Last updated: October 13, 2026
These Terms & Conditions govern your use of the Encrypted Syntax Institute LLC website, learner accounts, training programs, labs, examinations, certification services, and related digital materials. By accessing or purchasing our services, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the services.
1. About Encrypted Syntax Institute
Encrypted Syntax Institute LLC provides cybersecurity education, hands-on laboratory experiences, assessment services, and professional certification programs, including CEPT, CDOE, and CCES. Questions may be sent to info@encryptedsyntaxinstitute.com or (956) 655-0877.
2. Eligibility and Account Responsibilities
You must provide accurate enrollment and account information, keep login credentials confidential, and notify us promptly of suspected unauthorized access. You are responsible for activity performed through your account. Learners under the age of legal majority must have permission from a parent or legal guardian.
3. Training, Labs, and Authorized Use
Our programs may include hands-on labs, simulations, instructor support, assessments, and capstone activities. For CEPT, lab-range access and eligibility for a separately purchased certification exam are governed by the program requirements and offer shown at checkout. Training access is limited to your assigned lab environments, exercise objectives, and any written scope we provide. A learner account, hosted workstation, VPN connection, or exam credential does not authorize activity against the public internet, third-party systems, other learners, or Institute infrastructure outside that scope, even if technically reachable. Do not use our services to scan, attack, exploit, disrupt, mine cryptocurrency on, distribute malware to, or take data or credentials from out-of-scope systems. Using our infrastructure to test another system requires our prior written approval, even if you have separate authorization from its owner.
4. Pricing, Payment, and Refunds
Prices, payment schedules, included services, and any promotional terms are shown at checkout or in a written proposal. Payments may be processed by third-party payment providers under their own terms and privacy practices. You are responsible for applicable taxes unless stated otherwise. CEPT Full Lab Range Access is a recurring $25-per-month subscription that renews until canceled. You may cancel at any time through your Academy account or by contacting support. Cancellation prevents future renewals, and access continues through the end of the current paid billing period. Refund eligibility ends once a learner materially accesses the CEPT Lab Range. Material access includes opening protected CEPT course content or any module or lab lesson; requesting or launching a hosted workstation or lab environment; downloading restricted course materials; submitting work; or otherwise accessing substantive content included with the paid subscription. Creating an account, signing in, viewing the general dashboard or course catalog, managing billing, requesting support, reviewing policies, or canceling future renewal does not by itself constitute material use of the CEPT Lab Range. Exceptions apply to duplicate or incorrect charges and where required by law. If a renewal payment fails, access may be temporarily restricted until payment succeeds or the subscription is updated. Separate certification exam and retake purchases follow the exam policy displayed at purchase. Contact us promptly if you believe a charge is incorrect.
5. Access, Licenses, and Course Materials
Unless a written offer states otherwise, enrollment provides a limited, personal, non-transferable right to use the purchased materials for your own education. You may not share accounts, reproduce or resell course materials, publish answer keys, distribute lab files, bypass access controls, or use Institute content to train another product or service without written permission.
6. Examinations and Certifications
Certification requirements may include identity verification, prerequisite work, hands-on labs, written or practical examinations, capstone submissions, time limits, and conduct rules disclosed for the applicable program. Certification is awarded only after all published requirements are satisfied. We may investigate suspected misconduct, invalidate compromised results, or revoke credentials obtained through fraud or material rule violations.
A certification confirms completion of our stated requirements; it is not a government license and does not guarantee employment, promotion, salary, client work, regulatory approval, or acceptance by any third party.
7. Academic Integrity and Acceptable Conduct
You may not cheat, impersonate another learner, submit work you did not perform, share restricted exam content, harass others, interfere with services, evade lab boundaries or security controls, or attempt unauthorized access. Malicious code and offensive techniques may be used only where expressly required within an assigned, isolated exercise; they may not be deployed against real-world or other out-of-scope targets. Collaboration is allowed only when the applicable assignment or instructor permits it.
7A. Security Monitoring and Incident Response
To protect learners, the public, and our systems, we and our infrastructure providers may log and review activity associated with accounts, hosted workstations, and lab environments as described in our Privacy Policy. If we reasonably suspect unlawful conduct, out-of-scope activity, or a security incident, we may pause or isolate a session, suspend access, investigate, and preserve relevant records. Available records may include account identifiers, source and destination IP addresses, session times, lab or workstation assignments, and access, network, or security logs, to the extent generated by our systems or providers. Where permitted or required by applicable law, we may disclose relevant records to our hosting or security providers and appropriate law-enforcement or other authorities, including in response to valid legal process or a credible safety or security threat. We may act without advance notice where notice is prohibited by law or could compromise an investigation or system safety.
8. Intellectual Property
The website, branding, curriculum, lab designs, assessments, documentation, graphics, video, software, and other Institute materials are owned by or licensed to Encrypted Syntax Institute LLC and are protected by intellectual-property laws. No ownership rights are transferred through enrollment or certification.
9. Service Availability and Program Changes
We work to keep services accurate and available, but maintenance, security events, third-party outages, and technical changes may cause interruptions. We may update curricula, labs, schedules, instructors, assessment formats, or technical requirements to maintain quality, security, and relevance. If a material change affects an active paid enrollment, we will make a reasonable effort to provide notice and a practical alternative.
10. Third-Party Services and Links
Our services may connect to hosting, payment, communications, analytics, identity, video, or other third-party platforms. Their services are governed by their own terms and policies. Links are provided for convenience and do not constitute an endorsement of every statement, product, or practice on an external site.
11. Disclaimers
Training and materials are provided for educational and professional-development purposes. To the fullest extent permitted by law, services are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties that they will be uninterrupted, error-free, or suitable for every learner, employer, technical environment, or regulatory requirement. Nothing on this website is legal, employment, compliance, or financial advice.
12. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Encrypted Syntax Institute LLC and its owners, employees, instructors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from use of the services. Our aggregate liability for a claim relating to a paid service will not exceed the amount you paid for that specific service during the twelve months preceding the claim. These limits do not apply where prohibited by law.
13. Suspension and Termination
We may immediately suspend, isolate, or terminate access when reasonably necessary to address nonpayment, security threats, suspected unlawful or out-of-scope activity, misuse of labs, account sharing, intellectual-property violations, or serious academic misconduct. Obligations concerning payment, intellectual property, disclaimers, liability, and dispute resolution survive termination.
14. Governing Law
Unless applicable law requires otherwise, these terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before filing a formal claim, both parties agree to make a good-faith effort to resolve the matter by contacting the other party in writing.
15. Changes to These Terms
We may update these terms as our programs, technology, or legal obligations change. The revised version will be posted with a new "Last updated" date. Material changes affecting active paid services will be communicated through a reasonable notice method.
15.1 Consent-Based ESI Live Guidance
ESI Live Guidance is an optional Academy assistance feature. A learner must affirmatively request or accept a session before an authorized ESI representative can join. The learner remains in control and may end the session at any time. Live Guidance may display the learner's current Academy page and may support chat, pointers, annotations, or guided navigation. It does not authorize silent access, access to unrelated browser tabs, or control of the learner's personal device. Guidance may pause or be unavailable on checkout, password, authentication, identity-verification, or other protected pages.
Live Guidance is assistance, not completion of assessed work. Learners remain responsible for their own technical decisions, evidence, submissions, and compliance with lab and exam rules.
15.2 Payment and Communications Providers
ESI may use third-party providers, including Stripe for payment processing and Microsoft 365 for official email delivery. Use of those services is also governed by the provider's applicable terms and privacy practices. ESI does not require learners to send passwords, authentication codes, or complete card numbers through ordinary support channels.
16. Contact
Encrypted Syntax Institute LLC
5473 Blair Rd, Ste. 100
Dallas, TX 75231
Email: info@encryptedsyntaxinstitute.com
Phone: (956) 655-0877