Journey Of Passing The CEH Practical Exam From EC-Council 🛡️💻

Jul 18, 2024 5 min read Utsavpari Gosai

Hello Hackers,

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I am 21 years old, a Cybersecurity and AI enthusiast from Gujarat, and today I want to share my journey of passing the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification from EC-Council a goal I had been planning for a long time. Finally, it’s done! I will tell you what I learned, my exam experience, the mistakes I made, and everything in between. Let’s go on this exciting journey together! 🎉

Starting the Journey:

About a year ago, I noticed many cybersecurity professionals, application security experts, and pentesters taking the CEH Practical Exam. At that time, I had no idea about it. I was in my learning phase, focusing on prerequisites for ethical hacking and cybersecurity, like networking, programming, Linux, etc. I also took some basic exams like EHE Android Bug Hunting from CodeRed, a child company of EC-Council, to test my knowledge.

I watched YouTube videos to get a sense of the CEH exam, as there weren’t many people sharing their experiences. Armed with some details, I decided to go for it. After finishing my prerequisites, I started preparing for the CEH exam about 6 to 7 months ago, diving into the world of cybersecurity. 🔍

Learning and Preparation:

I enjoyed the learning process immensely, practicing on my village school’s computers. I got the CEH exam voucher for ₹18,000 INR (around $200), significantly cheaper than its original price of $550, thanks to my bug bounty income. You can check out my other bug bounty stories and ping me to know where I got it legally through someone linked with EC-Council. Initially, I waited for EC-Council’s scholarship, which would reduce the cost to $100, but it wasn’t available this time. So, I purchased it from a person connected with EC-Council about six months ago.

Preparation Tips:

  • Self-study: I didn’t buy any paid courses. Instead, I used Google, YouTube, Twitter, and other open-source materials for preparation. 💡
  • Free resources: I suggest copying the topics from paid courses and searching for them online.

Scheduling the Exam:

After finishing my initial learning, doing some bug bounties, and completing my MCA first year And Exam, I decided to schedule the exam. However, I faced challenges like lack of WiFi, good internet, and a personal room. I planned to take the exam in a hotel but couldn’t arrange it. Finally, a friend who had a room and WiFi helped me out. With his assistance, I scheduled my exam. 📅

The Exam Day:

On July 18, the exam day, I encountered a twist. I had prepared using old CEH demo questions and topics, but I discovered from a person that the syllabus and questions had changed. Surprised and a bit anxious, but I wanted to give that exam for the job perspective as soon as possible because companies require it. So, I took a deep breath, reminded my god Mahadev the biggest hacker, and my love, family, and friends, and started the exam.

Exam Experience:

Despite the unexpected changes, I relied on my bug bounty experience and a year of learning. With the help of my gods, my loving family, and friends, I successfully passed the exam! I was thrilled and grateful for the support I received. 🎊

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Key Learnings and Mistakes:

Here are some crucial points and mistakes to avoid during preparation and the exam:

Tools Used in the Exam:

  • Nmap
  • Snow Steganography
  • Open Stego
  • Wpscan
  • Wireshark
  • Sqlmap
  • OWASP ZAP
  • Hashcat
  • John
  • Hydra
  • Veracrypt
  • Cryptool
  • Hash Calculator
  • MD5 Calculator
  • PhoneSploit
  • Metasploit
  • BCTextEncoder

Topics Covered:

  • Scanning and Enumeration
  • Web Application Pentesting
  • Cryptography
  • Steganography
  • DoS & DDoS (Packet Sniffing)
  • Android Exploits
  • Privilege Escalation
  • Malware analysis
  • IoT

Windows-Based Questions:

  • Tools: Practice using tools like Open Stego, Wireshark, ZAP, Veracrypt, Hash Calculator, MD5 Calculator, Cryptool, and BCTextEncoder.
  • Commands: Familiarize yourself with commands like `net user`, `snow.exe -C -p “password” stegfile.txt`, `type C:\path.txt`, `dir`, `cd`, `hostname`, `whoami`, and `pwd`.

Linux-Based Tools and Commands:

  • Nmap
  • Wpscan
  • Sqlmap
  • Hashcat
  • John
  • Hydra
  • PhoneSploit
  • Metasploit

Commands Used:

Nmap:

nmap -sn 170.16.0.1/24 -oN nmap.txt
nmap -O 170.16.0.1/24 -oN nmap-OS.txt
nmap -sC -sV -sS 170.16.0.20 -oN nmap-all.txt

Wpscan:

wpscan -u james -P /password.txt --url http://172.16.0.27:8080/CEH/

Hydra:

hydra -L /user.txt -P /password.txt ftp://172.0.16.21

Phonesploit:

find phonesploit

Practice Resources:

I would suggest watching this playlist. It’s very helpful for preparation: YouTube Playlist

Problems I Faced During the CEH Practical Exam:

  • Room with No Disturbance: Ensure you have a quiet room without interruptions.
  • Internet Speed: A good internet speed of at least 30 Mbps is crucial because the exam machine can be slow, especially when running heavy tasks.
  • No Direct Copy-Paste: You cannot copy or paste commands or notes directly from your PC or Google search to the exam machine. This restriction wasted a lot of my time.
  • Service Password Login: I correctly cracked a service password but couldn’t log in. Once logged in, the system automatically remembered the first user’s credentials, making it impossible to log in as a second user.
  • Remember Password Option: If you mistakenly check the ‘remember password’ option, you might face login issues. Ensure to uncheck it if ticked by mistake.
  • RDP Login: I cracked the RDP password and tried connecting using the Remmina tool, but I couldn’t log in even with the correct username and password.
  • Complex Questions: Some questions were not understandable at first glance. It is important to read them peacefully and ensure you understand them correctly before attempting to answer.
  • Sqlmap Issues: In my case, Sqlmap did not work as expected. Do not rely solely on Sqlmap; have backup tools like JSQL or Ghauri ready for SQL injection tasks.

Conclusion:

Learn from the issues I faced and prepare accordingly. This write-up aims to provide the latest guidance for those planning to take the exam. Remember to keep faith in yourself, your supporters, and your god. Do your best, and you will succeed!

Thank you for reading. If you found this information helpful, please share it with anyone planning to take the CEH exam. For any questions or guidance, feel free to connect with me on my social media handles below.

Happy Hacking! 🚀

MR. X FACTOR

Handles:

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