Microsoft will announce its first set of certification
credentials for IT administrators and engineers who specialise in
security in a Windows environment, at the company's TechEd 2003
conference at the end of the month.
Dan Truax, director of business and product strategy for
training and certification at Microsoft, noted that the company has
offered security courses for years.
But he said Microsoft decided to create a formal credential in
recognition of the number of customers that now specialise in that
type of job.
The more rigorous of the two certifications being introduced is
the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE): Security on
Microsoft Windows 2000. To achieve that status, an engineer must
pass six core exams and demonstrate a "security specialty" by
taking a test on Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA)
Server 2000 or an exam administered by the Computing Technology
Industry Association, better known as CompTIA.
The requirements are essentially the same as for an ordinary
MCSE certification, except the security candidate has to take the
core security design exam and a security implementation exam that
Microsoft introduced in January, along with the ISA Server or
CompTIA exam.
The other certification - Microsoft Certified Systems
Administrator (MCSA): Security on Microsoft Windows 2000 - requires
the four exams needed for a typical MCSA certification, plus one
additional exam. One core exam on the client operating system and
two on networking systems are mandated along with the security
implementation exam and either the ISA Server or CompTIA exam.
Certifications are not yet available for Windows Server 2003,
but they are expected to become available later this year.
Truax said Microsoft was first approached last summer about
creating a special security credential.
Customers and partners subsequently advised the company not to
create credentials similar to any that already exist in the
industry, but rather to focus on offering a certification specific
to the Microsoft software environment.
Carol Sliwa writes for Computerworld