The CEH certification is for an individual who is usually employed with the organization and who can be trusted to undertake an attempt to penetrate networks and/or computer systems using the same methods as a hacker. Illegal hacking (ie; cracking computer systems) is a felony in the United States and most other countries. But when this type of hacking is done by request and under a contract between an Ethical Hacker and an organization, it is legal. The most important point is that an Ethical Hacker has authorization to probe the target.
A Certified Ethical Hacker is a skilled professional who understands and knows how to look for the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems and uses the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker.
Certification is achieved through training at an or self-study. If students choose to self-study, in order to sit for the exam they must fill out an application and also have documented 2 years of information security work experience. Both CEH v4 and v5 utilize EC-Council’s exam 312-50. The exam consists of 125 (v4) or 150 (v5) multiple-choice questions, and students are given up to three or four hours, respectively, to complete the examination. The exam costs US$250, and is administered via computer at an EC-Council Accredited Training Center, Pearson VUE, or Prometric testing center (in the United States)