfortunately not flawless, but that doesn’t make the joy less happy after passing an exam.