Take a look at the NSA list previously mentioned. Nova Southeaster is based out of FL. They're main campus is in Orlando I believe, but they better known for their online offerings.

Carnegie Melon is probably one of the premier schools in the country for IA. Its located in Pittsburg, PA. Johns Hopkins is also one of the premier schools in the D.C./Baltimore, MD area.

Others that are well known and highly regarded:

Stevens Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
Polytechnic University
Syracuse University
Georgetown University
Pennsylvania State University
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of South Carolina

This is not an endorsement of these Universities alone. There are many, many fine Universities not on the above list. These are just the ones that stick out in my mind when I skimmed through the NSA list. Also, there are a lot of great Universities on the NSA list that are not on the East Coast. You can't really go wrong with any of NSA Centers of Excellence.

One thread that has a lot of good options:

http://www.ethicalhacker.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,54/topic,5476.0/

Are there any that you've specifically been looking at?

Splunk is great!

I use Splunk daily. It is very intuitive once you get it installed and running. I am still running version 3 b/c you don't get alerts with the free version of 4.*, so what I am about to say may not be the case with the most up to date version, but it can be a little slow depending on your configuration. I have Splunk reading roughly 1200-2000 files worth of syslog data, and it takes anywhere from 5 mintues to 20 minutes for an event to show up in the interface. So, its not "real-time" and it doesn't do correlation like ArcSight, but its a great option if you don't have the money that ArcSight costs...

My employer offered a class through a local Junior College for the Network+ class. I had begun studying for my CCNA when I left that employer for a position as a Unix/Linux System Administrator.

.net and .com are not the exact domain name.

"something.com" is not the same as "something.net." They can resolve to the same IP address, but they can also resolve to different IP's. If you have registered both the .net and .com domains, then you have legal standing. If not, the best thing you could do is alert the ISP that is hosting the offending website to the situation. They do not HAVE to do anything about it, but they are the only people that CAN do anything about it legally.

Having done the Net+ and the Sec+ I will say that the Net+ will not help you that much in your Sec+. They are not related and there is little to no overlap.

If you have a networking background, you would likely have little difficulty passing the Net+ exam. It really isn't that difficult. However, since a lot of the Net+ is outdated material, you might do better going after a CCNA/CCENT certification. These carry more weight with potential employers from my experience.

If you are trying to meet the year end deadline so you don't have to recertify, I'd definitely go for the Sec+ first, then either the Linux+ or Net+ - whichever you decide on. You might have trouble getting all three done in the next 3 months. Two is definitely doable, though.

Good luck!

Have you thought of doing Security+ and Linux+?

I know you say you're going for your MCSA/MCSE, but why pigeonhole yourself into just Microsoft system administration? I don't know anything about Microsoft certification electives and whether or not Linux+ counts toward anything. But, I would encourage you to learn Linux as well as MS as a system administrator.

I'll tell you what. I've got some printed material that I think would do just the trick for you...

All I need is a physical address where I can send it (no P.O. Boxes, please).

If I were you, I'd hold off and see what your college offers...

Some Universities/Colleges have some really great and active LUG's (Linux User Groups). Or a lot of times you can join professional associations like AITP for next to nothing. In most cases, you don't even have to join to attend the meetings and discussions. You won't get access to some of the resources that members have, but you will get to network. While these are not always security related, they are pretty close to what you are talking about.

If your school doesn't have anything like this, by all means, start one up....

@chrisj


None of the GIAC certs are requirement for another with the exception of the GSE. You must have certain pre-reqs complete before you can sit for the GSE. They've recently revised the requirements. It used to be GSEC/GCIH/GCIA with at least two gold.You can find information about the current pre-reqs at:

http://www.giac.org/certifications/gse.php#prereq

But any other GIAC certification can be taken at any time with or without any other certifications.

Congratulations!

The Security+ isn't the most difficult exam, but if you do well on it, it only proves that you can do well on any other certification exam!

Oh....but a quick whois lookup gives you a name and email as well as another domain...

I was gonna contact Jeff Bryner, but I'd rather hear from users than the owner....I'm sure he thinks highly of p0wnlabs.com.

I was curious if anyone has used p0wnlabs.com. What is the level of difficulty? Was the service worth the money? From the free exercises posted on the website, it seems REALLY easy, but that might just be the free ones.

Thanks for any opinions...

....or, for your sake, hopefully you fall into the situation I found myself this past February/March.

I phone interviewed for a job over 800 miles away. The interview lasted about 30-45 minutes and seemed to go well. I never know if I hit it out of the park 'cause you know self doubt.....

Anyway, three days later, I get a call from the HR contact telling me the offer would be in the mail the next day...

Good luck! These things always work out for the best in the end.....call it synchronicity....

I've never heard of t2, but this showed up in a mailing list I'm on and it seemed interesting. Unfortunately, there's no way I'd be able to go to Finland (although I would love to do so)...

I know there are a number of you guys from Europe in the community and thought you might be interested...

http://t2.fi/challenge/