Jay Bavisi is the Co-Founder and President of EC-Council, a corporation specializing in info 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 issues on a worldwide scale. The group is understood for creating certification applications resembling Licensed Moral Hacker (C|EH), Laptop Hacking Forensic Investigator (C|HFI), Safe Analyst (E|CSA), and Licensed Penetration Tester (L|PT).
Bavisi performed a task in creating a partnership with the Worldwide Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations company, by means of 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 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 have been now not simply guarding borders. We have been instantly 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 turned the place to begin for EC-Council. We noticed a essential hole. There merely weren’t sufficient educated professionals who may defend our digital infrastructure. So, we got down to create a worldwide pressure of moral hackers; professionals who may assume like adversaries however act with integrity to defend and safe.
That concept gave start to the Certified Ethical Hacker certification (CEH).It was radical on the time. We weren’t simply instructing instruments or methods. We have been instilling a mindset. We have been saying, learn to break issues so you understand how to guard them.
Over time, CEH turned a worldwide customary. However what really drives me is not only 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 turn into a lifelong dedication to constructing digital resilience. That mission nonetheless guides every little thing we do immediately.
With over 350,000 cybersecurity professionals in your community, what modifications have you ever observed within the skillsets most in demand immediately—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 completed in seconds with precision and scale. The accessibility of those AI instruments has democratized capabilities that have 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 dwelling in a world the place innovation and exploitation transfer in lockstep.
This shift has raised the bar for each cybersecurity skilled. It’s now not sufficient to know primary safety rules. As we speak, 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 crimson teaming with AI-based instruments are shortly changing into core competencies.
We noticed this transformation mirrored within the CEH Menace Report. The info was clear menace actors are adapting quick. Our group should be taught even quicker.
At EC-Council, we’ve got constructed a tradition round upskilling. From foundational certifications just like the Certified Cybersecurity Technician to AI specialised applications 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 now 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 turn into synonymous with belief within the cybersecurity business. When organizations search for professionals who can defend their methods 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 immediately 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 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 mirror how actual attackers are utilizing automation, machine studying, and artificial content material to interrupt into methods.
CEH is designed to arrange professionals for what they may face, not simply what’s written in textbooks. It follows a full-cycle strategy: Be taught-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 type of belief is every little thing.
How does EC-Council’s strategy to coaching differ when getting ready professionals to defend in opposition to AI-generated threats or to safe AI methods themselves?
We’re getting into a cybersecurity period the place threats aren’t solely extra advanced but additionally more and more autonomous. Defenders should now be able to counter assaults launched by clever methods that adapt, be taught, and evolve. At EC-Council, we’ve got reimagined our coaching to mirror 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 regulate their ways. These aren’t tutorial workout routines. They’re real-world simulations designed to sharpen instincts, not simply understanding. Professionals learn to defend methods that assume and easy methods to safe AI itself.
We additionally consider that expertise shouldn’t be confined by geography. By means of international initiatives just like the Certified Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program , we’re making these alternatives accessible to aspiring professionals in underserved areas. The purpose is to construct a tradition of safety, globally.
This imaginative and prescient is powered by a sturdy ecosystem. EC-Council Learning , the world’s largest on-line cybersecurity library, offers on-demand entry to hundreds of bite-sized classes, up to date constantly to mirror the most recent 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 University (ECCU) shapes the subsequent technology of cybersecurity leaders with a powerful basis in tutorial and executive-level data. EGS gives 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. Members face off in red-versus-blue group battles, simulating real-time breaches, defending mission-critical methods, 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 long run. With data that’s present, environments which can be immersive, and platforms that encourage motion. Cybersecurity is now not only a profession. It’s a calling, and our mission is to equip the world’s defenders for that duty.
Your applications are acknowledged by international businesses just like the NSA and ANSI. How do you keep such a excessive customary 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 international our bodies just like the NSA and ANSI.
Now we have a system that retains us grounded in analysis whereas staying open to innovation. Our international group tracks rising threats, analyzes new assault vectors, and displays developments in AI and cybersecurity. That intelligence feeds instantly into our curriculum pipeline.
However velocity alone will not be sufficient. Each replace we make goes by means of 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 primarily based on suggestions from those that dwell within the trenches on daily basis.
Take CEH and CPENT for instance. Integrating AI simulations into these applications was not only a technical choice. It was a mission-driven one. We needed to ensure professionals have been being educated in what they’d really encounter not simply what idea says they may.
What retains our applications forward is that this fixed stability of innovation and integrity. We don’t simply train greatest practices. We construct applications that practitioners, governments, and international enterprises can belief. And we plan to maintain it that manner.
What function does EC-Council envision taking part in in shaping international coverage or regulation round AI in cybersecurity?
Coverage is simply as efficient because the perception it’s constructed on. At EC-Council, we consider cybersecurity regulation have to 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 deliver to the desk frontline intelligence from our huge community of cybersecurity professionals, menace researchers, and instructors throughout 145 nations. This provides us a singular 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 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 by means of certifications, enterprise coaching, tutorial applications, 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 consider we’re approaching a degree the place conventional safety roles should evolve into “AI safety specialists”?
The shift is already occurring. AI is now not a specialised subject sitting on the perimeters of cybersecurity. It’s changing into a part of each perform, from menace detection to id administration, from crimson teaming to vulnerability evaluation. Safety professionals can now 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 id analyst, LLM immediate danger evaluator. These aren’t simply buzzwords. They’re indicators that organizations want individuals who perceive each cybersecurity and the mechanics of clever methods.
At EC-Council, we’re embedding AI throughout our total certification ecosystem. It’s now not reserved for superior learners. Even in foundational programs, professionals are launched to AI-driven threats and protection methods. We’re instructing folks 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 methods 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-compulsory. It’s the subsequent chapter within the story of cyber resilience.
You’ve emphasised supporting startups past main tech hubs—how are you making certain 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, typically from professionals fixing pressing challenges in actual time, with deep native perception and restricted assets.
To help this momentum, we’re working a $100 M global investment initiative that actively invests in cybersecurity startups demonstrating real-world influence, no matter location. We’re not simply providing capital. We’re offering mentorship, technical steering, 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 bring about each technical experience and a powerful moral basis to their work. These people perceive the complexities of contemporary threats and are constructing options that align with business wants and societal influence.
On the similar time, we’re rising entry to coaching in underserved areas. By means of our Licensed Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program, we’re opening doorways for aspiring professionals in nations like Nepal and Malaysia. We’re additionally enabling learners world wide to interact with high-quality content material by means of our platforms, gaining the abilities 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 global investment initiative as a result of the panorama has modified. Innovation is now not confined to massive companies or tutorial labs. It’s being pushed by practitioners by folks within the trenches who’re seeing new challenges and responding with daring, sensible options.
The velocity and scale at which AI is reworking cybersecurity is unprecedented. Over the subsequent 5 years, we anticipate to see main advances in predictive analytics, autonomous crimson teaming, AI-native SOCs, and real-time choice engines. These aren’t science fiction. They’re already taking form in prototypes and early deployments.
However innovation alone will not be sufficient. It wants help. That’s the reason we created this initiative to gasoline 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 purpose is to create a multiplier impact. We offer funding, mentorship, and international visibility. In return, we assist scale concepts that may strengthen protection methods worldwide.
This isn’t simply an funding. It’s a dedication to the way forward for cybersecurity. A future the place one of the 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 immediately—significantly these fascinated by AI?
Begin with curiosity. That’s crucial trait on this area. You don’t want an ideal resume or a standard 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 among the most significant careers you possibly can pursue. It isn’t nearly defending information. It’s about defending folks, establishments, and the very cloth of our digital lives. And if you’re drawn to AI, that’s much more thrilling. We’re firstly of a brand new period the place clever methods will form how we defend every little thing from private gadgets to nationwide infrastructure.
Dive into how fashions work. Break them. Repair them. Perceive how attackers exploit them and the way defenders can battle again. Experiment. Be taught. 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 area for you right here. The world wants moral defenders who aren’t solely expert, however pushed by objective. If that sounds such as you, then welcome to a area the place you can also make an actual influence.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to EC-Council.