Jay Bavisi is the Co-Founder and President of EC-Council, a company specializing in data safety schooling, coaching, and certification. Established in response to the cybersecurity challenges highlighted by the occasions of 9/11, EC-Council focuses on addressing cyber terrorism and associated safety considerations on a world scale. The group is understood for creating certification packages equivalent to Licensed Moral Hacker (C|EH), Pc Hacking Forensic Investigator (C|HFI), Safe Analyst (E|CSA), and Licensed Penetration Tester (L|PT).
Bavisi performed a job in growing a partnership with the Worldwide Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations company, by the Worldwide Multilateral Partnership In opposition to Cyber Threats (IMPACT). This collaboration aimed to reinforce data safety consciousness and capabilities throughout 194 member international locations.
You launched EC-Council within the wake of 9/11 with a mission to construct international cybersecurity resilience. Are you able to share the story behind that founding second and what motivated you to dedicate your profession to securing the digital world?
Within the aftermath of 9/11, it turned painfully clear that safety needed to evolve. We had been not simply guarding borders. We had been all of the sudden uncovered in methods we hadn’t absolutely grasped, particularly within the digital world. I spotted that the subsequent frontier of battle and resilience was our on-line world. It was a wake-up name for governments, companies, and people across the globe.
That second turned the start line for EC-Council. We noticed a essential hole. There merely weren’t sufficient educated professionals who might shield our digital infrastructure. So, we got down to create a world drive of moral hackers; professionals who might suppose like adversaries however act with integrity to defend and safe.
That concept gave delivery to the Licensed Moral Hacker certification (CEH).It was radical on the time. We weren’t simply educating instruments or methods. We had been instilling a mindset. We had been saying, discover ways to break issues so you understand how to guard them.
Over time, CEH turned a world customary. However what actually drives me isn’t just how far we’ve come, however what number of lives, companies, and governments we’ve helped shield.
What began as a response to tragedy has grow to be a lifelong dedication to constructing digital resilience. That mission nonetheless guides all the things we do right this moment.
With over 350,000 cybersecurity professionals in your community, what modifications have you ever observed within the skillsets most in demand right this moment—particularly post-ChatGPT and generative AI?
Cybersecurity has all the time been a race in opposition to time. However with the explosion of generative AI, led by instruments like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, all the panorama has been reengineered. What used to take hours of handbook effort can now be finished in seconds with precision and scale. The accessibility of those AI instruments has democratized capabilities that had been as soon as restricted to elite menace actors. Now, anybody with a keyboard and curiosity can automate assaults, manipulate information, or impersonate identities at scale.
Let’s be clear: OpenAI didn’t create cybercrime. However its applied sciences together with these from different main AI labs have supercharged what’s attainable, for each defenders and attackers. The twin-use nature of generative AI means we’re residing in a world the place innovation and exploitation transfer in lockstep.
This shift has raised the bar for each cybersecurity skilled. It’s not sufficient to know fundamental safety ideas. At this time, professionals should know the way AI works, how it may be exploited, and the way it modifications the assault floor. Expertise like adversarial machine studying, immediate injection detection, and purple teaming with AI-based instruments are rapidly turning into core competencies.
We noticed this transformation mirrored within the CEH Risk Report. The info was clear menace actors are adapting quick. Our neighborhood should be taught even quicker.
At EC-Council, we’ve got constructed a tradition round upskilling. From foundational certifications just like the Licensed Cybersecurity Technician to AI specialised packages like CEH and CPENT, we’re enabling learners to constantly construct and sharpen their capabilities.
In cybersecurity, there isn’t a end line. Those that decide to evolving, questioning, and studying are those who will form the way forward for digital protection. Upskilling is not about staying aggressive. It’s about staying related and staying prepared.
What makes the AI-powered CEH (Licensed Moral Hacker) certification uniquely positioned to deal with present and future threats?
The Licensed Moral Hacker certification has grow to be synonymous with belief within the cybersecurity trade. When organizations search for professionals who can shield their techniques proactively, CEH is the credential they depend on. It’s acknowledged by the U.S. Division of Protection and adopted by 1000’s of employers worldwide, not only for its technical rigor, however as a result of it represents readiness, resilience, and real-world relevance.
What makes CEH stand out right this moment is the way it has developed to deal with a brand new class of threats powered by synthetic intelligence. In its newest model, CEH doesn’t simply point out AI as a future concern. It brings it into the guts of the training expertise. Learners work together with AI-driven adversaries in simulated environments. They’re uncovered to over 550 assault methods, a lot of which now replicate how actual attackers are utilizing automation, machine studying, and artificial content material to interrupt into techniques.
CEH is designed to organize professionals for what they’ll face, not simply what’s written in textbooks. It follows a full-cycle method: Study-Certify-Have interaction-Compete framework. That journey creates muscle reminiscence, strategic pondering, and instinctive responses.
In a world the place cyber threats are evolving by the hour, CEH is greater than a certification. It’s a sign to employers that you’re not solely educated however ready. And in cybersecurity, that form of belief is all the things.
How does EC-Council’s method to coaching differ when making ready professionals to defend in opposition to AI-generated threats or to safe AI techniques themselves?
We’re getting into a cybersecurity period the place threats usually are not solely extra advanced but additionally more and more autonomous. Defenders should now be able to counter assaults launched by clever techniques that adapt, be taught, and evolve. At EC-Council, we’ve got reimagined our coaching to replicate this actuality. We don’t put together learners for yesterday’s challenges. We put together them for what comes subsequent.
In CEH and CPENT learners are immersed in environments the place adversaries use AI to imitate human conduct, automate breaches, and dynamically alter their ways. These usually are not educational workouts. They’re real-world simulations designed to sharpen instincts, not simply understanding. Professionals discover ways to defend techniques that suppose and methods to safe AI itself.
We additionally imagine that expertise shouldn’t be confined by geography. Via international initiatives just like the Licensed Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program , we’re making these alternatives accessible to aspiring professionals in underserved areas. The aim is to construct a tradition of safety, globally.
This imaginative and prescient is powered by a strong ecosystem. EC-Council Studying , the world’s largest on-line cybersecurity library, supplies on-demand entry to 1000’s of bite-sized classes, up to date constantly to replicate the most recent threats, instruments, and vulnerabilities. Whether or not you’re studying methods to counter AI-generated assaults or brushing up on SOC procedures, ECL helps professionals keep prepared; anytime, anyplace.
EC-Council College (ECCU) shapes the subsequent era of cybersecurity leaders with a powerful basis in educational and executive-level data. EGS provides strategic enterprise options that assist organizations construct mature cyber protection frameworks.
After which there’s the Hackerverse CTF our international cyber competitors platform the place data meets strain. Individuals face off in red-versus-blue workforce battles, simulating real-time breaches, defending mission-critical techniques, and dealing collaboratively to neutralize threats. It’s greater than a contest. It’s a proving floor that builds resilience, creativity, and the power to carry out when it issues most.
That is how we put together professionals to fulfill the long run. With data that’s present, environments which are immersive, and platforms that encourage motion. Cybersecurity is not only a profession. It’s a calling, and our mission is to equip the world’s defenders for that accountability.
Your packages are acknowledged by international companies just like the NSA and ANSI. How do you preserve such a excessive customary whereas quickly evolving your curriculum to fulfill AI developments?
It’s one factor to maintain up with change. It’s one other to remain trusted whereas doing it. For us, high quality and agility should go hand in hand. That’s how we’ve earned and maintained recognition from international our bodies just like the NSA and ANSI.
We’ve a system that retains us grounded in analysis whereas staying open to innovation. Our international workforce tracks rising threats, analyzes new assault vectors, and displays developments in AI and cybersecurity. That intelligence feeds straight into our curriculum pipeline.
However pace alone will not be sufficient. Each replace we make goes by a rigorous course of. We pilot check it with seasoned professionals. We validate it in real-world environments like our cyber ranges. And we refine it based mostly on suggestions from those that stay within the trenches on daily basis.
Take CEH and CPENT for instance. Integrating AI simulations into these packages was not only a technical resolution. It was a mission-driven one. We wished to verify professionals had been being educated in what they’d really encounter not simply what principle says they could.
What retains our packages forward is that this fixed stability of innovation and integrity. We don’t simply train greatest practices. We construct packages that practitioners, governments, and international enterprises can belief. And we plan to maintain it that method.
What function does EC-Council envision taking part in in shaping international coverage or regulation round AI in cybersecurity?
Coverage is just as efficient because the perception it’s constructed on. At EC-Council, we imagine cybersecurity regulation should be knowledgeable by those that face threats on daily basis. That’s the reason we actively interact with policymakers, schooling ministries, requirements our bodies, and intergovernmental organizations to assist form the frameworks that information the way forward for digital safety.
Our function will not be restricted to curriculum improvement. We’re a part of a broader dialogue on how nations and establishments can construct resilience, particularly as AI turns into extra deeply built-in into each offensive and defensive capabilities. We carry to the desk frontline intelligence from our huge community of cybersecurity professionals, menace researchers, and instructors throughout 145 international locations. This offers us a novel vantage level—rooted in sensible actuality and international scale.
We contribute to the event of nationwide workforce requirements, advise on rising AI competencies, and collaborate with governments to align cybersecurity schooling with nationwide safety objectives. Our insights have helped outline the construction of public-private partnerships, capacity-building initiatives, and the function of steady studying in long-term resilience methods.
Whether or not by certifications, enterprise coaching, educational packages, or analysis partnerships, we’re shaping not simply how professionals are educated, however how nations put together for the long run. As AI continues to reshape the cyber area, our mission is to make sure coverage retains tempo with readability, foresight, and integrity.
Do you imagine we’re approaching a degree the place conventional safety roles should evolve into “AI safety specialists”?
The shift is already occurring. AI is not a specialised matter sitting on the sides of cybersecurity. It’s turning into a part of each perform, from menace detection to identification administration, from purple teaming to vulnerability evaluation. Safety professionals can not afford to deal with AI as a separate ability set. It’s now foundational.
We’re seeing the early indicators of this transformation within the job market. New roles are rising AI safety researcher, artificial identification analyst, LLM immediate threat evaluator. These usually are not simply buzzwords. They’re alerts that organizations want individuals who perceive each cybersecurity and the mechanics of clever techniques.
At EC-Council, we’re embedding AI throughout our complete certification ecosystem. It’s not reserved for superior learners. Even in foundational programs, professionals are launched to AI-driven threats and protection methods. We’re educating individuals methods to suppose critically about machine studying pipelines, methods to detect algorithmic bias, and methods to forestall AI from being turned in opposition to the techniques it was meant to guard.
The way forward for cybersecurity belongs to those that can bridge disciplines. As AI turns into embedded in each facet of digital infrastructure, our defenders should develop simply as refined. This evolution will not be non-obligatory. It’s the subsequent chapter within the story of cyber resilience.
You’ve emphasised supporting startups past main tech hubs—how are you guaranteeing entry to this funding and coaching throughout underrepresented areas?
At EC-Council, we’re continuously working to broaden the attain of cybersecurity innovation. We’re seeing among the most promising concepts come from locations far exterior conventional tech corridors, typically from professionals fixing pressing challenges in actual time, with deep native perception and restricted sources.
To assist this momentum, we’re operating a $100 M international funding initiative that actively invests in cybersecurity startups demonstrating real-world affect, no matter location. We aren’t simply providing capital. We’re offering mentorship, technical steerage, and entry to EC-Council’s international platforms; serving to startups develop their options and entry worldwide markets.
We’re giving precedence to ventures led by EC-Council-certified professionals, as they create each technical experience and a powerful moral basis to their work. These people perceive the complexities of recent threats and are constructing options that align with trade wants and societal affect.
On the similar time, we’re rising entry to coaching in underserved areas. Via our Licensed Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program, we’re opening doorways for aspiring professionals in international locations like Nepal and Malaysia. We’re additionally enabling learners around the globe to interact with high-quality content material by our platforms, gaining the talents they should contribute meaningfully to the sphere.
We’re constructing an ecosystem that continues to develop by recognizing expertise wherever it exists and supporting innovation that makes a distinction globally.
What impressed EC-Council to launch a $100 million initiative now, and the way do you see AI altering the cybersecurity innovation panorama within the subsequent 5 years?
We launched $100 M international funding initiative as a result of the panorama has modified. Innovation is not confined to massive companies or educational labs. It’s being pushed by practitioners by individuals within the trenches who’re seeing new challenges and responding with daring, sensible options.
The pace and scale at which AI is remodeling cybersecurity is unprecedented. Over the subsequent 5 years, we count on to see main advances in predictive analytics, autonomous purple teaming, AI-native SOCs, and real-time resolution engines. These usually are not science fiction. They’re already taking form in prototypes and early deployments.
However innovation alone will not be sufficient. It wants assist. That’s the reason we created this initiative to gas the subsequent era of cybersecurity breakthroughs. We’re in search of startups that mix technical excellence with deep mission focus. We wish to again builders who perceive the issue from the within and are prepared to resolve it from the bottom up.
Our aim is to create a multiplier impact. We offer funding, mentorship, and international visibility. In return, we assist scale concepts that may strengthen protection techniques worldwide.
This isn’t simply an funding. It’s a dedication to the way forward for cybersecurity. A future the place the very best concepts get constructed, regardless of the place they arrive from.
What recommendation would you give to younger professionals contemplating getting into the cybersecurity area right this moment—notably these fascinated by AI?
Begin with curiosity. That’s crucial trait on this area. You don’t want an ideal resume or a conventional background. What you want is the drive to be taught, the self-discipline to maintain going, and the braveness to ask higher questions.
Cybersecurity is without doubt one of the most significant careers you may pursue. It’s not nearly defending information. It’s about defending individuals, establishments, and the very material of our digital lives. And in case you are drawn to AI, that’s much more thrilling. We’re originally of a brand new period the place clever techniques will form how we defend all the things from private units to nationwide infrastructure.
Dive into how fashions work. Break them. Repair them. Perceive how attackers exploit them and the way defenders can combat again. Experiment. Study. Collaborate. This isn’t a solo journey. The perfect cybersecurity professionals work in groups, construct communities, and develop by sharing.
At EC-Council, we’ve got constructed a path for each stage of that journey. Whether or not you’re simply beginning with hands-on labs or pushing your self in international competitions, there’s house for you right here. The world wants moral defenders who usually are not solely expert, however pushed by goal. If that sounds such as you, then welcome to a area the place you can also make an actual affect.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to EC-Council.
