According to the 9th Annual Cost of Cybercrime Study, the average cost of cybercrime for an organization has increased by $1.4 million over the year of 2018. The average number of security breaches in 2018 rose by 11%, from 130 to 145 cases. Cyberattacks are evolving in regards to their target, the effect they cause on organizations, the methods of attacks and other characteristics. It’s essential to choose the right type of training to get familiar with cybersecurity methods and techniques and to be able to implement them in real-life scenarios.

One of the most well-known organizations providing certification courses in cybersecurity is CompTIA, a professional tech association, setting the industry standards and developing the skills and knowledge of IT specialists in accordance with the modern world’s demands. The association offers specialized training and programs that can give you an opportunity to start a career in cybersecurity from scratch or to elevate your knowledge to the next level that can advance your career.

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing professional fields in Canada’s tech industry and there is currently a huge demand for jobs. Statistics claim that it will demonstrate a 28% growth within the period of 2016 to 2026. With the CompTIA Security+ certification and CompTIA CySA+ certification, you’ll manage to secure your place in the field and have a competitive advantage over other specialists who are just starting their careers in cybersecurity as well.

CompTIA created a Cybersecurity Career Pathway that helps IT professionals to master cybersecurity from beginning to end. The key element is the CompTIA Security+ certification. Its main goal is to establish the foundation of knowledge and skills required for any cybersecurity role and to provide the starting point for a career in this field. This certification also has an emphasis on hands-on practical skills necessary for working in cybersecurity.

The key areas of CompTIA Security+ certification focuses on are risk management, cryptography, authentication and authorization, application security, cloud and mobile security and several other areas. This can be regarded as an essential base to build future additional and more specific skills. The certification program and exam are based on covering the hands-on skills used by junior positions in IT, such as systems administrators, network administrators and security administrators.

Taking a course from an official CompTIA partner is a good way to obtain formal education in cybersecurity which will, later on, allow you to move forward in your career. CompTIA Security+ certification is necessary to get familiar with the core concepts in the field and be able to understand the possible threats and attacks, learn about the tools and techniques of how to repel them and how to protect the systems and networks in the future.

For those who already demonstrate the basic knowledge of cybersecurity, there is the next step of qualification which is CompTIA CySA+ certification. This is an intermediate-level certification suitable for IT specialists who have been working in the industry for several years and can demonstrate a thorough understanding of the cybersecurity practices.

The key point of CompTIA CySA+ certification is that it allows you to apply behavioural analytics to networks and equipment to prevent, identify and fight cybersecurity threats and attacks. It enables IT specialists to implement data analysis and perform the assessment of the results to find out the existing vulnerabilities and potential risks. Cybersecurity professionals also learn how to configure and use the threat-detection tools for each particular organization.

CompTIA CySA+ certification covers such areas of expertise as threat and vulnerability management, cyber incident response, security architecture and toolsets. Those who are aiming for CySA+ certification need to demonstrate that they have a skillset to distinguish the risks, perform an assessment and analyze its results and determine the best possible solution judging by the type of organization and the tools available for it.

A cybersecurity career pathway implies a logical advancement from CompTIA Security+ to CompTIA CySA+, since the Security+ certification evaluates the knowledge, skills and expertise of an IT specialist with two years of cybersecurity fieldwork, and CySA+ assesses three to four years of experience in cybersecurity. Depending on whether you are at the very first stage of your career in this field or are looking at promotion opportunities, you should choose an appropriate certification.

Obtaining either CompTIA Security+ certification or CompTIA CySA+ certification would mean that you need to take an exam and demonstrate the skills and knowledge you possess related to cybersecurity. If you are not quite ready for the exam, you can take a prep course and study the material required for the certification. Prep courses are available from CompTIA reliable partners, such as TechnoEdge Learning. Register for the courses and bring your cybersecurity career to the next level.

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CompTIA Security+ certification

The CompTIA Security+ course offers the basic training in cybersecurity for entry-level IT specialists. It helps to build the essential knowledge of the most common practices in cybersecurity with the focus of hands-on skills and abilities that can be applied in real-life scenarios. This course is an excellent choice for those who are not familiar with cybersecurity and are just starting their career in this field.

The CompTIA Security+ certification is part of the core competencies training recommended by CompTIA for IT specialists at the early stages of their careers. This is considered a foundation for any tech specialist upon which they will later build more specific qualifications tailored to various professional pathways. One of them could possibly be a cybersecurity field with a more in-depth understanding of its concepts and mechanisms.

Before taking the CompTIA Security+ certification exam the candidates are required to take the CompTIA Security+ course which is designed to provide them with the insights in cybersecurity and develop all the necessary skills to ensure they are prepared to deal with a wide range of security issues when they arise.

The CompTIA Security+ course covers the following areas:

• Risk Management
• Cryptography
• Authentication and authorization
• Host, LAN and application security
• Wireless, cloud and mobile security
• Environmental security and controls

Once the training is complete, the IT specialist will be able to take the exam to earn the CompTIA Security+ certification. It proves to the recruiters and potential employers that its holder possesses the core knowledge of cybersecurity and is capable of not only identifying the risks and issues but also of trouble-shooting them. After obtaining the CompTIA Security+ certification the tech specialists can be rightfully called cybersecurity professionals and can acquire positions such as Security Administrator, Security Specialist, Systems Administrator, Junior IT Auditor/Penetration Tester and other similar roles.

CompTIA CySA+ certification

The CompTIA CySA+ certification is the intermediate-level training in cybersecurity and the next step after CompTIA Security+ in this pathway. It allows the specialist to perform data analysis and assess the results to identify potential vulnerabilities, threats and risks. The fundamental skills developed in this certification include analyzing the data gathered during the tests and applying threat-detection solutions.

The CompTIA CySA+ course demonstrates the analytics-based approach. This means that cybersecurity professionals will be trained through examples and multiple scenarios of the situations that can happen in real life. Although there are certain patterns that can be followed in cybersecurity that tend to be more or less common, it’s important that professionals in this field know the tools available for them well and can act fast to trouble-shoot even in extraordinary circumstances.

The key components of the CompTIA CySA+ course are the following:

• Threat management
• Vulnerability management
• Cyber Incident Response
• Security Architecture and Tool Sets

IT Specialists who are seeking CompTIA CySA+ certification will learn how to apply environmental reconnaissance techniques using appropriate tools and processes and analyze results. They will also get to understand how to implement an information security vulnerability management process. The CompTIA CySA+ certification holders will know how to distinguish threat data or behaviour to determine the potential incident impact and develop the toolkit to select the appropriate course of action.

The CompTIA CySA+ meets the ISO 17024 standard. By obtaining this certification professionals can secure jobs such as IT Security Analyst, Vulnerability Analyst, Threat Intelligence Analyst, Cybersecurity Analyst and others.

Both CompTIA Security+ certification and CompTIA CySA+ certification can be earned after passing the respective exams. For Security+ the exam consists of 90 questions and lasts for about 90 minutes. The CySA+ exam has a maximum of 85 questions and its duration is about 165 minutes. Both exams have multiple-choice and performance-based questions. The passing score is quite high, it’s 750 for each of the test (on a scale of 100-900).

CompTIA Security+ certification and CompTIA CySA+ certification are high-stakes exams that are offered in a secure environment in the authorized test centres. Both of them will allow tech specialists to gain the thorough knowledge and practical skills of the cybersecurity which will enable them to progress in the career in this field.

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