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certification after 1st uni degree

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Can anyone advice me on what certification to take after my first university computer science degree? I want to go into computer security area of the IT industry.- Martins

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by joseph moore

If only there was a single cert to get! Ah, it would be a more simpler world, where birds always sit on branches and chirp their fluttering tunes of happiness and eating worms; where children play in grassy parks without fear or concern on the part of the parents; where we all live together in harmony and peace.
But, since it is not a perfect world, there is not a perfect answer to your question.
(sorry, but I am in an artistic mood today!)
What kind of degree are you going for? If you are going for a B.S in CS, specializing in programming, then security would not be the correct path for you. But, let's assume you are doing a network infrastructure focus as college. Security would then make sense.
Getting the CISSP from ICS2 would make sense:
https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi

The problem is you are not going to qualify to be a CISSP. YOu need 4 or 5 years of hands-on experience before you can try and gain this cert.

You could look into Trusecure's TICSA certification:
http://www.trusecure.com/solutions/certifications/ticsa/
There is no job requirement to gain this cert. Just pass their test (which is, apparently, a good primer test for the CISSP)

There is also the SANS cert, GIAC:
http://www.giac.org/
But I beleve it is very difficult to obtain also.

And if you want to specialze in a particular operating system, then you could get a certification in that OS.

I feel that you need to decide just what kind of IT security you want to do, then you can tailor the cert experience from there. If you want to just work with firewalls, then get a Checkpoint certification. If switch/router security is interensting, then go for Cisco CCNA/CCNP certification.

by joseph moore

Just go for what interest you in the realm of IT security. But, I do not think you can just go for ALL IT security. It is too big now, to complex, with too many different aspects. CISSP and TISCA are general security certs, yes, but (IMO) they covery a broad range of security guidelines, without covering specifics. You then study those specifics and certify in them in addition to the security cert.

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