EC-Council's Awards $825,000 to Ethical Hackers Due to Overwhelming Demand for its Scholarship

    ALBUQUERQUE, NM, July 06, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- What was initially announced as a special project to award $550,000 worth of scholarships to the ethical hacking community, the program turned out to be much more than that when the demand for the scholarship skyrocketed. Cybersecurity enthusiasts and professionals from across the world began applying to the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Master Scholarship Program in large numbers. This resulted in the EC-Council scholarship committee calling for a special meeting and then agreeing to increase the awards from $550,000 to $825,000 within weeks of its release. After the application period, $825,000 worth of scholarships, covering the exam fee of the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practical for 1,500 applicants, were disbursed in under 60 days.

"We received over 5,000 applications in total, with the bulk of them coming from the USA, UK, India, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey and Canada. It was heartening to see applications from Fiji, Lesotho, Mali, Kosovo, Zambia, Costa Rica, Azerbaijan and other countries that the world doesn't normally associate with cybersecurity. Looking at the immense raw talent across the world and the impressive applications of these candidates, we decided to increase the cap from $550,000 to $825,000 for the Ethical Hacking Scholarship," said Jay Bavisi, President and CEO, EC-Council Group.

Many applications also came from Uruguay, Rwanda, Vietnam, and Slovenia, which happen to sit within the lower-ranked countries in the Global Cybersecurity Index. "It just goes to show that there is no index for measuring the human spirit for learning and the desire for communities to improve the cyber resilience of their respective countries," Jay added.

The scholarship was established to provide a platform for ethical hackers to validate their skills and abilities. Selected candidates were given the opportunity to prove their hands-on abilities in a live 6-hour, remotely proctored CEH Practical exam.

The CEH (Practical) exam, currently offered at $550, is the world's first fully online, 100% proctored ethical hacking exam. This scholarship provides a much-needed boost for ethical hackers, especially professionals holding the CEH credential, to demonstrate and prove their ethical hacking skills and abilities.

EC-Council has always partnered with cybersec communities globally to support national and global security measures to combat cybercrime and cyber-terrorism. "Many businesses, corporations, and government agencies recognize cybersecurity as a critical component of national safety. This scholarship is a way for us to give back to the cybersecurity community; to encourage them to learn and defend aggressively," Jay explained.

The digital reach of the Ethical Hacking Scholarship campaign exceeded 1,000,000 and EC-Council is still receiving applications every day. Looking at these vast numbers, EC-Council has decided to make this scholarship a recurring program to encourage talent. The scholarship application page will stay live, and candidates are welcome to apply for the scholarship. Applications received henceforth will be added to an active waitlist and will be entitled to exclusive EC-Council content shared periodically. These applicants will be accepted for the scholarship on a priority basis when it reopens next.

EC-Council's sole purpose is to build and refine the cybersecurity profession globally. We help individuals, organizations, educators, and governments address global workforce problems through the development and curation of world-class cybersecurity education programs and their corresponding certifications and provide cybersecurity services to some of the largest businesses globally.    
    
Trusted by 7 of the Fortune 10, 47 of the Fortune 100, the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, NATO, and over 2000 of the top Universities, Colleges, and Training Companies, EC-Council's programs have proliferated through over 140 Countries and set the bar in cybersecurity education.    
    
Best known for the Certified Ethical Hacker program, we are dedicated to equipping over 230,000 information age soldiers with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to fight and win against black hat adversaries. EC-Council builds cyber capabilities of individuals and organizational teams through the Certified Ethical Hacker Program, followed by a variety of other cyber programs including Certified Secure Computer User, Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator, Certified Security Analyst, Certified Network Defender, Certified SOC Analyst, Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst, Certified Incident Handler, as well as, the Certified Chief Information Security Officer.    
    
We are an ANSI 17024 accredited organization and have earned recognition by the DoD under Directive 8140/8570, in the UK by the GCHQ, and a variety of other authoritative bodies that influence the entire profession. Founded in 2001, EC-Council employs over 400 people worldwide with 10 global offices in the USA, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Indonesia. Its US offices are in Albuquerque, NM, and Tampa, FL.

Learn more at www.eccouncil.org

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