CompTIA Blog

Those in Washington know that the best way to get steam behind a public policy issue is by building on the momentum of a national news cycle. Well this week the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade held a hearing entitled “The Threat of Data Theft to American Consumers”.The hearing was in response to Sony’s announcement on April 26 of a massive data breach caused by computer hackers that resulted in the theft of 77 million user accounts. What caused an even grea ...

A look at the week of May 3 in public advocacy for the IT channel This week U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano discussed the need for cybersecurity tactics to be as widespread as the networks themselves.  The new health IT center is attracting bipartisan support as a federal program with high potential for private industry.  Competition to host the government’s cloud computing needs is growing heated. Napolitano: Cybersecurity Is a Public-Private Challenge f ...

The Department of Labor made $240 million available in federal grants for training U.S. workers in high growth, high tech and high skill jobs. U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program competition yesterday. Grants will be awarded to help workers update current job skills or acquire new skills so they can enter career pathways that lead to higher-paying jobs, including positions in information technology. The Department of Labor expects to fu ...

The recent cloud outages spotlight the need to focus on disaster recovery (DR) more than ever. Whether it's a large public cloud or your own small private cloud having a plan, a contingency and a course of action are crucial to getting up and running and minimizing loss of data.CompTIA has attempted over the course of the last 18 months or so to generate traction from the channel around the creation of a DR member community. For those who aren't aware, CompTIA has nearly a dozen member communiti ...

The Department of Labor made $240 million available in federal grants for training U.S. workers in high growth, high tech and high skill jobs.U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program competition yesterday. Grants will be awarded to help workers update current job skills or acquire new skills so they can enter career pathways that lead to higher-paying jobs, including positions in information technology. The Department of Labor expects to fun ...

A look at the week of April 25 in public advocacy for the IT channel This week, Amazon’s cloud computing malfunction raised questions about the security and reliability of the service.  The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs plan to collaborate on a joint electronic health record. CompTIA released a new study examining the rise of green IT initiatives in corporations. Amazon’s Trouble Raises Cloud Computing Doubts — As technical problems interrupted computer ...

[podcast]http://www.comptia.org/media/intlcerts.mp3[/podcast]Two out of three human resources directors place a high value on certifications when it comes to hiring an IT professional.  If you’re ready to get a job in IT or move up the career ladder in IT, you need certification.CompTIA has been the leading vendor-neutral certification organization since 1985.  And its certifications aren’t just U.S.-centric, but can help you move your career worldwide.Hear from Matthew Poyiadgi, our senior VP o ...

When we talk of our Breakaway conference and the slew of educational sessions we offer, most people normally think we’re talking education for solution providers.  More than 350 VARs are expected to attend Breakaway this August in Washington, D.C., but the conference is for the entire IT channel, not just the VARs. New at Breakaway this year, our Understanding Your Partners’ Business track includes four sessions to help vendors and distributors understand how their partners run their own busines ...

For years now, Congress has kicked the subject of tax reform down the road.  Even so, most everyone is in agreement that the tax laws and regulations are too complex, that the system is inefficient, and that compliance costs are too high. The last major tax reform occurred in the 1980s.  Lessons to draw from that exercise are that any industry – including technology – must be prepared to analyze and advocate when major legislative proposals are being developed. Last year, the President’s Commiss ...

I am an extremely mobile and well-equipped executive. On a recent trip to South Korea, I carried an iPhone 4, two Android phones, an Apple Mac Book Pro, a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, an iPad 2, a Microsoft Zune media player, an iPod Touch, a CLEAR WiMax modem, a Verizon 4G LTE modem, Sprint 3G hotspot and last but not least a Verizon/Motorola Zoom tablet and a Amazon Kindle e-book reader.You might be asking yourself why would someone carry so many pieces that do similar things? Well my answer is you ...

Last week Senators Kerry and McCain introduced the “Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights”.  The purpose of the bill is to impose stricter guidelines for the collection, storage and transmission of consumer data.  If enacted into law the bill would require the following: Companies that collect consumer data would have requirements for ensuring that the information is protected and secure. Companies would have to provide more robust notice requirements prior to sharing consumer information with third ...

At the direction of Vivek Kundra, chief information officer for the United States, the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) is pushing the federal government to the cloud computing finish line with the near completion of a roadmap to assist federal agencies moving to a cloud computing environment.NIST is helping to translate mission requirements into technical portability, interoperability, reliability, maintainability and security requirements.  The roadmap document is the mecha ...

Spring is wafting through the windows.  Summer will be here before we know it.  It’s time to plan out your summer travels.  Between trips to the beach and hanging by the pool, there’s one trip you need to take to keep your business running at top efficiency.  CompTIA Breakaway.  It’s the premier education event for companies doing business in the IT channel.More than 1,100 IT channel leaders – including some 350 solution providers – are expected at Breakaway 2011, which for the first time will b ...

This week Verizon released results from its annual IT security study conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service and the Netherlands Policy Agency. The study found that while penetrations increased to a record high 760 in 2010, the number of records compromised in the process fell dramatically to around 4 million from 144 million in 2009.  While hacking and malware continue to make up the largest chunks of the problem, physical intrusions such as compromising and ATM were up sharply.Bu ...

Alexander Irigoyen Alexander Irigoyen 
 Network Administrator, Lockheed Martin Which exams have you helped develop? CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Storage+, CompTIA Security+, and the new CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) exam. How did you get into IT? IT was my MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) in the Marines. Following boot camp, I was sent to a 36 week technical school and I have been working in IT ever since. Semper Fi! What do you do for your day job? ...