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CompTIA Safety+ Made Simple

May 13th, 2011

Cyber Safety has been written a couple of bunch recently. As computers achieve complexity, so do the malicious assaults used to beat the safety techniques built to protect those systems.

Why Get Licensed?

Government workers working within the Information Technology and Computer Safety fields, are being anticipated to complete the Safety+ exam so as to keep compliant with the DoD 8570 policy. A number of non-government firms are also requesting their staff to receive certification as part of their yearly coaching plan. Business standard certifications are a good way to make your resume shine. Professionals in search of employment opportunities as a Safety Specialist, Network Administrator, or Community Technician could profit from obtaining a Security+ certification. Getting Safety+ licensed will also be price whereas for individuals who are already employed and hope to advance their earning potential. The information gained from preparing for and taking the examination is a good justification for in search of the Security+ certification.

In regards to the Exam

The exam contains one hundred questions which have to be answered in ninety minutes or less. A score of 750 or increased on a scale of a hundred-900 should be obtained to pass. CompTIA recommends that you have former network and safety expertise, but it’s not mandatory. The exam codes for the present check are SY0-201 and JK0-015. The current pricing for 2011 in the United States is $266 for non-members and $226 for member organizations.

Exam Objectives

The core goals for the examination vary from broad organizational topics to specifics about varied cryptography algorithms. This is the topic breakdown:

Techniques Security – 21%

Community Infrastructure – 20%

Access Management – 17%

Assessments and Audits – 15%

Cryptography – 15%

Organizational Security – 12%

It is easy to feel overwhelmed at first by studying the examination aims, but don’t sweat it. Remember the fact that this examination doesn’t demand a degree in Computer Science and with a great study plan you can also have a very good outcome. I’ll give you some tips about tips on how to increase your possibilities for passing the exam on your first try later in this article. I handed the exam on my first attempt with a score of 855 out of 900 and you’ll too!

The place to Take the Exam?

Pearson VUE or Prometric examination facilities both provide the Security+ exam. In the event you’re a authorities employee it’s best to obtain an examination voucher from your command to pay for the examination cost. You have to to visit the Pearson or Prometric web site to schedule your examination date once you are able to take the exam. Do not be overly anxious to schedule the exam! Be sure you might be able to take the check earlier than scheduling.

Getting ready for Success

I did self-paced research for the Safety+ exam for 2 weeks and passed on my first attempt with a score of 855 out of 900. My main job accountability isn’t as a Network Administrator or a Security Specialist, so my applicable work expertise was minimal. I’ve some e book suggestions and a research technique that will maximize your probability for success on the primary attempt. I extremely recommend that you just receive a copy of CompTIA Safety+ Deluxe Research Information: SY0-201 and CompTIA Safety+ Evaluate Information: SY0-201. Begin by reading the examine guide cowl to cover, ensuring to finish the top of chapter practice exams. Then learn the assessment information cover to cover, making sure to take all of the follow exams too. Each books come with a CD filled with practices questions and mock exams. When you can consistently cross the end of chapter practice exams and the mock exams on the CDs with a score of 80% or larger, then you need to be ready for the actual exam. Take your time, grasp the information, and most importantly have fun!

Examination Day

Listed here are some closing suggestions that may help make your exam expertise go smoother. Evaluation the chapter summaries of CompTIA Security+ Deluxe Research Guide: SY0-201 and CompTIA Safety+ Evaluate Information: SY0-201. Present up early at the examination center so you don’t really feel as anxious or rushed. Leave your mobile phone and other personal items at home or in one other safe location since you can be asked to empty your pockets previous to starting the exam. The check administrator gives you a small whiteboard and a marker for note taking throughout the exam. Don’t communicate with anyone within the examination facility once you have been seated and begin the exam. While taking the exam be certain that to mark any questions you are uncertain of and return to them later so you can keep an unbroken tempo of answering questions.

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Protecting yourself from email scams

February 4th, 2010

Most of us are already well familiar with the frustrations of spam: unsolicited email ads. In recent years, unwanted emails have evolved in an attempt to avoid increasingly specialized filters and wary recipients. We have put together a list of red flags to help you quickly spot emails that may be harmful to your PC and your bank account.

Suspicious attachments

Attaching files to an email is a fast and easy way to share files with your friends and family. The downside is that crooked scammers can attach files such as viruses and spyware in the hopes that an unwary recipient might download the file and infect their computer. Any time you see an email with an attachment that you were not expecting, be cautious about opening the attachment or even reading the email.

Links that don’t make sense

In an email supposedly from Yahoo, a link to a specific page on Yahoo’s site appears. So why does the text of the link not begin with “http://yahoo.com”? Because it is a scam. Many scammers attempt to collect account information or even credit card numbers by posing as respectable websites looking for data about your account. These emails typically have a link to a page where you can reset your password, confirm your credit card data, or log in to access some exclusive new feature. To spot these harmful links, you simply need to look at the url: the address of the page that is being linked to. All urls begin with “http://” or “htpps://” and from there vary from website to website. If the url isn’t visible in the link, you can hover your mouse over the link and the url will be displayed in the lower left corner of your web browser.

Notifications about accounts you don’t have

Malicious emails that disguise themselves as emails from major websites are counting on their recipients actually having accounts with that website in the first place. If you get an email about your facebook account when you never even signed up with facebook, chances are very good that this is a scam or virus email.

Password reset requests you didn’t send

One of the most common email scams presently is the phony password reset. These emails claim that you recently requested a new password, and direct you to a webpage where you can enter your “old” account name and password. You may be able to spot these emails by the link urls or because you don’t have the account that you would ly be resetting the password for in the first place. Even if you don’t see anything worrying with the link or the account data, never respond to a password reset email that you didn’t specifically request.

Sender addresses that don’t add up

An official email from YouTube.com will be sent from an email address that ends with @youtube.com. If “vanessa1997@aol.com” is sending you official updates about your YouTube account, it’s a safe bet this is also a malicious email. If your email system does not display sender data, you can change your settings to show full headers or just click a link right in the email to show all of the sender data.

Money transfer schemes

Typically from Nigerian royalty, these emails claim that there is some tremendous amount of money sitting in an account somewhere that the sender wants moved to the US before something terrible happens to it. It’s not uncommon for these emails to be all in caps lock and poor English, although there are exceptions. These emails are scam attempts, attempting to get your bank account information so that the sender can access your funds. No matter the story for the email, you shouldn’t ever share bank account information with anyone you don’t know. Newer varieties of these emails claim to be from “a member of your church.”

Suspect emails from co-workers

The most dangerous and hard to spot malicious emails are the ones sent by your friends and other contacts. Usually if you receive a suspicious email from a friend or other contact, it is either because their PC has been infected by a virus or because their email account has been compromised. If you see an email from one of your contacts that has strange characters in the subject, has attachments that you were{n’t not} expecting, links to a file sharing site, or otherwise looks different from the emails you’re used to from that person, take the time to contact them before clicking on any links or downloading any attachments.

Emails from yourself

These types of emails can be very disturbing when you find them. If you find an email from your own account waiting in your inbox that you know you didn’t send (and you have not allowed anyone else access to your account) immediately change your password and security question for your account. After that, check out your “sent mail” folder to find out if any other emails went out that you were unaware of. Let everyone who received one of these suspicious emails know that you didn’t send the emails, that they shouldn’t open them or open any links or attachments and that you think  your account was compromised. You can also let your email provider know about your worries. If this problem comes back, your machine may be infected and require virus cleanup service performed.

As users and automatic filters become more aware of these malicious emails, scammers will develop new ploys to get at your computer, bank account, and other data. The best weapon against these attacks is a healthy dose of skepticism, though even vigilant users can fall victim to scams and viruses. If you believe you may have a compromised email account or infected  machine, or if you just want more information about how to avoid these problems, give Geek Choice a call any time at 1-800-GEEK-HELP (433-5435). We can help you with Virus Removal, Spyware Removal and general computer repair.

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Northwoods Community Church’s Appliances to be Secured by SonicWall

October 1st, 2009

SonicWALL Internet security , a leader in providing network security to infrastructure company, has been awarded the contract to install SonicWall Clean VPN to Northwoods Commnity Church, a member of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. The system will be combined to SonicWall SSL-VPN 2000 secure remote access appliance with a SonicWall E-Class NSA E5500 network security appliance.

Jason Lee, Northwood’s IT Director said the church has several staff who travels frequently and are in constant need to access data from their servers. “Even though they are trusted connections, we want to be sure we still have a line of protection at our perimeter. Having a secure and attack-free remote access is crucial to our operations.”

Northwoods’ E5500 firewall scans both inbound and outbound SSL VPN traffic using Gateway Antivirus, Anti-Spyware and Intrusion Prevention services.

As a nonprofit organization, Northwoods is especially sensitive to value.

“We have limited resources, but our expectations are no different than a Fortune 500 company, and that’s to utilize the best technology we can afford to help our team succeed,” said Lee. “SonicWALL gives us security and performance that might be out of our budget’s reach from a Cisco or Juniper.”

By selecting SonicWALL Internet security’s E-Class, Lee freed up budget for other initiatives. And using Unified Threat Management instead of separate services and servers from different vendors has lowered his costs, and eased budgeting and planning.

Lee said the Church is also planning to expand SonicWall’s Clean Wireless implementation.

According to Lee, the Church has installed 13 SonicPoints to provide Internet security used across the school. “We apply Gateway Antivirus, Anti-Spyware and Intrusion Prevention services, as well as Content Filtering, to all inbound and outbound traffic on our wireless network.”

The SonicWALL Internet security E-Class Network Security Appliance (NSA) E5500 is a high-performance, multi-service network security platform engineered to be the workhorse of the enterprise network environment. Taking advantage of SonicWALL’s Reassembly-free Deep Packet Inspection™ engine and an 8-core processor technology providing parallel traffic processing, the NSA E5500 delivers exceptional deep packet inspection performance for the enterprise network environment.

SonicWALL is committed to improving the performance and productivity of businesses of all sizes by engineering the cost and complexity out of running a secure network. Our over ten thousand channel partners scattered across the globe have shipped over a million SonicWall appliances used by tens of millions of worldwide business computer users who depend on us for providing security to their system. The company offers a wide variety of sought-after business solutions ranging from network security, secure remote access, content security, backup and recovery, and policy and management technology.

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A Summary About Computer Firewalls

August 19th, 2009

The Internet is a vast set of connections of computers all over the world.  Definitely, it is a enormous place, huge enough for all sorts of things to occur.  While the internet is home for individuals who search for data for school work, research, papers, projects, etc; every now and then this huge network becomes a place of objectionable things.  When you open the internet, in typical cases, you are rendering your pc open to this vast network.  The matter with this is that sometimes you may be exposed to cyber attacks that could damage your computer and the files within it.

This is why technologists devised a software or hardware that defends computers against hackers, worms, and viruses on the internet.  This is called a firewall.  Computer firewalls guard computers from internet hackers who might find access to important information.  This crucial data could be a private data from computer users themselves.  Without firewalls to stop hackers, a person could lose his confidentiality on the internet and become open to cyber attack, which is normal.  Hackers may destroy files to set off computer failure by placing ruinous codes.  They may send out viruses that can infect system computers of a certain company for instance.

These software blockages put a stop to access of spiteful traffic before they can even destroy your pc.  Some of these firewalls bar unsolicited users from manipulating your pc.  The setting up of these blockages is quite necessary particularly if you always surf the internet.  A firewall works by monitoring network traffic, keeping track of outgoing communication, and halting unwanted traffic from infiltrating your computer.  When you surf the web, it temporarily unlocks the port to let you view the page you asked for which is the website or webpage you clicked.  However, it remains a first safeguard from unsolicited incoming traffic.

Firewalls, nonetheless, do not bar access of spam in electronic mails, which creates much nuisance to internet users.  Since most computer users normally have electronic mails, it is a necessity to set up spam filters to conserve hassle, time, and frustration.  Without these electronic mail filters, unwanted e-mails with useless or even damaging content could saturate your inbox.

This security measure offers the intial line of defense only.  Thus, computer users may have to set up other software that protects against other harmful agents like electronic mail viruses.  Upon setting up a firewall, an anti-virus program must also be installed, because apart from safety from unnecessary internet traffic, computer virus protection is another critically vital part to be considered. 

Protecting your computer is quite necessary because without this action you place your pc, its files, and data in danger.  In business establishments, the computer security is of prime interest since valuable data is at stake.  One destructive computer virus or software that is able to access the system could wipe out all the day’s data and cause work disruption.  In huge business companies, this could entail a lot of monetary loss.

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How To Protect Your Laptop From Internet Threats

February 8th, 2009

Internet security programs are an important part of computer today. You have to deal with viruses that originate from the Internet, network, or file sharing. A virus is designed to attack your computer without your knowledge. It corrupts files and destroys data, making you lose valuable data. Don’t turn your back on these computer threats. Identity theft is a major concern these days and having your PC hooked up to the Internet makes you more vulnerable to having your personal information stolen. When downloading files onto your computer, you need to be cautious as there might be adware, spyware or some other malicious software in it. Now you know the dangers lurking around the Internet and the harm it can do to your computer, don’t you think it is wise to take appropriate measures such as installing an Internet security software?

You may say that you have anti virus or firewall on your computer but sad to say, that does not guarantee you are 100% safe. Technology is forever getting better and better. Hackers are always trying to manipulate new technology in their effort to steal or disrupt personal computers. So stay updated as Internet security software companies frequently introduce better Internet security suite to help you and corporate battle the ‘evil forces’ lurking on the Internet.

Internet security should always be on your mind. Wouldn’t it great to find an Internet security program that could shield your system from every malicious threat and prevent lost or stolen data?

Your wish can be a reality as there are many Internet security programs available in the market that can give you an all-round protection. These Internet security suite offer comprehensive protection against Internet threats such as viruses, spam, trojans, worms, hackers, and phishing. Deciding which one to purchase may be a bit of a puzzle for you. So, before you buy any Internet security suite, make sure it has complete protection against all kinds of online threats.

One aspect you shouldn’t overlook is updating your Internet protection software now and then. Updating your Internet safety software is a crucial step in fighting the increasing number of rogue programs spreading on the Internet. Without constant update of the Internet protection programs, your computer will be exposed to new viruses, worms, trojans or any destructive programs.

Each day you’ll discover a new malicious program. Is your Internet security program able to ward off these current programs? That is why update is crucial. By installing new signatures, your security software can detect new Internet threats. If you don’t updates, you’ll fall behind on these new online threats. Make an effort to update your programs components and database on a regular basis such as every week.

Many of these protection suite depend on your computer’s resources. Don’t be surprise if your find your computer a little slower. Slow boot up is one of the common problem with these software. With the help of new technological development, you will soon enjoy Internet security programs that do not cause such problems. Have you looked at Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico? It uses its own memory and processor. This is another reason why you should upgrade your Internet security suite frequently.

So, you realize now that you can’t ignore the dangers of Internet threats. Thus, for protection of your personal data, you would like to get the best Internet security suite. Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico has been touted as one of the best Internet security package. This USB hardware can protect your PC, financial and personal information from the present Internet threats. It is a full protection that on the equal ground with the Pentagon. You can learn more about this product at Gatekeeper Pico review.

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