Appendix A. Security Administrator's Troubleshooting Guide

CompTIA's Security+ certification is often seen as the first step on the ladder toward becoming the ultimate security professional. While most people would not necessarily label Security+ the first rung on the ladder, the next step up the ladder is often a big one. Whether the act of achieving Security+ certification proves to be a significant challenge or a minor hurdle, the most important part of achieving this (or any) certification is putting what you learn into practice. Unless you can soundly demonstrate the skills and expertise that a certification implies, you should not boast of it on your resume or elsewhere. Furthermore, by putting your obtained knowledge into practice, you will be assisting yourself in expanding your abilities to the next level of achievement.

While it is not possible to offer a troubleshooting guide that fits every operating system and every implementation, you'll find that the administrative information that this appendix provides will be helpful for troubleshooting most environments. You should also relish the fact that Security+ is a vendor-neutral certification and does not require you to know how to troubleshoot every operating system.

The arena of security certifications is fairly delineated into foundational certifications and high-level certifications. While a handful of moderate-level certifications do exist, they don't seem to have gained serious footing (such as recognition) in the IT industry. So, in order to move on from Security+ certification to high-level certifications such as CISSP, CEH, Cisco Security, and Microsoft Security, you need to know more than just concepts and theories of security. You need to be able to apply what you know and troubleshoot problems as they arise. This appendix to the CompTIA Security+ Study Guide Deluxe Edition was written to assist you in integrating your new Security+ knowledge directly into your daily life at work and at home.

Before you embark on the recommendations presented here, you should take several precautionary steps:

If there are any written policies or direct instructions that preclude your participation in any of the activities discussed here, do not attempt them.

Failing to take these precautionary steps could result in performing actions that are against company policy, that violate your assigned privileges, or that may actually be criminal activities. You are responsible for the results of your own actions.

Think of this appendix and Appendix B as complements. The administrative issues addressed here will be put into practice in the labs in the next appendix.