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System Administrators, or SysAdmins, are the “installation specialists,” “configuration specialists” and “fixers” in IT. If you’ve ever seen Pulp Fiction, SysAdmins are like Winston Wolfe — their job is to solve problems.

Cybersecurity is the arena of technology, methodology, and practice that focuses on protecting electronic information and the systems supporting it against compromise and attack.

Despite an organization's best efforts to prevent downtime and avoid compromises, failures will still happen from time to time. “I am convinced that there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that will be,” said Robert Mueller, former FBI Director, in a statement. “Even that is merging into one category: those that have been hacked and will be again.” So, what is your organization doing about it? How do you plan for failures and security breaches?

This paper reviews many key issues and focuses attention on 10 responses that we all need to adopt in our approach to security.

Many employees are not as well-versed in their company’s security policy as they should be. This may result in workers performing tasks that might seem innocent or benign on the surface, but which actually put the organization at risk of a security breach. Understanding what you are doing (as an employee) or what your users are doing (as a boss or manager), can help you work toward a viable resolution to these situations. In most cases, user behavior changes as well as implementation of new technological solutions can curb exposure to risk and increase security policy compliance.

The Internet is not a safe place. We see that more than ever with the security breaches of businesses and individuals in the news on a daily basis. As Internet citizens, we need to take our protection into our own hands, as obviously most online services are not doing their best to protect us.

The use of public networks is risky. Whether wireless or wired, any public access Internet connection is putting you and your data at risk. It may be convenient to use a hotel, restaurant, or coffee shop Internet link, but the likelihood of attack or compromise is greater than accessing a private network.

You have earned a CompTIA certification. The next step is to ensure that your certification remains current and valid. Some certifications are good for life, while others require renewal. Let’s look at what certifications require renewal, the options that you have for maintaining your certifications, and steps to get it done.

It’s been about 10 years since public cloud offerings like AWS opened up the world of big data analytics. This post examines the top five most useful architectures used for big data stacks to learn the sweet spots of each.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your certification exam.

CISSP remains one of the most respected and sought-after cybersecurity certifications. With the most recent update released in May 2021, (ISC)2 has maintained the high bar it set to validate the knowledge and skills of senior cybersecurity managers.

Digital transformation has bred equal parts innovation and risk. And it’s not just the IT department that’s been disrupted—technology is now the most critical risk factor for the entire organization.

CISSP is a widely desired indicator of knowledge, experience, and excellence on the resume of many IT professionals.

In this article, we discuss how to achieve that optimal security approach in the data center with Cisco Application Centric Architecture, or ACI.

The CCNP Enterprise certification is the newest CCNP level certification. It replaces the CCNP Routing and Switching certification that has had multiple iterations throughout the years.

CompTIA has become one of the most recognized and respected names in IT certifications, from the first A+ back in the 1990s to today with over a dozen vendor-neutral certifications covering a variety of topics.

After reading this article, whether you’re requesting training for yourself or your team, you will be better prepared to build and state your case for the business-delivering value of training.

With a constant demand for support, specialized skills and technology, IT professionals are under a good deal of pressure at work. And if they’re not compensated for it, they might just leave — causing disruption at the company, but also their own lives.

This quick reference guide will highlight the various certification tracks to help you find your path through the EC-Council programs.

This is the second of a two-part series on First Hop Redundancy Protocols (FHRP). In Part 1 of this topic, we reviewed the fundamentals of networking, the importance of the Default Gateway to an endpoint, and how to solve redundancy of Default Gateway by using an FHRP such as Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP)

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your AWS Architect certification exam.

As an IT security leader, you understand the importance of having and following corporate policies to protect and defend your systems and the assets that they retain. You and your security team work diligently to know the latest threats, prepare for possible intrusion, and harden your network.

In any operational data network, the two high-level outcome possibilities are connectivity and isolation. If every device can connect to every other device by enabling full connectivity, networking is relatively easy to create, but inherently unsecure. If a network fully isolates all forms of traffic, it is unusable.

Diversity in the workplace means that a company employs a wide range of individuals with different characteristics. By nurturing a more accepting, diverse culture, organizations will experience a substantial positive effect on individuals and a stronger bond within teams. 

Most Internet users don't realize that often a website or other service that seems slow to respond is actually working fine. Instead, it’s the resolution of DNS that is putting a glitch in your giddy up. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to optimize your DNS to get better performance.

This certification prep guide provides an overview of the current Cisco Certified Network Professional-Security certification and offers helpful tips.

Passwords aren't as secure as you think, but there are ways to improve their effectiveness against hackers' attempts to gain access.

Hackers are everywhere, and they have a sophisticated array of tools for cracking your passwords. The primary purpose of this white paper is to help you understand that easy-to-remember passwords are no longer considered a secure form of authentication

IT is everywhere. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), expansion of data capabilities and storage, and broad access to wireless services have pushed IT into virtually every aspect of our lives. From appliances and televisions to tablets and smartphones, people are more connected than ever.

One of the most used ways for hackers to attack an organization is through email phishing. From an attacker’s point of view, email attacks can be automated at scale with thousands of emails sent virtually for free.

Retention rates and employee morale plague IT departments. The solution? Invest in career development and ongoing training. 

Cryptography can be used for many purposes, but there are two types of cryptographic algorithms you need to understand: symmetric and asymmetric. Learn more from the experts at Global Knowledge.

Security is complicated, which has led to the many misconceptions and misunderstandings about security. By paying attention to these 10 concerns that security experts want you to know, you can gain knowledge and understanding about security and be securer both at work and in your personal life.

HR and IT managers, if you're losing top talent and having trouble attracting quality candidates, the no. 1 reason is that they don't see a future with you. If you're not leveraging professional development, here are a couple tips to start.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your GCP certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your GCP certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Certified Data Engineer certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your GCP certification exam.

There are several techniques, methods, and tools that can help you reduce your security budget while maintaining or increasing your actual defenses. No security defense is perfect, and you often get what you pay for.

In any operational data network, the two high-level outcome possibilities are connectivity and isolation. If every device can connect to every other device by enabling full connectivity, networking is relatively easy to create, but inherently unsecure. If a network fully isolates all forms of traffic, it is unusable.

This certification prep guide provides an overview of the current Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification and offers helpful tips that students can use when preparing for the exam.

Gaining access is the most important phase of an attack in terms of potential damage, although attackers don’t always have to gain access to the system to cause damage. For instance, denial-of-service attacks can either exhaust resources or stop services from running on the target system. 

Learn how to boost your visibility on LinkedIn by listing your skills and certifications and leveraging the courses you’ve taken for professional development. This is especially important to catch the eyes of recruiters and when applying for jobs.

Once an attacker gains access to the target system, the attacker can choose to use both the system and its resources and further use the system as a launch pad to scan and exploit other systems, or he can keep a low profile and continue exploiting the system.

The SolarWinds cyberattack is one of the most sophisticated and broad cyberattacks in history and will likely be studied for years by cybersecurity researchers as a case study for a supply chain attack.

In any operational data network, the two high-level outcome possibilities are connectivity and isolation. If every device can connect to every other device by enabling full connectivity, networking is relatively easy to create, but inherently unsecure. If a network fully isolates all forms of traffic, it is unusable.

ISACA’s role is to help those in the field of cybersecurity get greater utilization out of the people already in the fold. This means enabling IT professionals to take a leadership role and increase their depth of knowledge. 

Attackers use a method called scanning before they attack a network. Often attackers use automated tools such as network/host scanners and war dialers to locate systems and attempt to discover vulnerabilities.

Every second of every day, data is being sent and received. Billions of data packets are processed by your company’s network every day. In fact, you received dozens of packets just to read this article, but the vast majority of us have no idea how this works. People have no clue as to what goes on behind the scenes to ensure data actually gets to the right device.

This certification profile covers the job functions and titles held by the professionals who hold the certification, views on job security and satisfaction, CISSP salary information, along with other certifications held and tenure. The data is from Global Knowledge’s annual global IT Skills and Salary Report so you won't find it anywhere else.

The updated version of the CISSP exam was released on May 1, 2021. The new version now includes a significant number of new topics.

Many companies have a so-called five-nines goal, meaning that the network needs to be available to the users at least 99.999% of the time. To achieve that goal, IT professionals must consider high availability in the network design, including both physical and logical redundancy.

Follow these four troubleshooting tips to help you work through a challenging repair and reach a solution without much wasted time and resources.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your PMP certification exam.

Here's an introduction to encryption. What is it? Why do we need it? It's a complicated area, so we're here to help get your started. You'll understand the general function of three categories of mathematical ciphers: Symmetric, Asymmetric and Hashing. 

Many certification roadmaps include (ISC)2’s CISSP (Certified Information System Security Practitioner) as a crucial cybersecurity certification to consider in a career and education plan. One example is the CompTIA IT Certification Roadmap, which places CISSP in the “Expert” column of the Information Security pathway. The CompTIA roadmap of IT certifications is not alone in recognizing the importance and value of the CISSP.

The 2021 revised and updated version CISSP (Certified Information System Security Practitioner) certification exam will be released on May 1, 2021. This new version of the popular CISSP exam will include a modest revision and re-organization of previously included topics, but will integrate a significant number of new topics.

The Ethernet switch has become an integral part of the world’s LAN infrastructure. At its core, the Ethernet is a shared network, each node contending for access to precious bandwidth and dealing with the repercussions of collisions.

Learn about the five types of area networks.

Advancing your knowledge of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud can be life-changing.

Cybersecurity is one of the most important fields of work in our world today. It’s an ever-changing discipline that requires ongoing education and adaptability, even for cybersecurity experts.

This guide provides an overview of the Security+ certification, including who the certification is for, how to earn and maintain it, the positive impact that it will have on your career, and options for advancement following your Security+ certification.

The Security+ certification is a common component of a cybersecurity professional’s resume, which would leave a gap if it is not present. Learn about the new material that will be present on the SY0-601 Security+ exam.

The cloud has been around for over a decade, but great cloud engineers are in short supply. What sets a great cloud engineer apart from simply a good one? Experience plays a big part, and the general expectation seems to be that you will become great by putting in your time. However, the truth is that to be a great cloud engineer you do not just slowly grow into your role. You actively aim for ways to improve both your skills and your approach to using technology. Here are three examples of what great cloud engineers do to be highly successful.

The field of cybersecurity is growing, and it is no wonder. Global Knowledge’s 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report confirms the value of security experts, with those functioning in the Cybersecurity/IT Security field in the U.S. reporting an average annual wage of $153,655. Here’s an exclusive Security+ certification profile.

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on businesses. Cost-cutting efforts have resulted in organizations having to do more with less. Safety protocols and social distancing guidelines have meant that more employees are working from home. The reality of remote workers and the access, reliability, and security issues that they create are at the forefront of the challenges facing IT departments.

The IT Skills and Salary Report covers a lot in the published report, and that’s only the surface. Here are four snippets of AWS data that weren't included in the published report.

Systems engineers are the men and women responsible for keeping your applications running and databases responsive, and while the cloud has removed much of their responsibilities regarding hardware, their jobs are by no means easy. Lack of attention to details is always a factor in most mistakes, but these issues stem from misperception and a lack of understanding regarding the cloud itself.

Cybersecurity has matured into a complex and diverse set of functions. Each of these functional specializations represent different roles requiring different knowledge, skills, and abilities.

It is everyone’s job, not solely cybersecurity professionals, to consider how their work affects security.

Here are 18 certification options, in no particular order, that are worth your effort based on site searches, feedback from subject matter experts and data in the Global Knowledge 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report.

Aside from plenty of laughs, “Groundhog Day” delivers powerful messages about change, love and being a good person. Phil is unable to break the time loop until he totally changes who he is. Unless you’re as selfish and heartless as Phil, by making incremental changes over time you’ll bring success to your life and career.

It’s inevitable. At some point in your career, you’ll find yourself working alongside individuals who fall into the general category of “Difficult People.” The effects these people can have on an organization vary greatly but usually involve many problems for the team. This white paper describes some of the more common types of difficult people and provides you with tips on how to handle them.

When creating products, providing services and achieving results, consistency is the goal of quality management. This white paper gives you a basic overview of the tools and techniques you need for quality planning and quality assurance. Learn which resources help you to evaluate programs, prioritize objectives or discover problem areas. Featured within this white paper are Kaoru Ishikawa’s seven quality tools which include flowcharts, histograms and cause-and-effect diagrams. 

Projects are often complex, made up of a large number of moving pieces. This brings numerous challenges. By using the three key steps mentioned in this white paper, your projects will run more smoothly from start to finish.

Here are five date points from the 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report that illustrate important trends in professional development, skills gaps, hiring and top-paying certifications.

Organizations rely on administrators to do a lot. If you’re admin reading this, you know this far too well.

With Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) as popular as it is in the provider space and private MPLS clouds for larger enterprise, we needed some tools to help troubleshoot and maintain these networks. With the providers in mind, the normal ping or traceroute may not be enough.

The key difference between hubs, switches and bridges is that hubs operate at Layer 1 of the OSI model, while bridges and switches work with MAC addresses at Layer 2 of the OSI model.

Let's start with defining the job of a cloud architect. You are responsible for planning, designing, migrating, and implementing cloud-based infrastructures, but the effectiveness of these specialists is not guaranteed.

These mistakes can be resume-updating events if you are not careful. Take the time to learn the skills of a cloud architect and both your career and your employer will benefit.