Security+ Exam and Certification

So as it turns out, my work requires the Security+ certification to get an admin account on some of our networks.

I knocked it out on Friday without much studying (just some into access controls since I had forgotten all about them), and it was definitely a reasonable exam.

There were about 5 “hands-on” questions that involved stuff like recognizing attacks, configuring firewalls, and designing networks followed by around 70 multiple choice questions.

While the exam wasn’t difficult, I might recommend brushing up on some stuff if you don’t know or remember it (ports, rules, access controls, crypto, etc.).

Though I didn’t actually learn much, it didn’t hurt to brush up on some of the stuff. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt as another HR bullet-point on my résumé.

All in all, not a huge waste of time, and it didn’t hurt that my employer covered the time and costs of the cert.

Ray Doyle

Ray Doyle is an avid pentester/security enthusiast/beer connoisseur who has worked in IT for almost 16 years now. From building machines and the software on them, to breaking into them and tearing it all down; he’s done it all. To show for it, he has obtained an OSCE, OSCP, eCPPT, GXPN, eWPT, eWPTX, SLAE, eMAPT, Security+, ICAgile CP, ITIL v3 Foundation, and even a sabermetrics certification!

He currently serves as a Senior Staff Adversarial Engineer for Avalara, and his previous position was a Principal Penetration Testing Consultant for Secureworks.

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