Certification – July 2019

WELCOME

VOL. 16, ISSUE 3

July 2019

PUBLISHER: Noel Vallejo

MANAGING EDITOR: Cody Clark

[email protected]

SENIOR DESIGNER: Jordan Jones

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Aaron Axline, Mike Chapple

Cody Clark, Reena Ghosh,

Calvin Harper, Nathan Kimpel,

Mary Kyle, Jane LeClair,

Justin Moss

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A publication.

hile serving as the 13th

president of Columbia

University — after World

War II, but before his two-term occu-

pancy of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

— Dwight D. Eisenhower said in a

speech at Galveston, Texas, “If all

that Americans want is security, they

can go to prison. They’ll have enough

to eat, a bed, and a roof over their

heads.”

Eisenhower’s point was to under-

score the need to actively resist dicta-

torial governments, but the metaphor

that he chose has become increasingly

resonant in the digital age. Computers

are now essential to every function of

society, including public safety, which

has resulted in something of a tug-of-

war between prison-like surveillance

and the protection of individual

liberties.

Not only that, but with our de-

pendence on computers to do things

like manage financial transactions,

store medical records, and engage in

commerce, each of us increasingly

lives in an Eisenhower-esque prison

of our own making. Except that we’re

only as secure as whatever protections

have been put in place by the firms or

organizations we rely on to store our

various personally identifying infor-

mation.

One thing that seems certain is that

we all have a role to play in assuring

the more effective information securi-

ty that everyone wants. For some, that

may only mean becoming better in-

formed about own participation in the

process — taking steps like regularly

changing passwords. For others, be-

coming part of the solution may mean

pursuing an information security

career.

In either case, there’s probably

something in this issue of Certifica-

tion Magazine that can point you in

the right direction. We’ve got results

from our recent Security Certification

Survey, advice about improving your

so-called cybersecurity hygiene, and

an overview of the profession of ap-

plication security engineer.

We also discuss a number of other

IT topics as well. If you’ve ever won-

dered whether we really need two

A+ certification exams, or what “git”

is and why it has its own hub, then

we have some answers that are quite

likely to be of interest. We also take a

moment to question whether getting

a certification is the best way to learn

about IT.

As always, we’re very appreciative

of everyone who takes our surveys.

There’s going to be another one soon,

and probably before we’re really

ready for it, it will be time roll out the

annual Salary Survey apparatus all

over again. Keep certifying, and we

hope to see you online at CertMag.

com.

P.S. Won’t you be our neighbor?

Look for Certification Magazine

on Facebook and Twitter

(@CertMag.com).

W

Cody Clark is the

managing editor of

Certification Magazine.

BY CODY CLARK

Security

Is All of Us