Here at ITTrainingBlog we have been closely following the recent announcement that Computertraining.com aka. Computertraining.edu has abruptly closed.
Here is the information we can furnish at this time about the closing and the effects it will have on their students as well as the process that students may be able to take in order to recover some of their losses.
**UPDATE** 1/5/10
Computertraining.com / Computertraining.edu has posted information on their website about the closing (keep in mind this is their side of the story and may or may not be the whole truth) and they have posted the appropriate state agencies to help students recover their losses.
**UPDATE** 1/4/10
We felt it important to make known the Google Group that a reader just told us about. If you have been affected by this closure, please visit: http://groups.google.com/group/computertrainingedu-took-the-money-and-ran
**UPDATE** 12/28/09
Here is a letter sent to us by a student of Computertraining.com moments ago that they received via email earlier today:
It is with deep sadness and regret that Computertraining.edu announces it will cease operation and close all of the Computertraining.edu schools, effective immediately. These actions are due to circumstances beyond the Company’s control. There will be no further classes held at any of our schools.
This letter serves as written notification that all future inquires should be directed to your state agency listed below:
Michigan Dept. of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth
Proprietary School Unit
201 North Washington Square
Victor Office Center-3rd Floor
Lansing, MI 48913
Very truly yours,
Computertraining.edu
To recover your losses from the Computertraining.com fall out visit your State Higher Education Agency or Commission. Examples would be for Maryland - MHEC, Virginia - SCHEV etc. This type of thing has happened many times in the past. The state's governing body for higher education is equipped and has policies in place to help the students recover as much as possible in this type of situation. You should be asking the Higher Education commission in your state about refunds and / or "teach outs". A teach out is where a local school will add you in to one of their classes (in this case for the MCITP) and the state will reimburse them at least a portion of the cost.
**Original Post** 12/28/09
This is unofficial at this point but our sources (who are VERY reliable) are telling us that Computertraining.edu (formerly computertraining.com) may be about to officially announce that they will be closing operations permanently. Computertraining.edu was a national leader in Microsoft's systems administration training. They specialized in the MCSE 2003 but recently made the change (as everyone did) to the MCITP-Server Administrator training because of the switch to Server 2008 and the fact that the MCSE exams will soon be retiring and unavailable.
We tried to call their national sales number and it goes to voicemail. We will have more on this as it breaks. What a wild week for the training school business...
State Higher Education Governing Agencies
Here is a list of some of the appropriate places to contact in order to begin to recoup your losses:
Maryland - Maryland Higher Education Commission
Virginia - State Councile for Higher Education Virginia
Pennsylvania -
Ohio - Ohio Dept of Education
12.14.2009
Penetration Testing in Today's Environment
The cutting edge of IT security these days is something of a testament to the times we live in. It's dangerous for computer networks, with the rapid expansion of the Internet and data systems, more and more hackers are seeking to cash in on people, companies and agencies who don't know what they're doing. Thanks to speed upgrades, a broad spectrum of cash flow possibilities and an increasingly automated, increasingly media-saturated global network of computers, the Internet is becoming more and more feasible for hackers to exploit for financial gain, rather than simply to cause trouble.
Penetration testing consists of a number of skills and methodologies, but at its heart it is a philosophy and methodology. For all the IT specialists who grew up with a simultaneous fascination with piracy and the archetype of the free-spirited electronic pirate, living according to a personal ethic of winner-takes-all, and a more serious ethic regarding not causing harm to others and living morally, penetration testing is a very attractive set of practices. The philosophy behind penetration testing, called "ethical hacking," is, essentially, about hacking into networks in order to find their weak spots.
Penetration testing lets you have your cake and eat it too. You can learn how to play and have fun with the hacker's game of cat-and-mouse, but you don't have to worry about the consequences if you're caught. And believe me, this is quite a lucrative cake. Businesses all over the world are looking to the first adopters of penetration testing and at how successful their networks have been in fending off hackers. They are all but asking for new network administrative positions to be filled by people with a penetration testing or ethical hacking degree.
Unlike standard methods, a penetration tester is required to actively test the network to see if it could be compromised. This makes it slightly more dangerous and put slightly more strain on a network, but it is definitely worth it. After all, theory only gets you so far. What is successful in theory might fall to a creative hacker's approach, and only an equally creative penetration tester, trying out that method on the network before the hacker gets to it, can ensure the network's security.
There are several penetration testing "methodologies" which , but ultimately a penetration tester's success comes from the same place that a hacker's success comes from - her ingenuity, creativity, and downright deviousness in coming up with ways that a network could be compromised. As an ethical, or "white hat" hacker, she uses that deviousness in service of good. Or, from a more pragmatic view, she uses it in service of her bank account, since being an illegal hacker is a dangerous job. Illegality is never pragmatic.
If you are at all interested in network security, you're in luck. Network administration and IT services are among the fastest-growing career fields now. Penetration Testing is the set of practices most highly regarded by prospective employers and those in the know. Learning penetration testing will only serve you in your search for a fun, interesting, meaningful career. most people who have been exposed to the security industry should get their Certified Ethical Hacker certification and people who have been pentesting for a while should go with either their ECSA / LPT certifications or the Advanced Penetration Tester (APT).
Penetration testing consists of a number of skills and methodologies, but at its heart it is a philosophy and methodology. For all the IT specialists who grew up with a simultaneous fascination with piracy and the archetype of the free-spirited electronic pirate, living according to a personal ethic of winner-takes-all, and a more serious ethic regarding not causing harm to others and living morally, penetration testing is a very attractive set of practices. The philosophy behind penetration testing, called "ethical hacking," is, essentially, about hacking into networks in order to find their weak spots.
Penetration testing lets you have your cake and eat it too. You can learn how to play and have fun with the hacker's game of cat-and-mouse, but you don't have to worry about the consequences if you're caught. And believe me, this is quite a lucrative cake. Businesses all over the world are looking to the first adopters of penetration testing and at how successful their networks have been in fending off hackers. They are all but asking for new network administrative positions to be filled by people with a penetration testing or ethical hacking degree.
Unlike standard methods, a penetration tester is required to actively test the network to see if it could be compromised. This makes it slightly more dangerous and put slightly more strain on a network, but it is definitely worth it. After all, theory only gets you so far. What is successful in theory might fall to a creative hacker's approach, and only an equally creative penetration tester, trying out that method on the network before the hacker gets to it, can ensure the network's security.
There are several penetration testing "methodologies" which , but ultimately a penetration tester's success comes from the same place that a hacker's success comes from - her ingenuity, creativity, and downright deviousness in coming up with ways that a network could be compromised. As an ethical, or "white hat" hacker, she uses that deviousness in service of good. Or, from a more pragmatic view, she uses it in service of her bank account, since being an illegal hacker is a dangerous job. Illegality is never pragmatic.
If you are at all interested in network security, you're in luck. Network administration and IT services are among the fastest-growing career fields now. Penetration Testing is the set of practices most highly regarded by prospective employers and those in the know. Learning penetration testing will only serve you in your search for a fun, interesting, meaningful career. most people who have been exposed to the security industry should get their Certified Ethical Hacker certification and people who have been pentesting for a while should go with either their ECSA / LPT certifications or the Advanced Penetration Tester (APT).
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