Nov 29th

The New CompTIA A+ Core Series

CompTIA A+ is the foundation of your IT career
CompTIA A+ is the preferred qualifying credential for technical support and IT operational roles. It is about much more than PC repair.

• Candidates are better prepared to troubleshoot and problem solve.
• Technicians understand a wide variety of issues ranging from networking and operating systems to mobile devices and security.
• A+ supports the ability to connect users to the data they need to do their jobs regardless of the devices being used.

Coming in January 2019 – The New CompTIA A+ Core Series
CompTIA A+ Exam Codes 220-1001 & 220-1002 (Core 1 & Core 2) will be available January 15, 2019. The new CompTIA A+ Core Series covers expanded content on these growing parts of the IT support role including an expansion of baseline security topics and a different approach in defining competency in operational procedures.

Why is it different?
CompTIA A+ is the only industry-recognized credential with performance-based items to prove pros can think on their feet to perform critical IT support tasks in the moment. It is trusted by employers around the world to identify the go-to person in endpoint management & technical support roles. CompTIA A+ is regularly re-invented by IT experts to ensure that it validates core skills and abilities demanded in the workplace.

About the exam
CompTIA A+ is the preferred performance-based qualifying credential for technical support and IT operational roles. A+ certified professionals identify issues and problem solve more effectively than those without certification. CompTIA A+ supports the ability to connect users to the data they need to do their jobs regardless of the devices being used. In order to receive the CompTIA A+ certification, candidates must pass two exams: Core 1 (220-1001) and Core 2 (220-1002). Successful candidates will have the skills to:

• Support basic IT infrastructure, including endpoint management, advanced device connectivity troubleshooting, and basic networking
• Configure and support PC, mobile and IoT device hardware, including components, connectors, and peripherals
• Implement basic data backup and recovery methods and apply data storage and management best practices
• Demonstrate baseline security skills for IT support professionals, including detecting and removing malware, addressing privacy concerns, physical security and device hardening
• Configure device operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, Android, and iOS and administer client-based as well as cloud-based (SaaS) software
• Troubleshoot and problem solve core service and support challenges while applying best practices for documentation, change management, and the use of scripting in IT support

What’s in this Version?
The new CompTIA A+ Core Series includes expanded content on these growing parts
of the IT support role:

A general expansion of baseline security topics core to the IT support role, including

• Physical versus logical security concepts and measures
• Social engineering
• Malware detection and removal
• Device hardening for not just PCs but devices in general

A dramatically different approach in defining competency in operational procedures

• Importance of documentation and using best practices
• Change management
• Basic disaster prevention and recovery
• Privacy concerns, including GDPR and handling PII
• Scripting basics
• Use of remote access

Networking and device connectivity are broadened

• Cloud and virtualization are now weighed more heavily
• Managing networking and device connectivity includes IoT devices
  and related protocols
• Includes the concept of Internet appliances and endpoint management servers
• Added wireless mesh networks to network types

Learn with Babbage Simmel

A+1001: CompTIA A+ Certification Exam: Core 1 (220-1001)
Gain the knowledge to assemble personal computer (PC) components to customer requirements and install, configure and maintain PCs, mobile devices and end-user software in this 5-day CompTIA A+ (220-1001) certification training course. Students will acquire a solid understanding of the basic networking and current security requirements such as diagnosis, resolution, and documentation of common hardware issues, troubleshooting and customer support. Students will also explore virtualization concepts, hardware, and network troubleshooting, understand desktop imagining procedures and software deployment throughout this in-depth course.

A+1002: CompTIA A+ Certification Exam: Core 2 (220-1002)
Acquire the essential skills needed to install, configure, optimize, troubleshoot, upgrade, secure, and perform preventive maintenance on PC and digital device operating systems (OS). In this 5-day CompTIA A+ Core 2 (220-1002) certification training course, students will explore various operating systems including Windows, MAC, and Linux. Throughout the course, students will work with Microsoft command line tools and control panels with the desktop environment and learn basic scripting. Students will also explore security and troubleshooting objectives for desktop, mobile and wireless systems as well as operational procedures.

Click HERE to learn more about CompTIA Training Opportunities at Babbage Simmel or call (614) 481-6555.

Nov 8th

Developing Websites Using IBM Web Content Manager 8.5 Attendee Evaluation

Aug 29th

Cybersecurity: Increasing Regulation

A final aspect of the cybersecurity landscape that is worthy of attention isn’t strictly technology related but instead relates to regulation and legislation. For many years the information technology industry was left to its own devices when it came to how much energy they put into protecting information systems infrastructure. Unfortunately, the industry hasn’t been successful enough in containing such breaches. The public and eventually politicians have noticed that breaches continue to occur even as all of us move more of our lives and sensitive information online.

This has led to an increasing number of jurisdictions to introduce legislation and regulation mandating the security controls that should be present over certain types of data hosted in organizational information systems. The cybersecurity landscape has changed in that IT security staff need today not only to be conversant with the security controls available for the technologies they are responsible for managing, but also with the rules and regulations that apply to the organization’s information systems and responsibilities that must be upheld in the event that an intruder successfully breaches the organization’s systems.

Click HERE to learn more about Cybersecurity Training & Development Opportunities at Babbage Simmel or call (614) 481-6555.

Aug 22nd

Cybersecurity: Transition to the Cloud

The cybersecurity landscape has been substantially altered by organizations moving on-premise workloads to the cloud. Important to note though is that moving infrastructure, applications, and data to the cloud doesn’t mean that the responsibility for information security shifts from organizational personnel to the cloud provider.

As has been amply demonstrated by developers leaving cloud storage containers globally accessible, the security of a deployment in the cloud is as only as good as it is configured by the cloud tenant to be. Just as with on-premise information system security, the settings to secure workloads are present, but they must actually be configured by the information technology professionals responsible for those workloads.

For example, a cloud storage container used by a major US newspaper to host website code allowed read access to anyone in the world. Attackers used this access to inject coin mining code into the web pages delivered by the newspaper to its readers. Each time a reader visited the newspaper website, some cycles of their computer’s CPU worked on generating cryptocurrency for the attackers who had modified the contents of the cloud storage container.

Click HERE to learn more about Cybersecurity Training & Development Opportunities at Babbage Simmel or call (614) 481-6555.

Aug 20th

Cybersecurity: IoT

Another big change in the cybersecurity landscape over the past decade has been the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is the network of physical objects, devices, televisions, refrigerators, home climate systems, cars, and other items, that are increasingly embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. While consumer operating systems, such as Windows 10, OS X, iOS, and Android have increased security features with every release and update, the operating systems of Internet of Things devices rarely receive long-term security update support from their vendors.

The IoT presents an ongoing challenge on the cybersecurity landscape in that these devices are likely to remain insecure. This is because even when vendors do provide updates unless those updates are installed automatically, few owners of these devices will bother to apply those updates. While people will apply software updates to their computers and phones when reminded, most are less diligent when it comes to applying software updates to their refrigerator, washing machine, or television.

How does this impact the cybersecurity landscape? Botnets, comprised of IoT devices have already been used to perform distributed denial of service attacks. While the processing capability of IoT devices is much less significant than that of desktop computers or servers, it’s likely only a matter of time before an enterprising attacker works out how to get rich using a botnet of refrigerators to mine cryptocurrency.

Click HERE to learn more about Cybersecurity Training & Development Opportunities at Babbage Simmel or call (614) 481-6555.