Thanks everyone!  Definitely going to have to work my butt off, but the knowledge will be worth it in the end.  I fully expect it to crush me in the beginning, but nail it in the end!

Got my tax refund and have ordered the course, start on March 16th!

Got the email today, going to be a great class!

Anyone sign up for this?  I did and haven't received an email in regards to how to access the webinar on Saturday.

http://www.amazon.com/Wireshark-Network-Analysis-Official-Certified/dp/1893939995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339618752&sr=8-1&keywords=wireshark

Don't forget this...

Perhaps not CNN, but almost every other article I've seen in regards to this has said "Al Qaeda Hides Documents in Porn".

I love how the news is making such a big deal about this.  Did they not think these methods are available to anyone who could use Google?  Are they some how surprised they hid them in some pron?  Amazes me sometimes the way they try to blow these things up, you are dealing with a sophisticated group with clear cut goals.

Seems to me that with no security experience, but IT experience (and couple with a degree and coursework I've completed) I've always been offered pay in the $50k area.  This has been in two different parts of the country, so I tend to think that for the entry-levelish computer security position $50k is about the norm.

I signed up for the course.  The cert is a nice bonus, but yeah the skills/knowledge is my aim.

Well, you're making the assumption that a company would have an IDS/IPS without a regulation stating they have too.  I've worked with many companies who had no regulations of that sort and still had an IDS/IPS in place.  My guess is, depending on how many systems they had in place, they'd notice some speed issues on their network.  Also, perhaps notice a slowdown on the machine as they use it or seeing it doing things that would not be normal.

My thoughts exactly dynamik....

Great review, just purchased the book on my Kindle!

I got this cert when they were on v5 and believe me no magical doors opened by having it.  I think most employers said "oh that's nice" or cared more about my education then the cert itself.  I could see paying the above price if the material was better written.  It seems to me that you do stand to gain more by going to the training instead of self studying.  Most of the reviews I read when people took the course made it seem a lot less like l33t t00lz tutorial and more of a comprehensive review of an actual pen test.

All that being said, for another $200 you could get OCSP and be better off in the long run.  I'll probably take CHFI just to renew the CEH and please the HR people....

I had a customer put in a ticket in regards to getting a duplicate IP notification when he came in one morning (he sends the ticket in at 9:00 pm that night).  He wanted us to track it down, so I went into the logs of the server he specified and it listed the mac address of the computer.  Took the Mac and went to the DHCP server, found out it was his laptop (the name of the laptop was his first initial lastname).  So that is always an option depending on how you name your PCs...

I didn't get to complete it just yet as I reviewed TMSB and am finishing my CCNA.  That being said, I read through the first 7 chapters and while a little basic, I think ultimately you will jump into some advanced topics.  Overall, I'd say it is a great introduction to Python and you could probably knock it out in a weekend.  Would make a great birthday gift!  Gotta crawl before you walk...