I got together recently with a good friend who is a certified ethical hacker, which isn’t the bad kind of hacker, but someone who is employed by a company to utilize the same methods a malicious hacker might to penetrate the company’s system. His job is to figure out a way to find and fix any of the holes that may exist in the system that would leave vital information unprotected and vulnerable to attack from either inside or outside sources wishing to abuse the information. He is good at what he does and is considered a major asset as a safeguard for the company.

He was telling me some good information for other professionals that I thought I’d pass along for anyone who is interested. He said a really important certification that companies are always clamoring for their employees or prospective employees to have is the Certified Information Systems Security Professional, or CISSP, certification. To get this certification that is in such high demand, qualified candidates must take and successfully pass the rigorous CISSP exam. It covers a multitude of areas drawing from what is called a common body of knowledge, to test on the ten areas of interest involved in CISSP work, also referred to as the ten domains.

He said it’s no easy task to learn all you need to know for this test, and recommended the Shon harris book for anyone who wants to take it. He also said that while it isn’t a total breeze, having the knowledge will surely pay dividends for anyone who takes the time to acquire it.

Technorati Tags: certification, certified ethical hacker, CISSP, Shon Harris book