What Cert will compliment a Masters in Information Systems?

Greetings Techies!!

I will be graduating with a Master in Information System in June and am looking to go into the security sector. Here's the conflict: I don't have any formal IT experience. All the work I've done has been freelance and mainly centers around A+ Hardware/Software. My desire is to work in the security sector and I was contemplating gaining the Certified Ethical Hacker cert. However, I'm seeing mixed views on that certification. With no formal experience, what certification do you think would be good to compliment my masters? Ultimately, I'd like to start my own security consulting firm but for now, I need to transition into the IT sector.

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Sylice

Oplex wrote: »

Greetings Techies!!

I will be graduating with a Master in Information System in June and am looking to go into the security sector. Here's the conflict: I don't have any formal IT experience. All the work I've done has been freelance and mainly centers around A+ Hardware/Software. My desire is to work in the security sector and I was contemplating gaining the Certified Ethical Hacker cert. However, I'm seeing mixed views on that certification. With no formal experience, what certification do you think would be good to compliment my masters? Ultimately, I'd like to start my own security consulting firm but for now, I need to transition into the IT sector.

http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/information-security-certifications,2-205.html

TheFORCE

Start with the Security+ and then look at the other ones.

Mike7

You can read the threads in Security Certification forum.
Perhaps start with http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/113328-what-information-security-certifications-should-i-get.html

OctalDump

CASP is probably the highest achievable level, depending on your IT sec knowledge. The (ISC)2 and most ISACA certifications require some experience component, which you probably don't have.
Otherwise, the usual Security+ and some networking (CCNA), linux and Windows (see the links provided by others here). If you have the money, then the GIAC GSEC is also a good option.

There's a new certification also coming from CompTIA to sit somewhere between Security+ and CASP. This could be a good option, too. It won't necessarily have recognition, but the idea would be to build up on skills.

CEH is what it is. It's not going to make you a hacker (ethical or otherwise). It can tick boxes for some people. I think it's best to treat it as foundation knowledge for Pen Testing or Incident Handling (recognising attacks). It has some use also for network defence, but probably less so.

If you are really interested in the pen test path, then check out eLearnSecurity and their Penetration Testing Student and Penetration Testing Professional courses. These will put you in a good position to understand the practicalities of Pen Testing. You can also do then the CEH or OSCP certifications, or the GIAC GPEN.

EnderWiggin

Some people don't like CEH, but Human Resources departments love it. If you're trying to get a job in information security, it will certainly help you.

powerfool

The one that is most relevant to your work.

kaizen_404

Security+ as others have said is a good start. Comptia certs are good as they're vendor agnostic. However they are mostly seen as beginner certifications. They will help get you past the HR filter so that's good. CEH will also help with HR and it is on the DoD list if you're interested in working in Govt. Do you want to focus on defense or offense? Do you want to be hands on security or paper security? Both are important but they have a different view of the world. If you want to be hands on and offensive e.g. Pentester, I would recommend OSCP. If you want to go on the defensive, start with Security+ then get some experience and get CISSP. If you're interested in risk assessment and IT auditing, CISA is a good one and well respected. Comptia has a nifty roadmap tool that may help. https://certification.comptia.org/why-certify/roadmap