Jay Bavisi is the Founder & Group President of EC-Council, a corporation specializing in info safety training, 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 worldwide scale. The group is thought for creating certification packages equivalent to Licensed Moral Hacker (CEH), Laptop Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), Safe Analyst (ECSA), and Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT).
Bavisi performed a task in creating a partnership with the Worldwide Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations company, via the Worldwide Multilateral Partnership Towards Cyber Threats (IMPACT). This collaboration aimed to boost info safety consciousness and capabilities throughout 194 member nations.
You launched EC-Council within the wake of 9/11 with a mission to construct world 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 grew to become painfully clear that safety needed to evolve. We had been not simply guarding borders. We had been immediately uncovered in methods we hadn’t absolutely grasped, particularly within the digital world. I noticed 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 grew to become the start line for EC-Council. We noticed a important hole. There merely weren’t sufficient skilled professionals who may defend our digital infrastructure. So, we got down to create a worldwide drive of moral hackers; professionals who may assume 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 strategies. We had been instilling a mindset. We had been saying, learn to break issues so you know the way to guard them.
Over time, CEH grew to become a worldwide commonplace. However what actually drives me isn’t just how far we’ve come, however what number of lives, companies, and governments we’ve helped defend.
What began as a response to tragedy has grow to be a lifelong dedication to constructing digital resilience. That mission nonetheless guides every thing we do at present.
With over 350,000 cybersecurity professionals in your community, what adjustments have you ever observed within the skillsets most in demand at present—particularly post-ChatGPT and generative AI?
Cybersecurity has at all times 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 guide effort can now be accomplished in seconds with precision and scale. The accessibility of those AI instruments has democratized capabilities that had been as soon as restricted to elite risk actors. Now, anybody with a keyboard and curiosity can automate assaults, manipulate knowledge, 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 dwelling 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 grasp fundamental safety ideas. Immediately, professionals should know the way AI works, how it may be exploited, and the way it adjustments the assault floor. Expertise like adversarial machine studying, immediate injection detection, and pink teaming with AI-based instruments are rapidly turning into core competencies.
We noticed this transformation mirrored within the CEH Menace Report. The information was clear risk actors are adapting quick. Our group should study even sooner.
At EC-Council, we now have 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 is no such thing as 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 handle present and future threats?
The Licensed Moral Hacker certification has grow to be synonymous with belief within the cybersecurity business. When organizations search for professionals who can defend their programs proactively, CEH is the credential they depend on. It’s acknowledged by the U.S. Division of Protection and adopted by hundreds 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 at present is the way it has developed to handle 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 center of the educational expertise. Learners work together with AI-driven adversaries in simulated environments. They’re uncovered to over 550 assault strategies, lots of which now replicate how actual attackers are utilizing automation, machine studying, and artificial content material to interrupt into programs.
CEH is designed to organize professionals for what they are going to face, not simply what’s written in textbooks. It follows a full-cycle method: Study-Certify-Interact-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 skilled however ready. And in cybersecurity, that sort of belief is every thing.
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 programs themselves?
We’re getting into a cybersecurity period the place threats aren’t solely extra advanced but in addition more and more autonomous. Defenders should now be able to counter assaults launched by clever programs that adapt, study, and evolve. At EC-Council, we now have 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 habits, automate breaches, and dynamically modify their ways. These aren’t educational workouts. They’re real-world simulations designed to sharpen instincts, not simply understanding. Professionals learn to defend programs that assume and easy methods to safe AI itself.
We additionally consider that expertise shouldn’t be confined by geography. Via world 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 sturdy ecosystem. EC-Council Studying , the world’s largest on-line cybersecurity library, gives on-demand entry to hundreds of bite-sized classes, up to date constantly to replicate the newest threats, instruments, and vulnerabilities. Whether or not you’re studying easy methods to counter AI-generated assaults or brushing up on SOC procedures, ECL helps professionals keep prepared; anytime, wherever.
EC-Council College (ECCU) shapes the subsequent technology of cybersecurity leaders with a robust basis in educational and executive-level information. EGS affords strategic enterprise options that assist organizations construct mature cyber protection frameworks.
After which there’s the Hackerverse CTF our world cyber competitors platform the place information meets stress. Members face off in red-versus-blue group battles, simulating real-time breaches, defending mission-critical programs, 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 satisfy the longer term. With information that’s present, environments which might be 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 duty.
Your packages are acknowledged by world companies just like the NSA and ANSI. How do you keep such a excessive commonplace whereas quickly evolving your curriculum to satisfy 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 world our bodies just like the NSA and ANSI.
We have now a system that retains us grounded in analysis whereas staying open to innovation. Our world group tracks rising threats, analyzes new assault vectors, and displays developments in AI and cybersecurity. That intelligence feeds instantly into our curriculum pipeline.
However pace alone just isn’t sufficient. Each replace we make goes via a rigorous course of. We pilot take a look at 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 reside within the trenches every single day.
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 skilled in what they’d truly 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 world enterprises can belief. And we plan to maintain it that means.
What function does EC-Council envision enjoying in shaping world coverage or regulation round AI in cybersecurity?
Coverage is barely as efficient because the perception it’s constructed on. At EC-Council, we consider cybersecurity regulation should be knowledgeable by those that face threats every single day. That’s the reason we actively interact with policymakers, training ministries, requirements our bodies, and intergovernmental organizations to assist form the frameworks that information the way forward for digital safety.
Our function just isn’t restricted to curriculum growth. 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, risk researchers, and instructors throughout 145 nations. This offers us a novel vantage level—rooted in sensible actuality and world scale.
We contribute to the event of nationwide workforce requirements, advise on rising AI competencies, and collaborate with governments to align cybersecurity training with nationwide safety targets. 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 via certifications, enterprise coaching, educational packages, or analysis partnerships, we’re shaping not simply how professionals are skilled, however how nations put together for the longer term. As AI continues to reshape the cyber area, our mission is to make sure coverage retains tempo with readability, foresight, and integrity.
Do you consider 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 perimeters of cybersecurity. It’s turning into a part of each perform, from risk detection to identification administration, from pink 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 aren’t simply buzzwords. They’re indicators that organizations want individuals who perceive each cybersecurity and the mechanics of clever programs.
At EC-Council, we’re embedding AI throughout our whole 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 easy methods to assume critically about machine studying pipelines, easy methods to detect algorithmic bias, and easy methods to stop AI from being turned in opposition to the programs 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 just isn’t optionally available. 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 consistently working to broaden the attain of cybersecurity innovation. We’re seeing a few of the most promising concepts come from locations far exterior conventional tech corridors, usually from professionals fixing pressing challenges in actual time, with deep native perception and restricted assets.
To assist this momentum, we’re working a $100 M world funding initiative that actively invests in cybersecurity startups demonstrating real-world affect, no matter location. We’re not simply providing capital. We’re offering mentorship, technical steering, and entry to EC-Council’s world 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 bring about each technical experience and a robust moral basis to their work. These people perceive the complexities of contemporary threats and are constructing options that align with business wants and societal affect.
On the similar time, we’re growing entry to coaching in underserved areas. Via our Licensed Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program, we’re opening doorways for aspiring professionals in nations like Nepal and Malaysia. We’re additionally enabling learners around the globe to interact with high-quality content material via our platforms, gaining the talents they should contribute meaningfully to the sector.
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 world 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 anticipate to see main advances in predictive analytics, autonomous pink teaming, AI-native SOCs, and real-time resolution engines. These aren’t science fiction. They’re already taking form in prototypes and early deployments.
However innovation alone just isn’t sufficient. It wants assist. That’s the reason we created this initiative to gas the subsequent technology 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 unravel it from the bottom up.
Our aim is to create a multiplier impact. We offer funding, mentorship, and world visibility. In return, we assist scale concepts that may strengthen protection programs 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, irrespective of the place they arrive from.
What recommendation would you give to younger professionals contemplating getting into the cybersecurity discipline at present—significantly these fascinated by AI?
Begin with curiosity. That’s crucial trait on this discipline. You don’t want an ideal resume or a standard background. What you want is the drive to study, the self-discipline to maintain going, and the braveness to ask higher questions.
Cybersecurity is without doubt one of the most significant careers you’ll be able to pursue. It isn’t nearly defending knowledge. It’s about defending individuals, establishments, and the very cloth of our digital lives. And if you’re drawn to AI, that’s much more thrilling. We’re originally of a brand new period the place clever programs will form how we defend every thing 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 struggle again. Experiment. Study. Collaborate. This isn’t a solo journey. The very best cybersecurity professionals work in groups, construct communities, and develop by sharing.
At EC-Council, we now have 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 world competitions, there’s area for you right here. The world wants moral defenders who aren’t solely expert, however pushed by function. If that sounds such as you, then welcome to a discipline the place you may make an actual affect.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to EC-Council.
