CompTIA

www.comptia.org

CompTIA provides industry-supported, vendor-neutral certifications that test a candidate’s understanding of basic foundation skills and core competencies in a given subject area. Although deemed entry level by many, CompTIA certifications nonetheless provide a valuable and trusted certification in any technical career path. Several popular CompTIA certifications, including A+, Network+, and Server+, are accepted for credit toward various vendor-sponsored certifications including Microsoft (MCSE and MCSA) and CIW.

CompTIA exams also have the advantage, at least in the realm of vendor-neutral security certifications, of being readily available and relatively inexpensive. Security topics covered on the Security+ exam include the following:

• Cryptography

• Firewalls

• Forensics

• Incident reporting

• Intrusion detection

• Malicious code and viruses

• Network auditing/vulnerability analysis

• Network defense and countermeasures

• Operating system security and patch installation

• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) fundamentals and standards

• Remote access

• Security law

• Security policy

• User authentication, smart cards, biometrics, and digital certificates

• Virtual Private Networks

• Wireless devices and network security