Merit Network Offers Discount SANS Security Training

Merit Network will present two opportunities in January to attend SANS Institute security training at a substantially reduced price.

As the leading organization in computer security training, SANS is known for providing intensive courses designed to help computing professionals master the practical steps necessary for defending systems and networks.

In these innovative presentations, the course material will be delivered via interactive teleconference to several participating sites across the United States presented by a SANS instructor at a remote location.

Registration for both workshops is open today; below are brief descriptions and links to more information.

SANS Developer 541:
Secure Coding in Java/JEE: Developing Defensible Applications
January 5-8, 2010, Ann Arbor
http://www.merit.edu/learning/sans541/

Traditionally, great programmers have been known by the elegance, effectiveness and reliability of their code. Today, security has joined those traditional measures as an essential aspect of good coding. For programmers and their organizations, this raises the unavoidable question, "What is meant by secure coding, and where can I learn it?"

"Secure Coding in Java/JEE" presents the skills and knowledge currently measured in third-party coding assessments. It is a comprehensive course covering a huge set of skills and knowledge. Rather than teach you to use a set of tools, the course will teach concepts of secure programming by looking at a specific piece of code, identifying a security flaw, and implementing a fix for that flaw.

The course features hands-on work with challenging exercises and concrete examples that you will be able to put to use immediately. You will be prepared with strong validation techniques that you can apply to protect Java applications for current and future projects.

The registration fee for attendees from educational institutions and state and local governments is $1,495, a savings of 50 percent compared to the standard price of $2,995 when delivered in a classroom setting. Others may attend for the retail price of $2,995.

SANS Security 557:
Virtualization Security and Operations
January 20-21, 2010, Ann Arbor
http://www.merit.edu/learning/sans557/

Server virtualization is one of today's most rapidly evolving and widely deployed technologies, favored by organizations for providing cost savings and ease of deployment and management. With these benefits comes a dark side, however. Virtualization technology is the focus of many new potential threats and exploits, and presents new vulnerabilities that must be managed.

At this course you will learn about virtualization security fundamentals, with an in-depth treatment of today's most pressing virtualization security concerns: known attacks and threats, theoretical attack methods, and numerous real-world examples. The course will then focus on today's most popular enterprise server virtualization product, VMware Infrastructure 3. You will learn about every aspect of locking down ESX Server and VirtualCenter management server, as well as best practices for securing the virtual machine guests that reside on ESX platforms. The course will also cover virtualization networking techniques; essential strategies for securing storage interfaces to Virtual Infrastructure 3; best practices for backup, recovery, and redundancy; compliance ramifications of virtualization; and operations processes such as change and configuration management, separation of duties, and least privilege.

The registration fee for attendees from educational institutions and state and local governments is $795, a savings of well over 60 percent compared to the standard price of $2,550 when delivered in a classroom setting. Others may attend for the retail price of $2,550.