IT Security Career Paths and Certifications
with Marc Menninger
Security+ Certification
Description: The Security+ certification validates your knowledge of network and operation security,
threats and vulnerabilities, compliance, access control, identity management, cryptography, and more. It is
similar to the SSCP certification from (ISC)2.
Great for: Demonstrating your understanding of important technical security concepts
Offered by: CompTIA
Experience level: Intermediate
Prerequisites: While not required, studying for and passing the CompTIA Network+ as well as at least
two years of experience in IT administration with a security focus are highly recommended.
Cost: $311
CPEs required? Yes, 50 CPEs are required every three years to maintain certification.
Expiration: Three years, but can be renewed by maintaining CPE requirements
Exam topics include:
• CIA triad: confidentiality, integrity, and availability
• Access control: mandatory access control (MAC), discretionary access control (DAC), and role-based
access control (RBAC)
• Kerberos
• CHAP
• RADIUS, TACACS, and TACACS+
• PPTP and L2TP
• IPsec
• 802.1x
• Biometrics
• Smartcards/tokens
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• Accounts and password management
• Attacks (birthday, man-in-the-middle, DoS, buffer overflow, SYN, teardrop, Smurf, brute force,
dictionary, and replay), worms, Trojans, and viruses
• WEP, WAP, and WTLS
• Hashes
• Symmetric encryption algorithms
• Cryptography
• Asymmetric algorithms
• Digital signatures
• PKI (public key infrastructure)
• Key and certificate management
• Email, SSL, TLS, and Web
• IPsec, IKE, and ISAKMP
• VPNs
Often required for:
IT security technicians, specialists, analysts, administrators, consultants, and architects
Helpful resources to prepare for exam:
• CompTIA Security+ exam prep courses
• CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead
• Cybrary’s Free Security+ Training Course
• Sybex: Security+ Study Guide
• Mike Meyers’ CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide
• CompTIA Security+ Certification Practice Exams
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