Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, announced at the first day of Global Partner Summit (GPS) 2018 in Orlando, a new certification program for secondary schools and higher education in partnership with EC-Council, a global leader in cybersecurity education. Certiport and EC-Council will launch the EC-Council Associate Series certification exams, practice tests, and curriculum beginning in fall 2018 starting with the Ethical Hacking Associate (EHA) and Cyber Forensics Associate (CFA) exams.
Cybersecurity jobs are in high-demand. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, there are roughly half a million cybersecurity-related job openings in the United States. EC-Council currently offers professional-level certifications, but the new Associate Series exams validate entry-level knowledge and prepare individuals to continue learning best practices for today’s cybersecurity threat landscape.
“Many schools have already recognized the need in the marketplace for graduates with cybersecurity skills and have launched CTE and degree programs to fill that need,” said Ray Murray (Vice President, Business Development, Pearson VUE). “Now, the EC-Council Associate Series certification exams will give academia a method to validate those skills with industry-recognized certification. Graduates can fill the demand for cybersecurity jobs while schools add credibility to their programs.”
Beginning in fall 2018, schools can offer the new EC-Council Associate Series EHA and CFA certification exams easily with curriculum and practice exams that align to exam content and are easy to implement into existing courses.
EC-Council, or the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, is the world’s largest cybersecurity technical certification body. They have certified over 200,000 information security professionals globally and have influenced the cybersecurity mindset of countless organizations worldwide, coining the phrase “Ethical Hacking” in 2001. EC-Council programs are vendor neutral and focus on best practices on a global scale, making the new EC-Council Associate Series of certifications exams especially valuable for students around the world.
“EC-Council is very pleased to have forged this strategic partnership with Certiport to offer hands-on cybersecurity certification programs to students across the world,” said Wesley Alvarez (Director of Academics U.S., EC-Council). “We strongly believe that educating high school students on today’s threat landscape from both an offensive and defensive perspective will develop their interest and skills at an early age. The EHA and CFA programs challenge students with dynamic red-team, blue-team concepts, without hindering hands-on activities or creativity.”
Andrew Flood (CEO, Prodigy Learning) commented “The need for cybersecurity skills among employees in today’s digital workplace is very apparent. We are very excited to be delivering the new industry-recognised EHA and CFA certification pathways to Australia, Ireland & UK to increase employability prospects for students within the cybersecurity workspace“.
EC-Council Associate Series certification curriculum is available for review so schools can begin to prepare for the 2018-2019 school year. Visit EC-Council Associate Certification Overview for more information.
