As the field of DevSecOps grows in popularity, so too does the number of DevSecOps courses and certifications—not all of which are created equal. DevSecOps programs can differ significantly in cost, time commitment, curriculum, learning format, and more.
While the best DevSecOps course will depend on each learner, many students find their needs well matched with the EC-Council DevSecOps certification: E|CDE (Certified DevSecOps Engineer). Below, we’ll discuss the biggest reasons why the E|CDE program is one of the best DevSecOps courses in your journey to becoming a DevSecOps engineer.
E|CDE Program Highlights
The DevSecOps methodology has recently seen a surge of interest from businesses of all sizes and industries. Based on its predecessor DevOps, DevSecOps adds concerns about security to the software development and deployment lifecycle. With news of devastating data breaches and hacks constantly in the headlines, DevSecOps has become an effective strategy for organizations to counteract security vulnerabilities while rapidly building and delivering secure applications.
EC-Council Certified DevSecOps Engineer (E|CDE) is a hands-on, instructor-led, comprehensive DevSecOps certification program that gives IT professionals the essential skills to design, develop, and maintain secure applications and infrastructure.
The E|CDE program has been created by subject matter experts and experienced DevSecOps professionals worldwide to help learners master real-world DevSecOps concepts, tools, and methods with a comprehensive training module. Attaining the E|CDE certification verifies that students have obtained the necessary knowledge and skill set to become DevSecOps professionals.
Before starting the E|CDE certification, students should know that:
- E|CDE includes more than 80 practical, hands-on labs and seven theoretical modules.
- The program teaches security topics and tools at all eight stages of the DevOps pipeline.
- E|CDE covers topics in both application and infrastructure DevSecOps, as well as both cloud-native environments and on-premises platforms.
- DevSecOps experts have created the E|CDE program to map the precise job roles and responsibilities of real-world DevSecOps engineers.
Who Is the E|CDE Course For?
The EC-Council DevSecOps program is for any students who want to begin a career as a DevSecOps engineer or to improve their career in the field (i.e., via promotions or raises). The E|CDE course is a good match for people such as:
- Application security professionals
- DevOps engineers
- Software engineers and testers
- IT security professionals
- Cybersecurity engineers and analysts
In general, any students who are interested in the field of DevSecOps, and who have a previous understanding of IT or application security concepts will be a good fit for the E|CDE program.
After obtaining the E|CDE certification, program graduates will be prepared for jobs such as:
- DevSecOps engineer
- Senior DevSecOps engineer
- Cloud DevSecOps engineer
- Azure DevSecOps engineer
- AWS DevSecOps engineer
- DevSecOps analyst
- DevSecOps specialist
- DevSecOps operations engineer
- DevSecOps systems administrator
- DevSecOps systems administrator
- DevSecOps consultant
- DevSecOps CI/CD engineer
- Infrastructure DevSecOps engineer
What Will the E|CDE Students Learn?
The EC-Council DevSecOps certification covers all the topics students need to become a DevSecOps engineer. Throughout the E|CDE program, students learn to use a wealth of DevOps and security tools and platforms that they need in their real-world work in the field of DevSecOps.
E|CDE is the most laboratory-intensive DevSecOps certification program, with over 80 guided hands-on labs delivered in a virtual online or offline format. This includes 32 labs focused on Amazon Web Services, 29 labs focused on Microsoft Azure, and 32 labs focused on on-premises environments. As such, graduates of the E|CDE program learn the essential skills needed to perform DevSecOps on-premises and in the cloud.
Below is just a sampling of the topics that E|CDE students will learn throughout the program:
- DevSecOps culture, philosophy, practices, and tools
- Security practices (security requirement gathering, threat modeling, secure code reviews, etc.)
- Automation tools and practices (Jenkins, Bamboo, TeamCity, Gradle)
- Threat modeling tools (Threat Dragon, ThreatModeler, Threatspec)
- Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) tools such as Jenkins
- Application security testing tools (Snyk, SonarQube, StackHawk, Checkmarx SAST, Debricked, WhiteSource Bolt, etc.)
- Runtime application self-protection tools (Hdiv, Sqreen, Dynatrace, etc.)
- Automated security testing in AWS (Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Elastic Container Registry, AWS CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodePipeline, Lambda, Security Hub, etc.)
- Vulnerability scanning tools (Nessus, SonarCloud, Amazon Macie, Probely)
- Penetration testing tools (gitGraber, GitMiner)
- Infrastructure configuration tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef)
- Logging, monitoring, and alerting tools (Sumo Logic, Datadog, Splunk, Azure Monitor, the ELK stack, Nagios, Opsgenie)
- Compliance-as-code tools (Cloud Custodian, the DevSec framework)
E|CDE Modules
The EC-Council DevSecOps program covers seven different modules:
- Module 1: Understanding DevOps Culture
- Module 2: Introduction to DevOps
- Module 3: DevSecOps Pipeline—Plan Stage
- Module 4: DevSecOps Pipeline—Code Stage
- Module 5: DevSecOps Pipeline—Build and Test Stage
- Module 6: DevSecOps Pipeline—Release and Deploy Stage
- Module 7: DevSecOps Pipeline—Operate and Monitor Stage
These modules correspond to the eight stages of the DevOps pipeline:
- Plan: The team defines the project goals; identifies the budget, timeline, and necessary resources; and constructs a roadmap to meet the project objectives.
- Code: Developers write software code and check it into a version control system (VCS), making it accessible to all team members. This stage also involves code reviews and analysis to ensure the software meets quality standards.
- Build: Developers compile and build the code into an executable file format, such as a binary or container image.
- Test: Testers and quality assurance (QA) professionals evaluate the software to verify that it meets the desired functionality and quality standards. This stage typically includes both automated and manual testing, as well as a variety of testing modalities (such as unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests).
- Release: The team deploys the tested software to a production-like environment. This stage also involves creating release notes, assigning version numbers, and changing management processes.
- Deploy: The team deploys the software to production. If the team is practicing continuous deployment (CD), the updated software is automatically deployed to production as soon as it passes the automated test suite.
- Operate: The IT operations team assesses the deployed application to ensure it is running as expected. This stage includes logging, monitoring, and alerting processes.
- Monitor: The operations team monitors the application’s performance, collecting data to improve future iterations of the software development life cycle. This stage includes processes such as performance testing, user feedback, and metrics analysis.
Join the E|CDE Program Today
With 70 percent of the curriculum devoted to hands-on labs and 30 percent to theory, the E|CDE course gives students the right combination of knowledge and skills to excel in the rapidly growing field of DevSecOps.
With various learning formats—including asynchronous and synchronous online lectures and in-person learning—it’s never been easier to join the E|CDE program. Ready to jumpstart your career as a DevSecOps engineer? Learn about the E|CDE program and request more information today.
About the Author
David Tidmarsh is a programmer and writer. He’s worked as a software developer at MIT, has a B.A. in history from Yale, and is currently a graduate student in computer science at UT Austin.
