Revamped Certification – Security+

Just as society and the people within a society evolve, so does the IT field- I know, a truly remarkable observation - bear with me for a few though as I expand upon this theme.  As anyone who has been in the IT field any length of time is more than aware, our environments can change rapidly based on new technologies, new concepts and even new legal requirements.  The same holds true with IT certifications as well.  Certifications must evolve to meet these new demands placed upon the IT field to remain relevant.

The evolution of a certification exam is different from the release of a new certification exam.  A new certification exam usually implies there is a new product that has this new exam released to test on the product.  If the exam that is released is an evolution from an older exam, than this can mean it is covering some new material than the old exam, or that there other areas that must be included.  Such is the case with the new Security+ (2008 Objectives) exam from CompTIA. Why, might you ask, is there an update to this popular exam from CompTIA?  The newly updated exam has had a new domain added, Assessment and Audits.  This new domain has been added to "address the importance of risk assessment and mitigation and to cover some of the most important considerations, tools and techniques in addressing risk."[1]  What has also been changed is some of the focus on new security concepts.  Now you must also know how to implement a security policy, element or procedure and not just be able to correctly identify the concept on the exam.  New phrases such as "carry out the appropriate procedures" and "deploy various authentication models"[2] appear in the new 2008 objectives Security+ exam

The new Security+, 2008 Objectives exam (SY0-201) was released on October 14th (available for you at your local testing facility).  There is an overlap period with the old Security+ exam (SY0-101), though, which will be available until July 2009.  If you are planning on taking the new test, but took a class for the old test - you might want to take a look at the new objectives.  Good Luck!

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[1] http://certification.comptia.org/security/security_update.aspx

[2] http://certification.comptia.org/security/security_update.aspx