Check Point Offers Free Courses on edX
There's a robust and growing universe of educational content – much of it free – available to anyone with a computer and a broadband internet connection. Check Point Software Technologies, an Israel-based provider of cybersecurity solutions with a flourishing certification program, announced earlier this week that is adding a new constellation to the mix. Check Point will provide cybersecurity training courses on edX, the online learning platform created by Harvard and MIT. The courses are intended to help students and IT professionals burnish their skills in responding to cyberthreats and managing security solutions. All courses provided by Check Point are offered free of charge with the goal of helping to close the persistent talent gap that affects cybersecurity hiring across all sectors of the IT realm. As noted in a press release announcing the launch of courses, "Recent research shows that nearly two-thirds of organizations reported a shortage of cyber-security staff last year, with 36 percent citing a lack of skilled or experienced security personnel as their number one workplace concern."
Microsoft Learn Seeks Moderators to Participate in (Virtual) Ignite
As the Year of the Pandemic rolls on, Microsoft Ignite, an annual conference for developers and tech professionals, will join a myriad of other IT professional gatherings that will be happening (or have already happened) only virtually. In some senses, that means that this year's Ignite will be more open to participation than ever before: Nobody has to travel, or even necessarily book time off from work, in order to participate. The Ignite team is hopeful that some of that participation will take the form of knowledgeable IT professionals stepping up to moderate online conversations. An appeal for moderators was posted to the Microsoft Learn Blog at the end of last week. The post outlines how moderators will participate, and what will be expected of them. There's also a list of proposed topics for each conversation so that volunteers can have an idea of what they need to know in order to participate. Microsoft Ignite is scheduled to take place Sept. 22-24.
CompTIA Wants You to Succeed in Cybersecurity Competitions
Cybersecurity competitions happen all over the world each year, largely with the goal of encouraging and fostering the growth of the next generation of cybersecurity technologists. The competitions provide valuable feedback to participants, and winning or placing in a competition can ultimately help individuals get scholarships or even find a job. Tech industry association CompTIA has some advice for anyone who would like to know more about the world of cybersecurity competitions. A new post to the official CompTIA blog (authored by Spencer Bone) focuses largely on the National Cyber League, sponsor of the National Cyber League Games, but the advice about how to prepare to compete is broadly applicable. If you do have an interest in the NCL (CompTIA became an NCL partner this year and an NCL registration discount is available to student members of CompTIA), then you'll also get a lot of good information about how to join in the fun with the NCL in particular.
Certification Magazine Turns Salary Survey Microscope on CISA
Each year thousands of certified IT professionals digitally come together to participate in the annual Salary Survey conducted by Certification Magazine. The survey provides the heart of each year's winter quarterly issue of the print magazine (published in January), but the magazine content is only the first course of the Salary Survey smorgasbord. Additional data is posted to CertMag.com, the official website of Certification Magazine, each week throughout the year. One of the most interesting outputs is the weekly Deep Focus series, which spotlights a new certification from the Salary Survey 75 list every Friday. The most recent Deep Focus article features the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) credential administered by cybersecurity and IT governance association ISACA. Per the Deep Focus norm, the article sketches a portrait of Salary Survey participants who are CISA-certified, including information about how old they are, how educated they are, where they come from, how many hours they tend to work each week, and more. If you hold a CISA certification, then you can see how you measure up to a select group of your peers. If you aren't CISA-certified, but have thought about becoming so, then you're like to get an interesting picture of what your future could look like.
That's all for this edition of Certification Watch. Please keep your certification news and tips coming to the GoCertify News Editor.
