Administering System Center Configuration Manager

This course is for experienced information technology (IT) professionals, typically described as Enterprise Desktop Administrators (EDAs). Students will learn day-to-day management tasks, including how to manage applications, client health, hardware and software inventory, operating system deployment, and software updates by using Configuration Manager. Learn more here.
20740 Installation, Storage, and Compute with Windows Server 2016

This five-day course is designed primarily for IT professionals who have some experience with Windows Server. It is designed for professionals who will be responsible for managing storage and compute by using Windows Server 2016, and who need to understand the scenarios, requirements, and storage and compute options that are available and applicable to Windows Server 2016. Learn more here.
20778 Analyzing Data with Power BI

The main purpose of the course is to give students a good understanding of data analysis with Power BI. The course includes creating visualizations, the Power BI Service, and the Power BI Mobile App. The course will likely be attended by SQL Server report creators who are interested in alternative methods of presenting data. Learn more here.


Software troubleshooting

To measure your comprehension of the software and operating systems you’re likely to work closely with, the CompTIA A+ 1002 exam will provide common scenarios that you’ll troubleshoot such as slow computer performance, short battery life on a tablet, or printing issues.

Operational procedures

IT technicians will inevitably face tasks that require documentation. This is necessary for inventory management, tracking regulations and compliance, and toxic waste handling, among many other best practices that may affect an IT department.
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The Future of Cybersecurity

The old-school mindset – that the IT department exerts control and dispenses access on an as-needed basis – is still around, and it makes sense that it endures. For someone, like me, who has been in the industry for quite some time, it's completely reasonable to have concerns about doing what feels like throwing the doors open and letting people do whatever they want, no matter what disaster they might be setting the company up for.

Technology, after all, is moving fast. Perhaps ironically, cybersecurity threats are even more dangerous, and far more numerous, than back when it was IT’s prerogative to lock down everything.

But the truth is that in today’s enterprise computing environment, trying to exert undue control over things like access in the name of security – no matter how well-intentioned – can sometimes work at cross purposes with establishing that security.

Forcing employees to go in and out through VPNs with multiple logins only encourages them to find creative ways to circumvent the protocol; ways that can open up vulnerabilities IT isn't aware of.

Old-fashioned, protracted device checkout policies turn into practical impossibilities that everyone ends up ignoring.

While this paradigm shift makes it sound like we're living in a whole different technological world than we were 20 years ago, some things are strikingly similar to how they were in the formative days of enterprise computing.

Companies still struggle with understanding the following issues that appear profoundly simple:
How many assets do they have?
Where do they reside?
Which applications are being used?
Who is using them?

Patching endpoints remains the problem child of IT. This is made ever more onerous by the heterogeneity of environments and is exacerbated by cloud and mobile computing.

These are problems that, for all our advancements in capability, we should have tackled by now. Instead we have been piling on new complexities without first addressing these foundational issues – which continue to compromise our networks and render ever-more sensitive and critical data insecure.
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Pass CompTIA FC0-U51 Exam With uCertify Cert Guide

Kick start your career with an impressive IT certification. Our online courses will guide you for exam preparation with its online material. Gain hands-on expertise in CompTIA IT Fundamentals certification exam with FC0-U51 CompTIA IT Fundamental course and performance-based labs. Performance-based labs simulate real-world, hardware, software & command line interface environments and can be mapped to any text-book, course & training. The cert guide covers all the objectives of the FC0-U51 exam and provides expertise and technical knowledge required to identify and explain computer components, set up a basic workstation; conduct basic software installation; establish network connectivity and prevent security risks. Performance-based labs are versatile and easy to learn that offers hands-on learning with the real-world scenarios. The study guide contains live-labs as an add-on component. Live-lab is a real computer equipment, networked together and conveniently accessible over the Internet using virtualization. You can take them to enhance your learning experience.

Following are the topics covered in the study guide:
Security Treats
Mobile Devices
Operating Systems
Software Applications
Security Best Practices
Configuring Workstations
Peripherals and Connectors
Core Hardware Components
Network Sharing and Storage
Computer Support and Backup
Environmental and Safety Concepts
Network Technologies and Wireless Routers

The course offers following learning resources:
14+ Lessons
72+ Quizzes
20+ Live-labs
240+ Exercises
523+ Flashcards
2+ Full-length Tests
45+ Pre-assessments
50+ post Assessments
80+ Performance-based Labs

About The Exam

CompTIA IT Fundamentals certification is designed to ensure the knowledge and proficiency to set up a basic workstation, identify and explain basic computer components, identify compatibility issues, conduct basic software installation, establish basic network connectivity, and identify/prevent basic security risks. CompTIA IT Fundamentals objectives are:
Security
Software installation and functions
Green IT and preventive maintenance
Compatibility issues and common errors
Technology and computer hardware basics
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Why get A+ certified

The IT industry is built on certifications. I’ve been in the industry for over 25 years and am still getting certifications. They serve as a reference point for your overall experience level. If the world of IT is built on certifications, the CompTIA A+ should be the first certification pursued in an IT career. In fact, the A+ certification is named among CIO.com’s top 10 certifications to kickstart an IT career.

For individual IT professionals, a certification like the A+ will get you in the door to a company. Certification names are often used as the keywords recruiters and hiring software screen for in open roles. Even when candidates are hired without an A+ certification on their resume, I often see employers insist the new employee take the CompTIA A+ exam within the first 6 months on the job since it’s such a well-known part of an IT specialist’s toolkit.


For IT managers, ensuring your team receives industry-standard certifications validates the team’s knowledge of essential skills required for most IT tasks within the company or with any IT work that may affect customers and clients.

Finally, there are quite a bit of new topics covered in the A+ Core Series exams, so be sure to take the time to study and adequately prepare yourself before sitting for the exam. As topics like cybersecurity, networking, and the internet of things become ubiquitous across organizations of all sizes, it’s important for IT pros to keep their professional skills razor-sharp with the concepts and best practices outlined in certifications like the CompTIA A+. Future-proof your career and team by keeping your certifications current.

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Timeline of cybersecurity certification history

Today – International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council), now the world’s largest cybersecurity technical certification body, works in 145 countries. They own certificates like Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (C|HFI), EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA), Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO), and more. The EC-Council has trained and certified more than 200,000 people.
1967 – ISACA, previously known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, was founded.
1982 – Association of Better Computer Dealers (ABCD) was founded as a membership organization.
1989 – International Information Security Certification Consortium or (ISC)² was formed with the purpose of standardizing infosec certifications.
1990 – ABCD changes its name to Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).
1992 – CompTIA introduces vendor-neutral IT certifications.
1994 – (ISC)² launches its most popular certification, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
2002 – 10,000th person receives CISSP certification.
2002 – EC Council founded.
As an entry-level examination, the CompTIA Security+ certification is an approachable one for the beginning cybersecurity professional. The CompTIA organization recommends that candidates have a CompTIA Network+ certification and two years of experience in IT security, but don’t be intimidated if you’re not there yet. A number of individuals with minimal prior IT knowledge have passed the examination, given the completion of such thorough preparation courses as the Alpine Security’s Security+ bootcamp.
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Data Drives Changes for Computer Networking

In a business environment dominated by discussions on emerging technology, it can be easy to forget that IT systems have many different components. It can also be easy to forget that the components outside of the spotlight are actually the ones that support the shiny new solutions. Infrastructure such as servers, cybersecurity and first-line IT support continue to be critical areas for any business trying to accelerate their technology strategy.
Colleen Payne

President, Universal Adaptive Consulting Services, Henrico, Va.

I had several professionals that gave me advice along my Journey to becoming an owner of UACS a full-service information technology service provider. We currently mentor high school, college students as well as provide internships for the students. Moreover, we patriciate in mock interviews and resume preparation for our students as well. In addition to the Internships, we donate $1,000 a year for the students for their college education.

Giving back to our youth is apart what we are about here at UACS. We are very passionate about the success of our youth and all we ask of the students is to pay it forward. I found the mentoring was beneficial. I had mentors from the financal accounting end to the technology side. These mentors made a difference in my knowledge base as well had an open door policy for questions to be asked.

Among all the foundational IT topics, computer networking may be the most important one for companies to get right as they go through digital transformation. Although the area of computer networking is very broad with many subcategories, Grand View Research projects that global spending on enterprise network solutions will hit nearly $65 billion by 2024.

The connection between networking and emerging tech trends is the corporate data that fuels innovation, and CompTIA research from the past, present and future drives this point home.
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several CompTIA certifications

CompTIA International offers several CompTIA certifications in various practices to professionals in Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand. Some of the certifications available throughout the world from CompTIA include:
A+ - The foundations of a solid IT career begin with CompTIA’s A+ certification, which recognizes individuals with the basic IT competencies needed for success and advancement in the world of corporate technology. CompTIA A+ is available internationally.
Security+ - Leading firms look to Security+ certified individuals to ensure the safety and security of mission critical data and systems throughout the world. Security+ certification is available for most markets, including Australia, Europe, and beyond. The CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification – the top level of IT security certification – is available in the UK, India, Thailand, and Europe.
Server+ - Servers are the backbone of any international business, used to administrate data and applications to users at every corner of the world. CompTIA offers Server+ certification in Europe for professionals looking to establish themselves as experts in server deployment, configuration and maintenance.
For Mac OS X, there is unfortunately not a good way to get a virtual copy of it, as most virtualization applications don’t support it, and Apple doesn’t permit it to be installed on non-Apple hardware. You may have to rely on a friend with a Mac desktop or laptop, or pick up a used, older Mac. You don’t need a fancy one for study purposes. You can also possibly skate by with just studying the names of the Mac utilities and commands listed in the exam objectives, and omit the hands-on Mac practice. Taking a prep certification course is a great way to assess if you have all the equipment you need and to get in the right kind of practice before taking the certification exam.
More Info: comptia a+ requirements

CompTIA Project+

The previous certifications we’ve focused on are best suited for the pure IT professional. The CompTIA Project+ certification, however, is relevant to business professionals both inside and outside of the IT world. This certification program is versatile and covers essential project management concepts, helping professionals efficiently and effectively manage small- to medium-sized projects.


Skills you’ll master and validate:
Project basics.
Project constraints.
Communication and change management.
Project tools and documentation.

This certification can provide business analysts and managers of all kinds a greater degree of credibility, no matter which industries they’re in.

For 25 years, CompTIA -- the Computing Technology Industry Association – has offered vendor-neutral certifications for IT professionals across all industries and experience levels. The certifications have helped thousands of people in the IT field attain new skills and professional growth.

Cuyahoga Community College provides a pathway to CompTIA certification for those in the IT field, with courses available both online and in person.


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CompTIA Security+: Securing Organizations

Over the years, security attacks have evolved. Currently, 80% of organizations use the Internet as an essential part of their business operations, and half of them experience a significant loss of assets due to Internet-related incidents.

International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research and analysis firm, reports that security spending has increased significantly in the last few years – from $5.1 billion to $14.2 billion.
There are three factors that are fueling the drive for businesses to make security an executive priority:
The business transformation to e-business
HIPAA legislation
A need to protect the business infrastructure from increasing threats

Project management is indispensable to IT operations. Even if you’re tech-focused, it can be a very valuable skill to acquire. And because it involves planning, scheduling, budgeting and execution, certification can be a key steppingstone to managerial positions.
Certified associate in project management (CAPM): Offered by the highly respected Project Management Institute (PMI), the CAPM is an ideal entry-level management credential.
Project management professional: Also offered by PMI, the PMP credential is among the most prestigious in the profession. A number of subspecialty certifications are also available.
Certified Scrum master: The entry-level CSM certification is offered by the Scrum Alliance. It is an excellent way to show your knowledge of Scrum and Agile management practices.
Security Challenges for Organizations

The main challenge for organizations is to allow access while still maintaining strict protection of their valuable assets. Thus, security professionals are always in demand. If this line of work interests you, a security certification is just the thing to enhance your career and make you more valuable to your employer and business.

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Career options Network+

The CompTIA Network+ exam last 90 minutes and features a maximum of 90 questions. These questions are a mix of multiple choice, drag and drops, and performance-based question. The test is rigorous, so it is highly recommended you undertake training before attempting the test.

CCI Training Center can train you for any of the CompTIA certifications. All of our instructors encourage and prepare our students beyond the certifications for the IT field. They can guide you along your career path, helping you determine which certifications you should obtain for your choice of profession.

Network technicians
Network administrators
Training and teaching
Web service specialists
Network systems developers
Networking forensics specialists
Systems analysts
What's involved?

Along with helpful instructors, CCI Training Center has flexible class schedules, most training sessions only happening 1-2 days a week. This cuts down on your worry over transportation, or nights off work or away from your children.

We know that many high school graduates, single mothers, and those in their 20's and 30's who are looking to make a change in their living situation, have limited time to take off work. Our classes are efficient and will help to prepare you for your certifications without making the work a hardship on your current situation.

The growing IT Industry can be a game changer for your life. If you are looking for different kinds of schedule so that you have more regular family times at home, want a higher paying job with many opportunities to advance, this could be the best career move you have ever made.
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Passing the A+ Exams

First of all, I already had a lot of experience. I earned my 800 series A+ previously and only 25% of the content was new. Also, I use several versions of Linux regularly and was already comfortable with both normal and administrative tasks.

Furthermore, I use Windows 7 as a “daily driver” on my desktop and always play around in virtual machines with Linux, Windows 8, and other operating systems.

What about for people with little to no experience? With serious dedication, you can do the same. I did the vast majority of my studying over three days. I had work, three classes, homework for those classes, still had to make time for my social life, and time for myself to avoid burn out. If you have the ability to devote an entire week to studying, you can pass both exams in six days.

These aren’t difficult exams by any means. I started using a technique where I study for 25 minutes, break for 5, and repeat. After 3 or 4 cycles, I take a 15-30 minute break from the material and do something else. This really helps combat fatigue when you’re trying to absorb a lot of info.

One of my dreaded study topics was always the Windows Upgrade Paths. This time around I spotted a pattern! If you want to upgrade to a higher version of Windows, transfer to an equal or higher version if you are doing an in place upgrade. In simpler terms, Windows 7 Home premium has to go to Windows 8 core and up. While Windows 7 pro has to go to Windows 8 pro and up.

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What happens if you get DDoS attacked?

DDoS attacks cost small businesses who’ve suffered a hit an average of $52,000, according to cybersecurity and anti-virus provider Kaspersky Labs. However, given the range of diversity involved in manufacturing, with various processes and levels of automation, a cybersecurity attack may have the potential to be even more costly.

Indications that your manufacturing operation may be experiencing a DDoS attack include:
Lots of spam
A large number of customer inquiries from abnormal channels
Very slow page-load times
Transaction failures
Complete disruption of internet service

Small scale hackers who don’t have access to botnets, have to rely on their own computers. This means using specialized tools, that can direct Internet traffic to a certain target.

Of course, the amount of traffic an individual computer can send is small, but crowdsource a few hundreds or thousands of users, and things suddenly grow in scope.

This particular tactic has been successfully employed by Anonymous. In short, they send a call to their followers, asking them to download a particular tool, and be active on messaging boards, such as IRC, at a particular time. They then simultaneously attack the target website or service, bringing it down.

A DDoS attack can affect manufacturers in several ways. First, it can restrict access to your site, forcing customers to turn to your competitors. Second, a DDoS attack can make it difficult for you to access business tools that you need to do your job, such as email or RFx hosting. Finally, a successful DDoS attack can compromise your IoT devices.

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DDoS Attacks Today

Just like everything else in computing, DDoS attacks are evolving and becoming more destructive to business. Attack sizes are increasing, growing from 150 requests per second in the 1990s – which would bring a server of that era down – to the recent DYNDNS attack and GitHub attack at 1.2 TBs and 1.35 TBs respectively. The goal in both of these attacks was to disrupt two major sources of productivity across the globe.

These attacks used new techniques to achieve their huge bandwidth numbers. The Dyn attack used an exploit found in Internet of Things (IoT) devices to create a botnet, called the Mirai Botnet attack. Mirai used open telnet ports and default passwords to take over WiFi-enabled cameras to execute the attack. This attack was a childish prank but presented a major vulnerability that comes with the proliferation of the IoT devices.

This method is a bit more hands-on than other approaches for WordPress DDoS protection. It involves monitoring which IP addresses are trying to access your website, and blacklisting those that show suspicious activity, such as:
Repeated login attempts
An unreasonably high number of visits
IP clusters flooding your website with traffic

The GitHub attack exploited the many thousands of servers running Memcached on the open internet, an open-source memory caching system. Memcached happily responds with huge amounts of data to simple requests, so leaving these servers on the open internet is a definite no-no
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Signs of an Impending DDoS Attack

If you do not already have network and server monitoring tools in place, install them. Familiarize yourself with your typical inbound traffic. If, for example, you typically receive 2000 visitors on Tuesday afternoon, it may be cause for concern if you suddenly see ten thousand pings on your website.

Pay close attention to your server’s performance, as well. If you notice routine tasks are taking an unusually long time or certain resources are unavailable, contact your host. While there is a chance it may simply be a service outage, there is also a possibility that you are under attack.

If resources are already geographically dispersed, it is important to view each data center as having more than one pipe to Internet, and ensure that not all data centers are connected to the same Internet provider.

Overall, priorities for architecture should be geographic diversity, provider diversity, and elimination of bottlenecks. While these are best practices for general business continuity and disaster recovery, they will help ensure organizational resiliency in response to a DDoS attack.

Hardware. Deploy appropriate hardware that can handle known attack types and use the options that are in the hardware that would protect network resources. Again, while bolstering resources will not prevent a DDoS attack from happening, doing so will lessen the impact of an attack.

Finally, keep a close watch on any email accounts that are linked to your server, and the comments sections of any websites hosted on that server. A dramatic increase in spambot activity could indicate that it is time to shore up your defenses.

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TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR WEBSITE FROM DDOS ATTACKS

A DDoS attack can be a very troublesome experience for anyone running any kind of website. Hackers and their tools are becoming more and more sophisticated and these attacks are becoming harder to stop. If your website is successfully targeted by a DDoS attack and you don’t have any adequate protection, your website will go offline and you’ll have to bring it back manually.

This can cause a number of problems and cost you money, and it’s best to prevent them before they happen. Today I want to talk about a few ideas on how to do just that, so if that’s something you’re interested in, just read on!

The digital attack map is a joined initiative from Google and Arbor Networks, that provides routers allowing to mitigate applicative Dos and DDos attacks. It permits to visualize in “real time” the principal DDoS attacks in the world, at a given moment. It is interesting to see how much of a standard these attacks became.

It is also possible (and more and more fashionable) to try and saturate equipment such as firewalls, switchs, routers, reverse proxies, load balancers. It is possible, for example, to exceed their treatement capacity by sending them too many packets for example. If the limit of an equipment is 1 Gb/s, it also stands in the number of packets that this equipment can treat per second (and this fact is less known).

If a DDoS sends 200 KPPs (Kilo Packet Per Second) and that the treatement limit is 100 KPPs, the equipment is saturated, even if thoses 200 KPPs represent only 50 Mb/s of bandwidth for a 1Gb/s limit. Thus, this method consists in sending a huge amount of small paquets.
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Understanding DDoS Attacks

While the volume of DDoS attacks has wavered over time, they are still a significant threat. Kaspersky Labs reports that the number of DDoS attacks for Q2 2019 increased by 32% over Q3 2018, primarily due to a spike in attacks in September.

Recently discovered botnets like Torii and DemonBot capable of launching DDoS attacks are a concern, according to Kaspersky. Torii is capable of taking over a range of IoT devices and is considered more persistent and dangerous than Mirai. DemonBot hijacks Hadoop clusters, which gives it access to more computing power.

UDP flood. This volumetric and protocol attack attempts to abuse the normal behavior of UDP, a “connectionless” protocol that has no handshake mechanism like TCP’s, described above. As such, it does not create a session and cannot verify the sender’s IP address. The attacker sends a huge number of UDP packets with spoofed (forged) IP addresses to numerous ports on the victim’s server. The server, trying (and failing) to find applications associated with the requested ports, is soon overwhelmed, at which point it can no longer respond to any requests, including legitimate ones. One advantage of this attack is that UDP makes it easy for attackers to hide their identity by spoofing the source IP address.

Another alarming trend is the availability of new DDoS launch platforms like 0x-booter. This DDos-as-a-service leverages about 16,000 IoT devices infected with the Bushido malware, a Mirai variant.

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