19-Year-Old Hacker from Singapore Leads EC-Council’s Global Ethical Hacker Leaderboard while Interning at a Cyber Security Company

Chelson Chong, a student at Republic Polytechic in Singapore, scored 92% in the recent Certified Ethical Hacker (Practical) Challenge, which is the highest score attained by anyone in the world so far.

The CEH Challenge is a 6-hour, cloud-based hacking challenge meant to test the hands-on capability of ethical hackers all over the world. EC-Council, a leading global information security certification body, is a pioneer in the ethical hacking certification space has been credited with transforming ethical hacking into a mainstream security practice via its globally accepted Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification.

CEH is trusted by 7 of the Fortune 10, 47 of the Fortune 100, the US Department of Defense, intelligence community, NATO, and over 2,000 of the best universities, colleges, and training institutes across the world as the world’s authority in ethical hacking.

The CEH Leaderboard https://www.eccouncil.org/ethical-hacking-leaderboard/) is an initiative by EC-Council to ensure that ethical hackers who have earned the standard CEH credential can demonstrate their abilities via hands-on test of their skills in the fully proctored six-hour-long practical exam. Those who succeed have the pride of identifying themselves as a Certified Ethical Hacker Master. “CEH Master is a step-ahead credential of the world-famous CEH course and it defines a superior level of ethical hacking skill, “If you learned it, and claim to know it, then you should prove it,” said Jay Bavisi, President and Founder of the EC-Council Group. The Certified Ethical Hacker Leaderboard showcases the ten best scores earned in the exam, honoring those who have truly demonstrated their mastery of the subject.

Talking about his experience with the CEH (Master) program, Chelson says, “I always believe that everyone starts off crawling, and slowly learn to walk and run. Hence in EC-Council’s path for certifications, I felt that it was a more structured way for me to start my certification routes, from learning the theory to then slowly advance to practical.“

The second and third places on the ethical hacking leaderboard are occupied by Anthony Jamahl Bowe from Bahamas and Denis Ratchenko from Russia. In fourth place is an American by the name of Dennis Enoch.

EC-Council’s ethical hacker leaderboard is continuously updated as more candidates attempt the CEH (Master) exam. To top the February 2020 leaderboard, Chong beat participants from the US, Russia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bahamas, and Egypt in a challenge that used weighted scoring metrics that included both the candidate’s score as well as how long it took to complete each task.

The asymmetric nature of cyber war allows any small nation or even a single individual to attain the skill to compete with the hackers from some of the largest and most well-funded countries in the world. Singapore is consciously growing its investment in cybersecurity education and industrial applications. Singaporean universities are showing excellence in graduate and undergraduate programs that aim to improve their cybersecurity force in-line with government initiatives to secure the country’s cyberspace.

About EC-Council

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 Cyber Security 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 best universities, colleges, and training institutes, our programs have proliferated through over 140 Countries and have 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 their black hat adversaries. EC-Council builds individual and team/organization cyber capabilities 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 8570/8140, in the UK by the GCHQ, CREST, and a variety of other authoritative bodies that influence the entire profession. Founded in 2001, EC-Council employs over 400 people worldwide with 10 offices in the USA, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Indonesia. Our US offices are in Albuquerque, NM, and Tampa, FL
Learn more at https://www.eccouncil.org/.