Certified Incident Responder
eCIR Certification
The eCIR certification is designed for cybersecurity professionals who are involved in or transitioning into roles focused on incident detection, analysis, and response. This certification equips you with the practical expertise to detect, investigate, and respond to today’s evolving threats.
The Exam
INE Security’s eCIR certification offers practical, hands-on validation of the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) essential for operating in modern Security Operations Centers (SOCs) and defending enterprise environments.
About the Certification Exam
Aspiring Incident Responders will gain hands-on experience with tools and techniques used in real-world environments, giving them the confidence and capabilities needed to land their first role in a SOC or IR team.
The eCIR is a fully practical exam, which immerses candidates in a realistic lab environment simulating a corporate breach. Examinees must investigate the incident and answer a series of scenario-based questions that mirror the type of findings and information typically included in a professional incident report.
Domains + Objectives
The eCIR exam assesses practical skills across five critical domains:
eCIR
Exam Domains
Threat Detection & SIEM Operations (20%)
Endpoint & Network Analysis (35%)
Digital Forensics & Evidence-Based Analysis (20%)
Threat Intelligence & Attribution (10%)
Reporting & Communication (15%)
Threat Detection & SIEM Operations (20%)
- Construct and execute custom SIEM queries to identify suspicious and malicious activity. (Apply)
- Correlate and analyze multi-source log data to detect indicators of compromise (IOCs). (Analyze)
- Interpret log entries, alerts, and endpoint activity to recognize signs of initial access. (Understand)
Endpoint & Network Analysis (35%)
- Analyze endpoint telemetry and audit logs to identify local user, group, and system enumeration activity. (Analyze)
- Differentiate privilege escalation techniques, such as exploit use, token manipulation, and UAC bypass, based on endpoint behavior. (Understand)
- Evaluate persistence mechanisms—including service creation, registry modifications, scheduled tasks, and startup artifacts—to determine attacker footholds. (Evaluate)
- Monitor and detect credential access behaviors such as memory scraping, SAM/LSASS access, and credential dumping tools. (Apply)
- Analyze and correlate PCAP data to trace attack chains, C2 communication, lateral movement, and authentication-based anomalies. (Analyze)
- Investigate data exfiltration and unauthorized access by analyzing protocol behavior, traffic patterns, and endpoint interactions. (Analyze)
Digital Forensics & Evidence-Based Analysis (20%)
- Deconstruct malicious macro-enabled documents and extract VBA code to identify embedded payloads and execution logic. (Analyze)
- Perform static analysis on PE files to isolate suspicious imports, metadata, and indicators of compromise. (Analyze)
- Examine Windows Registry artifacts to uncover evidence of persistence, execution history, and system configuration changes. (Analyze)
Threat Intelligence & Attribution (10%)
- Map detected behaviors to known threat actor TTPs using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK. (Apply)
- Assess behavioral patterns to attribute activity to known APT groups. (Evaluate)
Reporting & Communication (15%)
- Compose a clear investigation report including a timeline, impact assessment, and response actions. (Apply)
- Document and convey technical findings (e.g., IOCs, tools, payloads) to relevant stakeholders and response teams. (Apply)
- Translate forensic and analytical data into actionable containment, eradication, and recovery recommendations. (Evaluate)
Who It’s For
The eCIR is a certification for cybersecurity professionals with intermediate experience in incident detection, analysis, and response.
Get eCIR Certified
To take the eCIR exam, you’ll need both an INE subscription and an exam voucher.
The Process
Whether you are attempting the eCIR certification exam on your own or after having completed our approved learning path, you will need to follow these steps to get a certificate:
The eCIR certification is valid for three years from the date it is awarded. Stay current with your skills and maintain your credential through flexible renewal options designed to fit your schedule.
Have a eCIR Voucher Purchased Before: August 6, 2025?
The previous version of the exam is being retired.
