As 3xban said implement PKI and kerberos as well as that is common in enterprise networks. Also there is DHCP, the System Center set of products like config manager forefront endpoint protection, WSUS, WDS, RRAS, Terminal Services, Branche Cache, there is a ton more services and features to add that would be useful but thats just a start.

Have you looked into any of the Syngress books? They are coming out with new books just about every month some of which may be what you are looking for.

If you don't get the info you are looking for here then check out this: http://www.techexams.net/forums/isc-sscp-cissp/

I know its another forum but you can find good info there for the SSCP.

Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/BackTrack-Assuring-Security-Penetration-Testing/dp/1849513945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305651497&sr=8-1

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20336-internet-probe-can-track-you-down-to-within-690-metres.html

This article is a good read showing that if their theory works they can track it closer. Still you are in the same predicament as before even if you can trace that close nonetheless still interesting.

I believe it is possible to track an ip back to a hacker/script kiddie but like sil mentioned it would be because they did not spoof their ip from the get go, or because the counter attcker is only tracing the ip back to where the attack looks like it originated from, and is of the belief that this is the hackers source ip.

Enjoyed the writeup. Makes complete sense as well unless you believe in hollywood type hacking.

In my opinion from taking all the certs you are wanting to take there is no need for videos or cbt in my opinion. I was much like you where I worked on pc's from a young age and taught myself everything I know. The CompTIA tests can be done with a single pc or 2 without issue. Lab what you can but for the most part it is more memorizing then anything. Once you get to the higher end certs then labbing will really come into play. As for the Security+ cert there is a really great book that I would recommend. I used this pretty much for studying and got an 850: http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Certified-Ahead-SY0-201/dp/1439236364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302814343&sr=8-1

Good luck with your studies.

You can try this for av/firewall: http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html

As for the computers themselves I would use secpol.msc and gpedit.msc to lock down the services on the computer. If there are no rules you can pretty much shut everything usable down with those. If you dont know what those are type them in a run bar and hit enter and go through each one.

As for attacking... If you have physical access to them during the contest then this would be a 3 minute win on your part by booting any sam cracking tool. You can even use Microsoft Dart to reset admin passwords.

If no physical access to it then like others have said bring a laptop with backtrack on it. Or bring a backtrack live dvd and boot from it then attack from there.

If possible check the bios for boot password setups. If there is one and physical access is allowed tot he computers this will atleast require them to know the boot password to boot to a live cd or usb stick. Also set the boot order to only allow the local drive and nothing else.

If you want to get crazy you can always encrypt the entire drive with truecrypt as well. If I remember correctly you need to know the password to even boot up the drive which means unless they know the password for the drive then they cant crack the password too any accounts.

I know there are ways around some of these recommendations but they dont sound to bright from what you have said so they should work.

Hope that helps.

Why don't you just back up your data and re-install windows? If you do you need to scan the backed up data for possible malware as well. If your that worried about it that is probably the only way to get rid of a possible infection to the OS.

Because he is legit. Haven't you seen his youtube videos!

Well as far as degrees go I dont know what is available in your area. I think Security is  great field to go into and It is where my passion is but if its not what drives you to want to learn everything you can then you need to find out what does. If servers is what does it for you then s system administrator would be a good field. If networking is what does it for you then network administrator would be a good place to go. If both do it for you then security is a good road to go down. If you want a technical degree look for schools that offer b.s. in information technology. That will be lots of hands on. If you are willing to do an online school then check out http://www.wgu.edu/online_it_degrees/bachelor_degree_programs they have a great b.s. program.

Computer science would deal with programming. One thing about security is that you will be doing lots of sitting looking at logs (depending on what part you get into). Also Knowledge of programming languages is helpful in security as well. Security is a hard road to travel and get into. I don't want deter you from going that route but be prepared to spend time working you way up the later before you do security related tasks. You gotta know the system/network before you can secure it.

Like it was posted earlier info sys would be more of a business side of things mixed with small amounts of technical.

Nice find watching them now.

I am guessing that cyber warfare means government jobs?
No. You can be hired without prior military experience. It helps if you have it but doesn't mean you won't get it either. Security clearance is another helpful thing in getting a job with the government. If you got that then they are more likely to hire you because it cuts down on expenses and time to do background checks.