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Total Seminars E-books now Available

Total Seminars E-books now available in one secure online space—the Total Seminars Training Hub. 

Total Seminars is excited to announce the availability of CompTIA and AWS E-books via the Total Seminars Training Hub. This online E-book experience is the result of a cooperative agreement between Total Seminars and McGraw Hill. E-books may be purchased on the Total Seminars website. Content is immediately available 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. Users can now reinforce learning as they read the E-books side-by-side with other electronic study materials on the Total Seminars training hub.

Dudley Lehmer, Total Seminars’ CEO, explains that the “E-book addition is part of our overall plan to expand the ways our products meet our customer needs.  In a world of digital delivery the ability to safely and conveniently access E-book content is important to publishers and users.  By offering online E-books on our Total Seminars training hub, we ensure that content is secure and easily accessible for on-demand use.”

With plans to continually add IT titles to the Total Seminars catalog of E-books, current offerings include:

• CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+) All-in-One Exam Guide
• CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide
• Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ Certification Passport
• CompTIA Network+ All-in-One Certification Exam Guide
• Mike Meyers’ CompTIA Network+ Certification Passport
• Mike Meyers’ CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide
• Mike Meyers Passport Series: CompTIA Security+
• CompTIA CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst Certification All-in-One Exam Guide
• CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Study Guide
• CompTIA PenTest+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate All-in-One Exam Guide

Standalone E-book and E-book/hard copy combination product availability varies by title.

Total Seminars E-books are now available

Check out all of our E-Book titles. Available 24/7 for immediate access on the Total Seminars Training Hub.

Discount Exam Vouchers

Save on your CompTIA exams by purchasing vouchers from Total Seminars web site.

Try our TotalSims

Prepare for performance-based questions and do hands-on exercises to reinforce concepts while studying for the exams.

Try our TotalTester

Hundreds of questions with customizable exams. Each new exam is pulled from a pool of questions, so each exam is different. Create exams by objectives or by chapter. Take your custom test in Exam mode or in Practice mode with hints, explanations and study references. Get results graded by exam objective so you know where to focus your review. The best way to prepare for the exam questions is to practice as many questions as you can.

Never Pay Full Price for CompTIA Exams

CompTIA is About to Raise their Exam Prices. 

The first of each year CompTIA raises their exam prices. You can purchase Discount Vouchers and save before they raise their prices this year. Discount Vouchers are good for up to 11 months. You can schedule your exams any time during that period and use the Discount Vouchers to pay for the exams.

This year CompTIA will be raising all exam prices by 3%, except for Security+ exams which will be going up 6%.  Get your Discount Vouchers before prices go up.

Save with CompTIA Discount Exam Vouchers. 

You don’t have to pay full price for CompTIA Exams. You can purchase Discount Exam Vouchers and save on the cost of the exams. CompTIA partners can provide discount prices on exam vouchers and pass the savings along to their students.

Here’s how it works: CompTIA member companies like Total Seminars are able to purchase vouchers for the CompTIA exams and resell them to our students at a discount to the full price you would pay when you register with VUE or buy at the CompTIA web store.

Before you register for your CompTIA exam, go to Total Seminars web site and purchase a Discount Voucher. Your order will be processed, and you will receive an email with your voucher number.

When you register for your CompTIA exam online at the VUE web site, you have an option to pay by credit card or by voucher. Select “voucher” and type in the voucher number you received by email when you purchased the Discount Vouchers from Total Seminars.

Total Seminars’ vouchers are only good in the US and Canada. If you live outside of the US or Canada search the web for CompTIA discount vouchers in the country where you live.

When you purchase a discount voucher it is good for up to 11 months (the exact date the voucher expires is included in your email). You must register for your exam online with VUE before the date the discount voucher expires.

Online Testing is now available. Take you CompTIA exam online at home. Here’s a link to our blog with all the details. 

Discount Exam Vouchers

Save on your CompTIA exams by purchasing vouchers from Total Seminars web site.

Try our TotalSims

Prepare for performance-based questions and do hands-on exercises to reinforce concepts while studying for the exams.

Try our TotalTester

Hundreds of questions with customizable exams. Each new exam is pulled from a pool of questions, so each exam is different. Create exams by objectives or by chapter. Take your custom test in Exam mode or in Practice mode with hints, explanations and study references. Get results graded by exam objective so you know where to focus your review. The best way to prepare for the exam questions is to practice as many questions as you can.

The CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway

IT Fundamentals > A+ > Network+ > Security+ > CySA+ or PenTest+ > CASP

With cybercrime on the rise and vulnerabilities constantly being exposed, it is imperative that organizations take a proactive stance to protecting assets and employing skilled cybersecurity professionals. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the number of information security jobs will increase 28 percent from 2016 to 2026, making it one of the fastest-growing fields. Jobs requiring cybersecurity skills continue to grow rapidly, with more than 313,000 cybersecurity job openings, according to Cyberseek. Employers, from government to Fortune 500 companies, value CompTIA as an authority in cybersecurity certifications.

How to Get into Cybersecurity

The CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway helps IT pros achieve cybersecurity mastery, from beginning to end. The centerpiece is the CompTIA Security+ certification. It establishes the foundational knowledge required of any cybersecurity role and provides a springboard to intermediate-level cybersecurity jobs. With performance-based questions, it emphasizes the hands-on practical skills used by junior IT auditors, systems administrators, network administrators and security administrators.

After earning CompTIA Security+, cybersecurity professionals can take the next step by pursuing an intermediate skills-level cybersecurity certification, such as CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) or CompTIA PenTest+.

The CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst certification assesses the skills needed to apply behavioral analytics to networks to improve the overall state of IT security. The certification covers tools such as packet sniffers, intrusion detection systems (IDS) and security information and event management (SIEM) systems. After the seminal Target attack of 2014, the security analyst job role has gained more importance, making these skills essential for most organizations.

While CySA+ focuses on defense through incident detection and response, CompTIA PenTest+ focuses on offense through penetration testing and vulnerability assessment. It involves launching attacks on systems, discovering the vulnerabilities and managing them and is intended for cybersecurity professionals tasked with identifying, exploiting, reporting and managing vulnerabilities on a network.

Penetration testers’ average salary is $71,929?* And this career is in one of the fastest-growing job markets**.

The progression from CompTIA Security+ to CompTIA CySA+ and/or CompTIA PenTest+ is logical because Security+ assesses the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) an IT professional demonstrates after two years of cybersecurity field work, and CySA+ and PenTest+ assess three to four years of cybersecurity field work.

IT pros can pursue CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) to prove their mastery of cybersecurity skills required at the 5- to 10-year experience level. CASP+ is the pinnacle of cybersecurity certifications and includes performance-based questions. It is intended for those who wish to remain immersed in hands-on enterprise security, incident response and architecture, for example, as opposed to strictly managing cybersecurity policy and frameworks.

Total Seminars has video courses, TotalSims, lab simulations and Total Tester, practice tests to prepare you for each of the Cyber Security Pathway certifications. Click here to get CompTIA Discount Exam Vouchers.

The Building Blocks of Cybersecurity

But how do you get into cybersecurity with no experience? If you have limited experience in IT and aren’t quite ready to start with CompTIA Security+, then you’ll want to start earlier on the pathway.

CompTIA A+ validates the skills employers look for in new and aspiring IT support professionals. In addition to covering today’s core technologies in operating systems, cloud, data management and more, the new CompTIA A+ Core Series covers baseline security skills at the end point device level, including malware detection and removal, privacy concerns, physical security and device hardening.

Where CompTIA A+ considers connectivity from the perspective of the user and their device, CompTIA Network+ focuses on the connections from (and between) the core systems to the endpoint devices. It validates the essential knowledge and skills needed to design, configure, manage and troubleshoot wired and wireless networks. To best support and ultimately secure the systems that exchange information on your network, you must first understand how the network functions.

CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ follow a progression consistent with the KSAs an IT professional exhibits as they move from an early career technical support role with 9 to 12 months of general IT experience to one with 1 to 2 years of general IT experience, and with a significant part of that specific to network support and administration.

CompTIA Network+ is also an important and strongly recommended prerequisite to CompTIA Security+. Before you can secure a network, you must understand how it functions. In other words, you shouldn’t skip algebra to start with calculus. Otherwise, you are learning security skills and applying them to a network you don’t understand.

Now that we’ve covered the certifications in the cybersecurity pathway, let’s explore some of the common questions surrounding it.

Questions About the CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway

Where should I start on the CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway?

The pathway is intended to help people get into the field of cybersecurity. IT pros can enter at any point, depending on their IT experience, existing certifications or course of study. There are no required prerequisites for these CompTIA certifications. For example, if you have two years of IT security experience or equivalent knowledge, you can jump into the pathway at CompTIA Security+ to prove your knowledge. If you already have CompTIA Security+, you can jump in at CompTIA CSA+, etc. See the CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway graphic to find your place on the pathway.

Do I need to take these certifications in order? Do I need to take all of them?

No. This is a recommended pathway, but it’s not a requirement. It depends on your job needs or interests. In general, the pathway follows a hierarchy of skills needed for IT security; each certification builds upon the skills from the previous one. You can find the recommended level of experience for each certification on the page, Which Certification Is Right for Me?

Can I take these exams with no IT or cybersecurity experience?

es, you can, however we recommend a minimum amount of hands-on experience before taking any of our certifications. (Each one has different recommendations, found in the Exam Details section of the certification webpage.) But hands-on experience doesn’t have to be on-the-job experience. It could mean any hands-on work, including practical experience gained while taking a class or through self-study or by helping friends, family or local nonprofits with their IT and cybersecurity issues. CompTIA certifications mirror the current job roles of IT professionals, so it makes sense to earn these certifications to validate the knowledge and hands-on skills currently being used in the workforce, whether you have job experience or not.

Do these certifications replace on-the-job experience?

If you are an IT professional or an employer, you understand the value of on-the-job experience. IT certifications are a great place to start, but they do not replace hands-on experience. If you have CompTIA certifications and on-the-job experience, you have the best of both worlds. In summary, the recommended CompTIA Cybersecurity Career Pathway offers guidance for IT pros, employers, instructors and students. You can start wherever it makes sense, depending on your personal background, job requirements or course of study. The pathway is unique because it offers vendor-neutral skills for IT professionals to achieve cybersecurity mastery, from beginning to end.

*www.cyberdegrees. org

**US Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls. gov