I just took this exam in Cardiff this am. Sadly I failed but I guess that's because I used some generic Computer Forensics books to study from and not items specifically for the exam.
The US legal stuff really threw me;-)
66% was my score and 70% was required to pass, I had no problem booking or sitting the exam (except the fail).
I did try to purchase the official study documentation from the UK supplier only to be told off for not doing a course at a 'recognised' centre. Still, they would supply the documentation to me for £235.00.
Does anyone know of any study guides / books that are good for this exam but a little less expensive?
I just took this exam in Cardiff this am. Sadly I failed but I guess that's because I used some generic Computer Forensics books to study from and not items specifically for the exam.
The US legal stuff really threw me;-)
66% was my score and 70% was required to pass, I had no problem booking or sitting the exam (except the fail).
I did try to purchase the official study documentation from the UK supplier only to be told off for not doing a course at a 'recognised' centre. Still, they would supply the documentation to me for £235.00.
Does anyone know of any study guides / books that are good for this exam but a little less expensive?
Hi Paulie
Firstly commiserations for not passing. It must have been doubly annoying being so close as well. Not too sure whether it will make you feel better or worse, but the following is my experience with the CHFI, the EC-Council and their UK distributor SSR-i
After making the original posting on this thread back in November, I decided to bite the bullet and order the CHFI materials. I ordered directly via the EC-Council website as it indicated there was not a local distributor for Ireland. I was also reassured by the 10 day money back guarantee stipulated on their website. I waited and waited but nothing arrived. I contacted EC-Council on numerous occasions. Eventually, I received an email from a company in the UK called SSR-i. They claimed that they were also the EC-Council distributors for Ireland. They advised me to cancel my order with the EC-Council and order directly from them as they could offer next day delivery. The cost of the materials with SSR-i was more expensive however. In addition, they insisted that I had to purchase the CHFI exam voucher at the same time. I decided not to accept the offer from SSR-i. The following day I received an email from EC-Council stating that my order had been cancelled and advising me to order from SSR-i. It seemed I had little choice.
When the materials arrived, I began reading through the first folder (there are two). I was not impressed with the standard of the content. In addition, when I took the second folder out of the box it fell apart in my hands (the spine had two huge splits).
I immediately sent an email to SSR-i and requested a refund. They replied that they did not offer refunds. They did not even accept that the materials could be damaged. In relation to the quality of the material, Charles Stallard from SSR-I had this to say “I do understand, by reading the material that some of the comprehension and grammar is not necessarily what we are used to, but the materials are published and printed in Malaysia and America, where unfortunately the English language is spoken and written with some modification.â€
Having purchased from a company in the UK, I had understood that I was protected under the Distance Selling Act which gives the customer 7 days to return the goods for a full refund. Not according to SSR-I, however, who refused to budge.
I was advised by my credit card company to return the goods to SSR-i which I duly did. After getting nowhere with SSR-i, I contacted EC-Council direct. Eventually, about 7 weeks after placing the order, I was informed by the EC-Council that they would authorise, via SSR-i, a full refund.
It still took SSR-i another 3 weeks to issue the refund. Even then the amount was not the full amount. It took the threat of a County Court Claim before the difference was refunded.
All in all, my experience with SSR-i was not a pleasant one. I must be very careful in elaborating further as Jay Bavisi from the EC-Council has stated that “I have instructed my lawyers to pay special attention to your postingsâ€. There is, however, another thread here with some other peoples comments.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
Thank's for that. You win some and lose some. One thing is for sure, I'll not waste my hard earned on the 'official' documentation if it's that bad.
I guess it's back to amazon now to find more books that hopefully will cover the US legal stuff too.
I'd thought about buying the q's and a's from Testking but I'm sure that they won't cover everything and will more than likely be a waste of money.
Shame there isn't a 'dummies' book for this yet, I could sure use one .
Cheers,
Paulie.
Dear Fellow Professionals
I readily admit that I'm new to the Forensics arena. However it is a field of growing personal interest. I am interested in taking these exams and I was wondering if anyone has taken the CHFI exam and if they could provide study material and experiences.
problem is that i am not able too buy CHFI study staff..Due too
Financial problem ..
can any one help me 4 that.. …i am really gratfull … too you ..
Lewis
I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with EC Council. I hate hearing when stuf like this happens. I've been lucky and have had no problems with anything on my end. When I ordered everything, I was before the "distributors. The packages took 2 days from Malaysia. I now own a training/consulting firm that is an EC Council ATC and know for a fact (at least here in the states) that you do NOT have to buy the voucher when getting the courseware. It is sometimes cheaper, but not required. I have not had the opportunity to work with ElementK (US distributor), so I'm not sure how the communication quality is going to change. As for the quality of the material, it’s now on Version 2 and is good for getting into the field. There are several forensic images on the included CDs. There was even an EnCase demo with samples cases last time I checked.
The CEH is a good baseline. This means, it’s a beginner course. Sadly, few books even go beyond the basics. If you want advanced hacking, then go for the LPT or Mile2’s CPTE. Some people will even go a step higher and cover scratch exploit coding, malware dissection, and WiFi hacking (real fun classes to teach).