Microsoft Corp. Tuesday will announce its first set of certification credentials for IT administrators and engineers who specialize in security in a Windows environment.
Dan Truax, director of business and product strategy for training and certification at Microsoft, noted that the company has offered security courses for years. But he said Microsoft decided to take the extra step of creating a formal credential in recognition of the number of customers that now specialize in that type of job.
The announcement of the new certifications is scheduled to be made during a keynote address by Scott Charney, Microsoft"s chief security strategist, at the company"s TechEd 2003 conference in Dallas.
The more rigorous of the two certifications being introduced is the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE): Security on Microsoft Windows 2000. To achieve that status, an engineer must pass six core exams and demonstrate a "security specialty" by taking a test on Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 or an exam administered by the Computing Technology Industry Association, better known as CompTIA.