Reviewed by Harry Sidhu — ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, NV1-cleared · Updated May 2026
A practical guide to the PECB Certified Lead Ethical Hacker (CLEH) — the 5-day, hands-on penetration-testing certification for professionals in Australia. What the course teaches, the 6-hour practical exam, the PTES and OSSTMM methodologies, real AUD cost, and how to get certified.
PECB Certified Lead Ethical Hacker (CLEH) — $1,165 AUD, hands-on penetration testing, PECB-certified. CLEH is a 5-day, hands-on penetration-testing certification sold through Aegentra Academy, an official PECB partner in Australia. It teaches the methods ethical hackers use to lawfully assess systems, discover vulnerabilities, and report them — reconnaissance, exploitation, privilege escalation, pivoting, and reporting with Kali Linux — and concludes in a 6-hour practical exam.
CLEH is designed to prove capability, not memorisation. By the end you can plan, manage, and perform an information-security penetration test end to end — from scoping and the contractual agreement, through active exploitation, to a written report a client can act on. The course runs on live lab sessions and practical examples.
Demand for offensive security skills is driven by the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act, the ASD Essential Eight, APRA CPS 234, and enterprise procurement — all of which increasingly require regular, evidenced penetration testing. That means steady demand for penetration testers, security consultants, and red-team operators across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, and Adelaide.
Day 1 introduces ethical hacking, testing standards and frameworks (PTES, OSSTMM), Kali Linux, scoping, and the legal and contractual side. Day 2 covers passive and active reconnaissance and vulnerability identification. Day 3 covers exploitation — evading intrusion detection, server-side, client-side, web-application and Wi-Fi attacks, privilege escalation, pivoting, and maintaining access. Day 4 covers post-exploitation and reporting. Day 5 is the certification exam.
The CLEH exam is a 6-hour, open-book, two-part exam: a practical exam where you compromise at least two target machines through penetration testing, plus a written findings report. It covers six competency domains — information gathering; threat modelling and vulnerability identification; exploitation techniques; privilege escalation; pivoting and file transfers; and reporting. The exam voucher and one free resit within 12 months are included.
Through Aegentra the course is $1,165 AUD (GST added at checkout), including 450+ pages of official PECB materials, hands-on labs, the exam voucher, one free resit, 35 CPD credits, and 12 months of myPECB access. Instructor-led delivery is available in Melbourne and Sydney, and on-site for enterprise teams.
Ready to start? View the full course details and enrol, or browse the whole Aegentra Academy catalogue. PECB is accredited by ANAB under ANSI/ASTM E2659-18; verify partners via the official PECB partner directory.