The Hacker Academy Revises Training to Overcome Deficiencies in Information Security Certification Programs

Orlando, FL (PRWEB) December 16, 2008 -- www.TheHackerAcademy.com, the training division of boutique security consultancy www.ForegroundSecurity.com, announced today that it has brought aboard industry veteran Mike Murray to lead its information security training division and revise the content of its training programs to ensure that its students consistently learn best practices that will be significantly better than those required only by the CEH Certification. Murray will work with Foreground Security's team of consultants and security experts to ensure that the training material consistently teaches current best practices, rather than strictly follows out-dated curriculum taught by most certification courses.

"Out-of-date material, shoddy environments, poorly prepared exercises and sub-par content is the current state of practice in the information security training industry," said Aaron Cohen, President of The Hacker Academy. "We want our students to learn material that will make them effective as penetration testers today, not circa 2004."

The Hacker Academy's new Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing program will prepare students for the CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) while ensuring that the tools that they are using are updated while the methods and examples reflect current state of the art penetration testing in the real world which will include:

•    A commitment to content revision every 3 months and access to The Hacker Academy's quarterly webinars for graduates, teaching the newest techniques.

•    Detailed content focusing on client-side attacks and social engineering

•    Clear descriptions of what works in the real world and identification of tools that show diminishing returns because of widely-deployed countermeasures.

•    Up-to-date information on tools and vulnerabilities

Mike Murray said, "Having taught or worked with many of the leading vendors in the industry, I was tired of seeing students getting poor experiences for their training dollars. In a difficult economy; we need to give students the high-end experience that they have learned not to expect from most training companies in the security industry."

The first publicly available edition of the revised content will be offered at The Hacker Academy's January 12th -16th training class in Orlando, FL. The class will be taught by Mike Murray, with assistance from other members of the Foreground Security team.

About The Hacker Academy:

The Hacker Academy, a division of Foreground Security, specializes in information security training and produces the best courses that closely fit real time security issues and assures that all aspects of their products are of the highest quality. The Hacker Academy has been featured multiple times on CNBC, CBSnews.com, the Christian Science Monitor and many other news outlets. With its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, The Hacker Academy's instructors have extensive experience as consultants, authors and practitioners. For more information, visit TheHackerAcademy.com

About Mike Murray:

Mike Murray has spent his entire career in information security, from his work in the late 90's as a penetration tester and vulnerability researcher to leadership positions at nCircle, Neohapsis and Liberty Mutual Insurance Group. He currently leads Michael Murray and Associates, LLC where his team and their business partners consult with organizations on their security postures and human systems. His years of experience as a vulnerability researcher and leader of research teams have convinced him that the most important system to focus on in information security is the human one, and he works to assist security companies with those systems and their interactions with technology. Mike has spoken at numerous shows including the likes of RSA and Defcon. He also writes a regular column on EthicalHacker.net.

© 2008 The Hacker Academy LLC. All Rights Reserved. The Hacker Academy, Foreground Security and their respective logos are trademarks of Foreground Security in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other company or product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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