Redza feeling top of the world!

Universiti Kuala Lumpur undergraduate Mohamad Redza Izudin Abu Zaharin stamped his mark on the world stage when he was listed in the top 10 of the EC-Council Global Ethical Hacking Leaderboard for 3rd Quarter 2020.

The UniKL-Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (UniKL MIIT) Bachelor in Computer Systems Security student scored 74% to finish at No 10. India’s Joseph Boban Kaimalath Anthony is at No 1 with a cumulative score of 86%.

Muhammad Redza, who is currently doing his internship at Ensign Infosecurity (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, is a familiar name and face in the local IT scene. He won RM25,000 cash prize in the Pwn till Dawn 2019@Malaysia competition and was also among Malaysia’s representatives for the ASEAN Student Contest in Information Security (ASIS) 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“Honestly, it came a wonderful surprise to me. I received an email from the strategic division of EC informing me of my top 10 position. I was lost for words but excited with my achievement to be among the top 10 in the world for Q3 2020,” said the 28-year-old Muhamad Redza.

The Kota-Bharu born Mohamad Redza stressed that he has no regrets switching his studies from chemical engineering in another local university to pursing a degree programme in information technology in UniKL.

“Looking back I am very happy with the IT programme that I am studying. My future is in this field and I hope to land a job after graduation next year,” he added.

To feature on the leader board, candidates will have to pass the CEH knowledge-based MCQ (v8 and above) and the CEH Practical exam, thereby attaining the CEH (Master) credential. Scoring is based on the marks obtained and time taken to pass the exam.

Accuracy and efficiency are the core essentials required to obtain better CEH (Master) score.

Since the CEH (Master) credential is a validation of ethical hacking prowess of a candidate, more weightage is given to the practical exam, due to its 6-hour rigorous challenge, which actually puts a candidate through a live security audit challenge, as if they were an ethical hacker on the job.

Top 10 Standings Q3 2020: 1 Joseph Boban Kaimalath Anthony (India – 86%); 2 Karl Biron (University of Dubai – 84%); 3 Eangly Roeurn (Genevo Technology, Cambodia – 83%); 4 Dmytro Yersov (Ukraine – 81%); 5 Julien Richard (Canada – 81%); 6 Carlos Eduardo Silva Dumont (Brazil – 78%); 7 Ralph Badloe (Suriname – 77%); 8 Sergey Nikiforov (Russian Federation – 75%); 9 Michael MA (USA – 74%); 10 Mohamad Redza Izudin Abu Zaharin (Universiti Kuala Lumpur – 74%).