WGU MSISA - Start Date 1-1-16

So I was a bit on the fence of when I was going to start my Master's. Initially, I was going to wait a while and focus more on certs, but once I saw that they offered the CEH and CHFI, I was a little intrigued. Then once I saw how much I'd have to start paying in student loans, I decided hey why not? Those are two certs I wanted to try to get anyway, although I'm not sure how it'll work out with the experience requirements for the CEH since I have two years of IT experience but not directly security related.

Either way, I'm excited. Hopefully I can complete it in two terms, but no more than three. I thought this program was the best one since I plan on getting into infosec within the next year and it's the most interesting program by far. I don't see many jobs yet asking for a Masters, but definitely can't hurt and should only help me in the long run.

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wallewolf

markulous wrote: »

I finally passed so off to Cryptography.

@ wallewolf. I feel your pain. Task 2 was the worst for me. It has such a vague and open ended rubric but the graders want something specific that they won't tell you. The E care is a joke also since they don't actually do anything. I incorporated a SIEM in Tasks 1-3 and that seemed to appease them. For task 2 specifically I used HIPAA laws for my justifications

See, I did that and I used HIPAA laws and they told me HIPAA is not nationally or internationally recognized set of standards. Um. Yes. Yes they are. Every healthcare-related office, big, small, medium has to follow those rules across the NATION. Not my fault some grader is grading a topic they aren't even familiar with. Sheesh.

I was told by the course mentor I could do the e-care thing or talk to him AGAIN to make 'small' changes. Well, I don't have time to talk to anyone until Thursday and I am already several weeks behind on this class. And his advice and approval has already proven to be worth jack all. So. Talk about stuck and frustrated.

markulous

That's frustrating but unfortunately not surprising. In one of my tasks they said my SIEM sounded like "magic". It's one thing to be ignorant it's another to be ignorant and act like the student is a moron.

EnderWiggin

And that's why I am so glad to be done with Taskstream. Until the Capstone, I suppose.... But I feel like that won't be nearly as big of an issue, since it's so open ended.

Dakinggamer87

EnderWiggin wrote: »

And that's why I am so glad to be done with Taskstream. Until the Capstone, I suppose.... But I feel like that won't be nearly as big of an issue, since it's so open ended.

Wish I was lol.. I am stuck with Taskstream for the long haul

EnderWiggin

Dakinggamer87 wrote: »

Wish I was lol.. I am stuck with Taskstream for the long haul

You poor soul.....

markulous

Is the Ucertify reading good for the Cryptography exam? I got a 70% on the pre assessment, so hoping I can just read that this week and pass. Skillport is having technical issues so I'm not able to look at the CISSP readings.

EnderWiggin

markulous wrote: »

Is the Ucertify reading good for the Cryptography exam? I got a 70% on the pre assessment, so hoping I can just read that this week and pass. Skillport is having technical issues so I'm not able to look at the CISSP readings.

I haven't gotten around to Ucertify yet, I'll probably get on that tonight. So far I've only gone through the book at the bottom of the page. 70% is pretty solid, you only need a 65% on the final to pass. So any little bit of studying should be good enough, really.

markulous

Gotcha. I'm guessing it'll be more based off of the ucertify since that's what their in house exams usually are based on. I'm looking at it now and I already see information that was covered in the pre assessment.

EnderWiggin

Nice, that's good to hear. I'm looking forward to any step up from that book..... Ucertify should be fun

joshmadakor

markulous wrote: »

Is the Ucertify reading good for the Cryptography exam? I got a 70% on the pre assessment, so hoping I can just read that this week and pass. Skillport is having technical issues so I'm not able to look at the CISSP readings.

Is their cryptography exam just something WGU made in-house that you take at a generic testing center?

markulous

You can take it at home actually. Just have to have a webcam. But yes, it is an exam WGU made up.

EnderWiggin

Went through Ucertify part one last night, it's definitely not that in-depth, but it looks like it is geared towards the test pretty heavily. Was hoping for a bit more substance than this, but a pass is a pass, I suppose.

markulous

That's pretty much my thoughts. The CISSP sections may be more in depth, but the goal is to pass really.

markulous

Failed by one question lol. I'll try to study up this week and hopefully pass it next week but I didn't feel like the practice exam was all that similar to the actual one. Maybe a slight overlap but that's it.

JoJoCal19

I thought the crypto exam was easy. I just read the crypto chapter from Conrad's CISSP Study Guide twice and once through the uCertify reading material real quick. I recommend Conrads crypto chapter most of all.

markulous

I'll try to read that then. The ucertify course wasn't as relevant as it should have been.

EnderWiggin

Well ****............. I have it scheduled for tomorrow, and now I'm super nervous hah. That's a bummer though, one question? I'd be so upset. I'd rather bomb an exam than fail by one question.

markulous

Yeah, I've done that before on certs and that was frustrating, but I'm not too peeved at the moment. I'd say look at the CISSP guide that JoJo is recommending. The ucertify material seemed to go well with the practice exam but not so much with the real one. Let me know how it goes Ender

EnderWiggin

Just got home, got a 74% on the exam. It was a weird exam.... I read through the book as best I could (the parts that didn't appear to be another language thrown into google translate), went through all of Ucertify, and watched the Skillsoft videos, but there were questions on there about things that I didn't even so much as recognize. Roughly ten questions or so like that.... I did not feel confident at the end of the test, but I must have gotten some lucky guesses on those random questions. I think my secret to success was blasting death metal on the way to the testing center

Time to give my mentor a call and find out why he hasn't enrolled me into the CEH course materials, despite having emailed him Thursday requesting him to do so.

markulous

Congrats! Glad you were able to get through it. I am going through the Skillsoft videos now and have a meeting with the course mentor in a couple of hours. The hope is to take it this weekend. I've already looked up the answers on a couple questions that I struggled on also, so if I just answer those right and everything else the same I'll pass.

EnderWiggin

Thanks. Good luck to you, I hope it goes better this time around. With just one answer away, I'm sure it should be a breeze this time around!

markulous

Passed Cryptography. Thought for sure I'd have a better score but a pass is a pass I suppose.

Off to the CEH. Term ends at the end of June so may study up and just take the exam when my next term starts

EnderWiggin

Nice work, congratulations on the pass!

markulous

Thanks!

JoJoCal19

Congrats!! Did you find the CISSP Study Guide helpful for this?

markulous

Yeah, I found that a bit better than the ucertify material. I wish it'd tell me what I got wrong though because my score sucked and I felt much more confident than that when I clicked the submit button.

yellowpad

How many classes have you done already? What your experience so far in regards to your MS? I am looking to start this summer as well.

markulous

I've done 4. Next step is my CEH, which I'm studying for now. Only real complaint I have is just the evaluation process, but that was the same with the Bachelor's program. They are vague and it's hard to discern what they want. Otherwise I've liked it. Here's the 4 courses:

Current and Emerging Technology - Easy class. Felt like a Bachelor's level class, only took a couple of weeks to pass.
Risk Management - Another straight forward class and didn't take much time.
Cyberlaw - Seemed much more interesting at first but got a little burnt out due to the evaluators and them not explaining what they want.
Cryptography - Would have passed this sooner, but should have read the CISSP guide and not just the ucertify material. Good info to know at least.

yellowpad

Thank you...so cryptology class is similar to CISSP?

markulous

Similar to the cryptography section in the CISSP. Basically know your popular hashes and encryption algorithms. Know which algorithms are symmetric and which ones are asymmetric. Know the different types of ways to crack ciphers (brute force, known plain text, chosen ciphertext, etc). Know what's suitable for each situation. That's the vast majority of it.