Just a little defense of Sec+ test and prop for the site

ucanbbreached

An email I wrote to an editor of the MCP Mag email distro list:
The MCP Mag email distribution is listed below this posting


I would like you to sit the Security+ exam and see if it is for any "new" user or network admin. No I am not reply simply to defend a cert I have earned but to stress I have taken the exam and it is not for just any old new user or network admin to say he is at least familiar with Security.



Have you taken the exam?

If not check out www.techexams.net Comptia-Security+ forum and read some of the posts The titles to some alone describe the temperature this test can create. Also, I have found that the forums practice tests are some of the most relevant and provide a really good scenario of the actual test. Try one of them and tell me how you did.



Thank You,
James

ucanbbreached

ucanbreached wrote:

The MCP Mag email distribution is listed below this posting

Quoted from the direct email:

July 15, 2003
MCP Magazine
http://MCPmag.com
A Simple Plan: Security Specializations (Opinion); Reader Feedback

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IN THIS ISSUE:
- A Simple Plan: Security Specializations (Opinion)
- Readers respond: e-mail worms, Remote Desktop, firewalls

IN THIS ISSUE:

** Editor's Desk: A Simple Plan
Microsoft sets new security specializations for MCSE and MCSA titles.
By Dian L. Schaffhauser

I was both happy and disappointed with the details of Microsoft's
security specializations announcement. (You can read the salient
facts at http://mcpmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=579). The
specialization approach to certification has been honed carefully
over the last couple of years by Cisco Systems, with its array of
career specialties. These prove expertise in the basics, along with
an extra emphasis in a particular area.

Announced during a TechEd keynote in June, the requirements for the
new specializations from Microsoft -- MCSE: Security and MCSA:
Security -- are culled from existing exams. That's good news. As
you sail toward your latest MCSE or MCSA, you can consider listing
toward security in your choice of electives, thereby declaring
yourself a security specialist at the end of your voyage.

The new approach is elegant in its simplicity. Security is an
inherent aspect of designing, managing and administering a Windows
network, so why shouldn't the exams that cater to those job roles
be good enough to lead to a security designation? And therein lay
my initial disappointment. I was rather hoping for something
harder-edged.

According to Contributing Editor Andy Barkl (a trainer who has
taken more exams in his career than a schooner has rigging), most
of the security focus in these credentials addresses the lowest
common denominator. Take 70-214, Implementing Windows 2000 Security,
a "prescribed exam" for both the MCSE and MCSA. In Andy's opinion,
"It's what every new administrator should know about the basic
security offering of Windows 2000."

Likewise, another prescribed exam, CompTIA's Security+ test, is
for "any *new* user or network administrator who needs to prove they
are at least aware of computer and network security issues and
available technologies." (The emphasis on "new" is mine.)

Andy considers the other exams on the roster tougher, because they
require specific knowledge of security details within Windows 2000.

But all of these tests are multiple choice, with a few drag-and-drop
or reorder item types thrown into the mix. Somehow, I thought taking
on high-tech terrorism would require sharper weapons -- the blunt
edge of time in the field, a certain form of training by authorized
experts, the proven ability to get users to pay attention to what
they're doing when they open e-mail.

But, no, in its infinite wisdom, Microsoft has decided that most
security breaches could be resolved with some fairly basic steps --
learning the security settings in its operating systems, knowing
security concepts, understanding the value of staying up on patches.

On further consideration, I decided Microsoft is right. And I hope
that a whole lot of you pursue this specialization, at least in
training if not in title. The world could use feeling safer.

Dian L. Schaffhauser is MCP Magazine's editorial director.
mailto:dschaffhauser@101com.com

Comment on this article:
http://mcpmag.com/columns/article.asp?EditorialsID=563#post

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Thanks James