EC-Council · Intermediate · 150 multiple-choice questions in 4 hours through the ECC exam portal. The syllabus covers the forensic investigation process, evidence handling and chain of custody, disk and file system forensics, Windows, Linux and Mac forensics, network, web, cloud, malware, email, mobile and IoT forensics, and dark web investigation.

CHFI — Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (exam 312-49)

CHFI is EC-Council’s digital forensics certification. It covers the investigation lifecycle — acquisition, preservation, analysis and courtroom-ready reporting — across disks, networks, cloud, mobile and malware artefacts. It is aimed at forensic analysts, incident responders, SOC investigators and law-enforcement personnel who must produce evidence that survives legal scrutiny.

Last updated: 6 August 2026

The facts

Vendor	EC-Council
Level	Intermediate
Format	150 multiple-choice questions in 4 hours through the ECC exam portal. The syllabus covers the forensic investigation process, evidence handling and chain of custody, disk and file system forensics, Windows, Linux and Mac forensics, network, web, cloud, malware, email, mobile and IoT forensics, and dark web investigation.
Cost	Upper-mid band, in the same broad territory as CEH. Voucher-only pricing is lower than training bundles, and India-facing partner packages vary considerably in what courseware and lab time they include. Renewal carries the usual EC-Council annual membership fee. Confirm current pricing with EC-Council or an authorised partner.
Validity / renewal	Three years, on EC-Council’s ECE scheme: 120 continuing education credits over the cycle plus the annual membership fee.
Prerequisites	EC-Council positions CHFI as open to IT and forensics professionals with a basic understanding of IT security, computer forensics and incident response, and applies its standard candidate eligibility process. There is no separate published multi-year experience gate equivalent to CISSP, but exact application requirements should be confirmed with EC-Council before booking.

Vendors revise prices, formats and eligibility. Always confirm on the vendor's own site before you pay — including against this page.

Is it worth it?

CHFI proves you understand evidence handling and chain of custody, which is the part of forensics that determines whether findings are usable in court or in a disciplinary process. In India it is well matched to police cyber cells, state cyber crime units, forensic labs, banking fraud investigation teams and DFIR roles at large firms — sectors where EC-Council branding is already familiar to decision makers.

The downside

It is a multiple-choice exam covering an enormously broad tool landscape, much of it taught around commercial forensic suites you may never license. It does not prove you can run an investigation, and the field increasingly favours tool-specific and open-source skills — Autopsy, Volatility, plaso — plus real casework, which no theory exam can substitute for.

Compared to

Versus	Verdict
CEH	Mirror images from the same vendor: CEH is offensive, CHFI is investigative. CEH has broader recognition and more job listings; CHFI is more specific and more valuable if you are actually going into forensics or law-enforcement-adjacent work.
GCFA / GCFE (SANS)	The SANS forensics certifications are far more respected by working DFIR practitioners and far more expensive. If an employer is paying, GCFA carries more weight; if you are self-funding in India, CHFI is the realistic option.
CySA+	CySA+ covers incident response as part of broader SOC analysis; CHFI goes deep into evidence and forensics. For a SOC job CySA+ fits better; for a forensics or investigation job CHFI does.

Where we fit

We do not currently run a dedicated CHFI course, and we do not issue CHFI, sell vouchers, or act as an EC-Council accredited centre. Some incident-response and evidence-handling basics appear in our security curriculum, but forensic depth is a separate discipline. Amit Kumar holds CEH and CRTA, not CHFI, and we will say so plainly rather than implying forensic credentials we do not have.

We issue no vendor certification and resell no exam vouchers. Buy from the vendor.

CHFI — FAQs

What is the CHFI exam format?

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CHFI, exam code 312-49, is 150 multiple-choice questions over 4 hours delivered through EC-Council’s ECC exam portal. The current version covers disk, network, cloud, mobile, malware, email and dark web forensics along with the investigation process and evidence handling.

Is CHFI useful for police and cyber crime roles in India?

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It is one of the better-recognised options for that path. State cyber cells, police training programmes and forensic labs are familiar with EC-Council credentials, and the chain-of-custody and legal-admissibility content maps to what investigation work actually requires.

Do I need CEH before CHFI?

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No, it is not a formal prerequisite. Understanding attacker behaviour does help you interpret artefacts, so many people take CEH first, but you can go straight to CHFI if forensics is your target career.

CHFI ke baad forensic job milegi?

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Certificate darwaaza khol sakta hai, lekin asli kaam evidence handle karna hai. Autopsy, FTK Imager, Volatility par practice kariye, apne hi system ke disk aur memory images analyse kariye. Bina hands-on casework ke sirf CHFI se forensic lab mein jagah banana mushkil hai.

Not sure if CHFI is the right next step?

Free call. If the honest answer is a cheaper certification, or six more months of lab work before you pay anyone, that is what you will hear.

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