certifications Archives

A treasure trove of training material

Dave Farquhar security April 16, 2013December 5, 2015CERT, certifications, Information Assurance, video game

Need to improve your security skills? Need a refresher course to brush up on some skills you haven’t used in a while? Or are you just looking for some CPEs or CEUs to keep your certification valid?

The United States Department of Defense offers a great deal of security training, much of which is freely available to all comers. Your tax dollars paid for it, so don’t feel bad about using it. Besides, if you use it to improve your networks, then your networks are less likely to become a source of attack on government networks, so they’re happy for you to use most of it.

Here’s a hint: Anything that isn’t viewable by the general public is marked ” *(DoD PKI Cert req’d).” If you don’t see that marking, then it’s free for you to view. Just click the link marked “Launch Training.” Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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How to get your first job in IT

Dave Farquhar Careers January 17, 2013August 20, 20186502, antivirus, certifications, computer security, journalism, troubleshooting, unix

I helped a friend of a former coworker with his resume this week. He’s looking to get their first jobs in IT, and found it difficult, even though he was applying for an entry-level helpdesk position.

His resume certainly indicated he was educated and able to hold down a job, but that wasn’t quite enough. Here’s what I had him do to beef up that resume to get past those initial rounds of screening and get interviewed.

Dave Farquhar

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CISSP vs. CASP vs. CEH

Dave Farquhar security October 3, 2012November 24, 2018antivirus, CEH, certifications, cissp, datacenter, DBA, firewall, IDS

One of my coworkers invited me to watch a webinar with him today that promised to compare CompTIA’s new high-end certification with the CISSP.

I was skeptical at first, especially when I heard it was an 80-question, 150-minute test. But by the end, I mostly liked what I heard.

Dave Farquhar

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Certifications are a scam! A rebuttal

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 25, 2012December 5, 2015certifications, cissp, discipline, firewall, pdf files, RF, unix

I overheard a couple of people talking a few weeks ago, and one said, flat out, “Certifications are a scam!”

As one who has two security certifications (Security+ and CISSP), I disagree. Now that I’ve had my first post-CISSP professional review, I disagree even more strongly.

Dave Farquhar

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Writing clearly vs. concisely

Dave Farquhar Writing September 9, 2012Amazing Computing, certifications, college education, journalism, syntax, technical writer

I had a disagreement last week with a technical writer who argues that a sentence should always have as few words as possible. No exceptions, for no reason.

I don’t agree.

Dave Farquhar

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Busted at the Safeway for phone phreaking

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, security August 11, 2012January 9, 20251980s, 1990s, bbs, certifications, commodore, juvenile detention, phone phreaking, phone service, shrewsbury, watson, watson road

Software developer, author, and blogger Jeff Atwood wrote his confessions of the 1980s this week. As a teenager and not-quite-adult, he was a phone phreaker.

More of this went on than anyone wants to admit. Rob O’Hara has podcasted about it. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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The real benefits of having a CISSP

Dave Farquhar security May 18, 2012CEH, certifications, cissp, cybersecurity, Information Assurance, information security, Regulatory compliance

Another question from the big box o’ Google search queries: What are the real benefits of having a CISSP?

I don’t want to be flip, but here it is in two words: job security. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Things I wish everyone knew about home computer security

Dave Farquhar security May 16, 2012December 1, 2015antivirus, boxcar, certifications, computer security, firewall, malwarebytes, Microsoft Security Essentials, passwords, spam, spyware, vista, WEP, Windows XP, yahoo

I’m a security professional by trade, with two certifications. I’m not responsible for defending your computer networks, but I want your networks to be secure. There’s a really simple reason for that. If your computer and your network is secure, then it isn’t attacking mine. Or anyone else’s.

Several fellow subscribers to a train-related interest group that I like got hacked recently, and have been sending out spam messages. They’ve received a lot of advice in the hours since. Some of it has been good, and some not as good. So I tried to think of some things that people could do in about 30 minutes to keep the crooks at bay.

Incidentally, the computer crooks won’t be going away. Computer crime happens because the criminals can make more money doing that than doing something legal. The only way to make it stop is to make it too hard, so that getting a real job becomes more profitable. You won’t solve that problem in 30 minutes, but if we all take that single step down that road, we’ll make the world that much safer. So, with that, let’s roll up our sleeves. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson needed to explain himself

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized May 5, 20121980s, amiga, certifications, computer science degree, IBM, journalism, Missouri, mizzou, university of missouri, yahoo

I understand Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s predicament. I don’t agree with how he handled it.

You see, both Scott Thompson and I work in the technical industry, and neither of us have a degree in computer science, computer engineering, some other kind of engineering, high mathematics, or another socially accepted relevant-to-the-industry field. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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