The Top 11 Cities for Technology Careers

Is your particular skill-set saturated in your current location? Are you thinking about taking your tech talents to a new locale, possibly one with more IT career opportunities? If so, here are some cities you may want to consider before choosing a new home..

The Cities that Offer IT Professionals the Most Bang for the Buck
What makes a city one of the best in regards to technology careers? A couple key factors quickly bubble to the top including: how much does the average IT worker make in that city; how many opportunities are there; and what is the cost of living? On first glance, that great tech job out in LA or NYC might pay you more than your current position, but after you factor in the cost of living, it quickly becomes obvious that all things are not equal.

So come along for this country-wide tour of the U.S. as CIO.com countdowns what, according to Dice data, are the best U.S. cities for IT jobs.

How We Got Here
Who doesn't want more bang for their buck? To some where they live isn't a major factor in their job hunt, and if there are more opportunities somewhere else, why not head there? For those individuals CIO.com worked with Dice, a major career site, to gather data on the best U.S. cities in regards to technology jobs and average IT salaries. We then cross referenced that data with cost of living index data provided by Dean Frutinger, Project Manager at the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. By weighing these three factors together, IT professionals can more accurately assess whether it's time for a change in location.

1. Austin Texas
The capital of Texas, Austin, comes in at number one on our list. While it may not have the gravitas of NYC or Silicon Valley, there is a lot to be said for this growing technology hub. This bike friendly metropolis sports over eighty miles of bike paths, and it's rapidly expanding market offers great opportunities with a low cost of living. Austin regularly shows up on the list of best cities for tech startups.

Professional Sports Teams: The Austin area isn't known for its sports cache but there are NBA, NHL and MBA farm teams here along with several universities.

2. Houston, Texas
The Houston area continues to grow. "Oil and Gas, of course, ranked the highest in terms of needing highly skilled and educated employees, but let's not lose sight of medical, technology, engineering, retail, education and financial fields-all large sectors in West Houston. There is a scramble for highly educated and skilled employees," says Jeannie Bollinger, President and CEO of the Houston West Chamber of Commerce. According to Dice numbers Texas actually ranked as the fourth fastest growing technology employment state in the U.S., which explains how three of The Lone Star states cities made it onto this list.

Professional Sports Teams: The Texans, the Astros, the Rockets, the Dynamo, and the Dash.

3. Atlanta, Georgia
A low cost of living and high average IT salaries are making life in 'the ATL' sweet. 'The Big Peach' sports good universities, a major airport hub and a thriving music scene.

According to reports from Dice, mobile is driving the job growth in this region. The metro area of Atlanta recently saw a 66 percent increase in the amount of online job postings. This was across all industries but tech accounts for the lion's share of the jobs created.

Professional Sports Teams: The Falcons, the Braves, the Hawks, the Silverbacks (MSL).

4. Phoenix, Arizona
If living in the dry desert weather appeals to you then our next city could be your next home. Phoenix, also known as 'The Valley of the Sun,' is a little gem in the southwest that has managed to struggle back from a crushing foreclosure crisis. Recently ranked as the fourth fastest growing city for technology job postings and fourth fastest in the country in regards to tech salary growth, Phoenix has had average tech salaries increase by an impressive 12 percent year over year.

Professional Sports Teams: The Cardinals, the Diamondbacks, the Rattlers, Coyotes, Mercury (WNBA) and the Suns.

5. Denver, Colorado
Are you a fan of winter? Well then the city of Denver in the snowy mountains of Colorado should definitely be in consideration. Colorado has several tech biggies in their backyard including IBM, Oracle, Lockheed Martin and Avaya, as well as a thriving tech startup scene.

More than 53 percent of Downtown Denver's population holds a bachelor's degree, making it one of the smartest cities in America. It ranks as one of the top relocation destinations among highly-skilled workers between 25 and 44. The relatively low cost of living compared to Silicon Valley or NYC combined with the slower pace of living attracts many tech workers fleeing the coasts.

Professional Sports Teams: The Broncos, the Rockies, the Nuggets, the...

6. Dallas, Texas
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is a sprawling city situated in the plains of Texas. It ranked as the number three spot for total number of high-tech jobs last year. This region employs over 136,000 tech workers and has had 6.6 percent annual growth, making Dallas an emerging market and one to watch. Everything is bigger in Texas and the area is known for its big steaks, BBQ, Mexican and Tex-Mex foods. Combine all of this with a great set of sports teams, a high standard of living and low cost of living and it becomes easy to see why your next job may be deep in the heart of Texas.

Professional Sports Teams: The Cowboys, the Rangers, the Mavericks, the Stars and FC Dallas.

7. Charlotte, North Carolina
Another state managing to grab multiple positions on our list is North Carolina. Charlotte itself comes in at number four on the list of cities offering the most bang for the buck. Beautiful weather, low cost of living, proximity to the tri-state area and a growing market all come together to make Charlotte a consideration for those looking to leave the fevered pace of areas such as NYC, New Jersey and Baltimore behind.

Professional Sports Teams: The Panthers, NASCAR and the Bobcats.

8. Raleigh, North Carolina
Recently Forbes named Raleigh number two on its fastest growing cities list. Cisco, IBM, GlaxoSmithKline and many others have set up shop here to take advantage of the economic benefits as well as the talent pool.

Close proximity to several universities make this town one of the more highly-educated populations. In January it was declared that "The (research) triangle has the nation's most 'educated' center cities." In fact Raleigh regularly rates as one of the best places to live in the U.S. Great weather, reasonable housing prices and lots of jobs make Raleigh an attractive place to call home.

9. Chicago, Illinois
Sweet Home Chicago. Whether you're renting a building for your new startup or looking for your new home, prices here are rock-bottom when compared to Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York City or LA.

The city was designed in such a way that most places are in walking distance to several parks. Not many people think beaches when they think Chicago, but it is actually home to 29 miles of beaches located on Lake Michigan. Combine all this with no personal income taxes and a sports team in virtually every professional sport, suddenly Chicago as a destination for tech pros starts to make a lot of sense.

Professional Sports Teams: The White Sox, the Cubs, the Blackhawks, the Bulls, the Fire, Da Bears, the Wolves and the...

10. Portland, Oregon
We start our list in Portland, Oregon or 'The City of Roses' as it's known due to its perfect rose-growing climate. Regularly noted as a bike-friendly and green city, Portland has much to offer those that love the outdoors. Other reasons to consider Portland your home include a robust music scene and a strong job market among other things. "In my opinion, if you are a software engineer graduating from college right now, there is no better city you can move to than Portland," says Sam Blackman, CEO and Co-founder of Elemental, a Portland tech startup.

Professional Sports Teams: The Trail Blazers, the Thorns and the Timber.

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How far are you willing to go to spy on your employees' smartphones?

mSpy monitoring service/app tracks lots of data, but is it too snoopy?

The scoop: Mspy mobile phone monitoring service/app, starting at $40 per month (as tested, features would cost $70 per month)
mspy 620

What is it? The ultimate eavesdropping solution for people who want to see what their employees, kids or spouse are doing on their Android (or jailbroken iPhone) smartphone. The service can track what phone numbers are being called, the recipient and contents of text messages, what photos, videos and audio recordings they’re taking, what web sites they’re visiting, and emails they’re making. You can also block the smartphone from visiting specific web sites,block specific applications, monitor other apps (Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook and Viber).

Why it’s cool: The vast amount of things that the app/service can monitor is quite impressive, if not totally complete (for example, you can’t see any incoming MMS message, so the off-color photo your daughter receives from the boyfriend won’t be detected). Features that the service offers — including device wipe, app/site blocking and incoming phone call blocking — are usually only seen on enterprise-level mobile device management (MDM) products/services. Seeing a service like this target consumers and (more likely), small-to-midsize businesses is an interesting trend.

Here’s a video that mSpy produced touting its service:

Some caveats: We had difficulty hearing our recorded phone calls (all we got was static rather than a recording); the location tracker seemed to utilize the cell phone towers for location, not the device’s GPS function (it took some time for the system to discover where the phone was located). The folks at mSpy said the likely culprit was an older version of the software on our test Android phone - but instead of an over-the-Internet firmware/app update, they said they’d have to update the phone in person (a paying user would likely have to physically update the app on the phone as well).

The bigger issue/problem for users is whether you want or need this amount of monitoring of your mobile devices. This is major spying / monitoring territory that you’re entering here - being able to see exactly what the smartphone user is doing with their phone. Whether it’s your employee, your child or your spouse/partner, the issue of trust comes up with software like this. Even though mSpy says on its site that “My Spy (mSpy) is designed for monitoring your employees or underage children on a smartphone or mobile device that you own or have proper consent to monitor,” and “You are required to notify users of the device that they are being monitored,” there’s a big chance that the user will forget about this at some point, and the boss/parent/spouse/partner will end up seeing something that they might not want to see. It’s a level of privacy invasion that I’m not comfortable doing with my wife and kids (maybe I’ll feel different when my kids get older), and I’d have doubts about having IT staff doing this with employees. If you have any doubts about what the app/service can do or is aimed at, type in mSpy in YouTube search and see that the second video is called “How I caught my boyfriend cheating using mSpy”.

The second issue is the cost. At $40 per month (the starting level, the features we tested would cost $70 per month), this service is cost prohibitive for a large majority of consumers, as it approaches (or even exceeds) the cost of a monthly phone service plan. However, mSpy does offer a 10-day refund policy, so maybe you can use the service for nine days to see what your spouse/child/employee is doing, and then cancel the service.

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Microsoft XP is in the queue of erasing

Microsoft has ended up encouraging users to stop using windows XP for very long.

Microsoft's choice to remove its support team in the sand has sowed uncertainty and will likely encourage bad manners by several clients, analysts said at present.

"If next month someone finds another zero-day like this one, Microsoft might just shift the line once more," said John Pescatore, director of emerging security trends at the SANS Institute, a security training company.

"In a method, this encourages awful manners. There's a risk that people will look at it that way," said Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner, referring to those who will now question Microsoft's determination to end XP maintain, and thus slow or even suspend their resettlement to newer editions of Windows.

The specialist were discussion about Microsoft's shift on May 1 to problem fixes for a serious susceptibility in Internet Explorer (IE) that had been disclosed the week before and used by cyber criminals for an anonymous span of time before that to take control Windows PCs. Patching the bug was not strange; what was out of the normal was Microsoft's choice to push the join to Windows XP equipment.

At First, Microsoft had set the finish of support for Windows XP as April 8, a date it had broadcast for years. When Microsoft software reaches its support departure time, it's our business policy to stop public patching.

Just days after the limit, Microsoft fundamentally said, "Never mind," and patched the IE helplessness on Windows XP. What had been sure -- the support line in the sand -- became irresolute?

Microsoft stand-by the decision, proverb it had bent to what it called "overblown" media exposure and explanation that it did so only because XP had only newly been retired.

"I don't think the coverage was overblown," said Pescatore.

Wes Miller, an analyst with commands on Microsoft, decided. "It was a extremely bad weakness," he keen out.

Even so, the analysts were surprised at the let go of a fix for XP, not only because of the line Microsoft had so firmly drawn but because of the ramifications of erasing that line.

The precedent was what worried the experts. "totally, the standard matters to Microsoft," said Miller. "It's not a question of if, but when, this issue will come up yet again. Until key organizations are off of XP, every major vulnerability becomes a important chance for exploitation."

Some consumers still having Windows XP may view Microsoft's patching decision as a pass to carry on organization the 13-year-old operating system which, as Microsoft has repeatedly hammered home, lacks many of the higher security and anti-exploit features and technologies in newer editions, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Even further in the future, customers running Windows 7 may recall this XP patch and conclude that Microsoft is not serious about retiring that OS when its January 2020 support deadline nears.

"There is now a difference between what Microsoft thinks they mean and what [customers] think they mean," said Miller. "Everyone is playing chicken. Which means [years from now] people may say, 'I can keep running Windows 7.'"

Microsoft was in a "lose-lose" situation with XP, according to Silver, because of the operating system's large user base. At the end of April, XP powered about 26% of the world's personal computers, analytics company Net Applications revealed last week.

Although Microsoft didn't talk about XP's stubborn confrontation to retirement, and the huge numbers of PCs that still run the OS, the decision was clearly based on its continued prominence. Which makes one wonder, analysts said, what Microsoft may do in the weeks and months to come.

"May be Microsoft thought hard about this one. But if the same thing happened in a year, you wouldn't see it. So that [patch last week] may have been the real line," contended Silver.

"6 months from now, an XP vulnerability may get the same [media] coverage," said Pescatore. "But then Microsoft has a much stronger legend. They might say, 'XP's dropped in half since April, so we're sticking to the plan.'"

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Zero-day IE unprotected, Windows XP exposed

Microsoft is trying to gauge the seriousness of a zero-day flaw in all Internet Explorer browsers from versions 6 through 11 and whether it warrants issuing an out-of-band fix before May's Patch Tuesday.

The vulnerability, which is being exploited in the wild, allows remote code execution within the browser and could be carried out by luring users to specially crafted Web pages. It then enables attackers to assume the same privileges as the current user.

+ Also on Network World: Secure browsers offer alternatives to Chrome, IE and Firefox | Best browsers for safe surfing +

While Microsoft investigates, it recommends that users deploy its Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) 4.1, whose default setting helps protect IE. EMET can be configured using group policy.

It also recommends blocking Active X Controls and Active Scripting by setting IE security zone settings to “high.” This may cause some Web sites to behave incorrectly. “If you have difficulty using a website after you change this setting, and you are sure the site is safe to use, you can add that site to your list of trusted sites,” Microsoft says. “This will allow the site to work correctly even with the security setting set to High.”

According to Ross Barrett, a security engineer at Rapid7, the known exploit relies on Adobe Flash. “Disabling or removing flash will block the known exploit, but does not address the root cause issue in Internet Explorer,” he says in a blog post.

He notes that this is the first major issue to hit Windows XP since Microsoft stopped supporting the operating system April 8. The Microsoft security advisory doesn’t mention XP as an affected system since the company no longer provides security updates for it.

There are some mitigating factors surrounding the vulnerability, Microsoft says, including that some default-mode configurations that may lessen the threat it poses. Microsoft says:

By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2 runs in a restricted mode that is known as Enhanced Security Configuration. This mode mitigates this vulnerability.

By default, all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Windows Mail open HTML email messages in the Restricted sites zone. The Restricted sites zone, which disables script and ActiveX controls, helps reduce the risk of an attacker being able to use this vulnerability to execute malicious code. If a user clicks a link in an email message, the user could still be vulnerable to exploitation of this vulnerability through the web-based attack scenario.

An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website that contains a webpage that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit these websites. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit the website, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website.

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Fifteen Top-Paying Certifications for 2014

It's always a good idea to take stock of your skills, your pay, and your certifications. To that end, John Hales, Global Knowledge VMware instructor, has outlined 15 of the top-paying certifications for 2014. With each certification, you'll find the average (mean) salary and a brief description.

Based on the 2014 IT Skills and Salary Survey conducted by Global Knowledge and Penton and completed in October 2013, the rankings below are derived from certifications that received the minimum number of responses to be statistically relevant. Certain certifications pay more but are not represented due to their exclusive nature. Examples include Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) and VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX). This was a nationwide survey, and variations exist based on where you work, years of experience, and company type (government, nonprofit, etc.).

Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) - $118,253
The non-profit group ISACA offers CRISC certification, much in the way that CompTIA manages the A+ and Network+ certifications. Formerly, "ISACA" stood for Information Systems Audit and Control Association, but now they've gone acronym only.

The CRISC certification is designed for IT professionals, project managers, and others whose job it is to identify and manage risks through appropriate information systems (IS) controls, covering the entire lifecycle, from design to implementation to ongoing maintenance. It measures two primary areas: risk and IS controls. Similar to the IS control lifecycle, the risk area spans the gamut from identification and assessment of the scope and likelihood of a particular risk to monitoring for it and responding to it if/when it occurs.

Since CRISC's introduction in 2010, more than 17,000 people worldwide have earned this credential. The demand for people with these skills, and the relatively small supply of those who have them, result in this being the highest salary for any certification on our list this year.

To obtain CRISC certification, you must have at least three years of experience in at least three of the five areas that the certification covers, and you must pass the exam, which is only offered twice a year. This is not a case where you can just take a class and get certified. Achieving CRISC certification requires effort and years of planning.


Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) - $114,844
ISACA also created CISM certification. It's aimed at management more than the IT professional and focuses on security strategy and assessing the systems and policies in place more than it focuses on the person who actually implements those policies using a particular vendor's platform.

More than 23,000 people have been certified since its introduction in 2002, making it a highly sought after area with a relatively small supply of certified individuals. In addition, the exam is only offered three times a year in one of approximately 240 locations, making taking the exam more of a challenge than many other certification exams. It also requires at least five years of experience in IS, with at least three of those as a security manager. As with CRISC, requirements for CISM certification demand effort and years of planning.

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) - $112,040
The third highest-paying certification is also from ISACA; this one is for IS auditors. CISA certification is ISACA's oldest, dating back to 1978, with more than 106,000 people certified since its inception. CISA certification requires at least five years of experience in IS auditing, control, or security in addition to passing an exam that is only offered three times per year.

The CISA certification is usually obtained by those whose job responsibilities include auditing, monitoring, controlling, and/or assessing IT and/or business systems. It is designed to test the candidate's ability to manage vulnerabilities, ensure compliance with standards, and propose controls, processes, and updates to a company's policies to ensure compliance with accepted IT and business standards.

Six Sigma Green Belt - $109,165
Six Sigma is a process of analyzing defects (anything outside a customer's specifications) in a production (manufacturing) process, with a goal of no more than 3.4 defects per million "opportunities" or chances for a defect to occur. The basic idea is to measure defects, analyze why they occurred, and then fix the issue and repeat. There is a process for improving existing processes and a slightly modified version for new processes or major changes. Motorola pioneered the concept in the mid-1980s, and many companies have since followed their examples to improve quality.

This certification is different from the others in this list, as it is not IT specific. Instead, it is primarily focused on manufacturing and producing better quality products.

There is no organization that owns Six Sigma certification per se, so the specific skills and number of levels of mastery vary depending on which organization or certifying company is used. Still, the entry level is typically Green Belt and the progression is to Black Belt and Master Black Belt. Champions are responsible for Six Sigma projects across the entire organization and report to senior management.

Project Management Professional (PMP®) - $108,525
The PMP certification was created and is administered by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), and it is the most recognized project management certification available. There are more than half a million active PMPs in 193 countries worldwide.

The PMP certification exam tests five areas relating to the lifecycle of a project: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. PMP certification is for running any kind of project, and it is not specialized into sub types, such as manufacturing, construction, or IT.

To become certified, individuals must have 35 hours of PMP-related training along with 7,500 hours of project management experience (if they have less than a bachelor's degree) or 4,500 hours of project management experience with a bachelor's or higher. PMP certification is another that requires years of planning and effort.

Certified Scrum Master - $107,396
Another project management-related certification, Certified Scrum Master is focused on software (application) development.

Scrum is a rugby term; it's a means for restarting a game after a minor rules violation or after the ball is no longer in play (for example, when it goes out of bounds). In software development, Scrum is a project management process that is designed to act in a similar manner for software (application development) projects in which a customer often changes his or her mind during the development process.

In traditional project management, the request to change something impacts the entire project and must be renegotiated – a time-consuming and potentially expensive way to get the changes incorporated. There is also a single project manager.

In Scrum, however, there is not a single project manager. Instead, the team works together to reach the stated goal. The team should be co-located so members may interact frequently, and it should include representatives from all necessary disciplines (developers, product owners, experts in various areas required by the application, etc.).

Where PMP tries to identify everything up front and plan for a way to get the project completed, Scrum takes the approach that the requirements will change during the project lifecycle and that unexpected issues will arise. Rather than holding up the process, Scrum takes the approach that the problem the application is trying to solve will never be completely defined and understood, so team members must do the best they can with the time and budget available and by quickly adapting to change.

So where does the Scrum Master fit in? Also known as a servant-leader, the Scrum Master has two main duties: to protect the team from outside influences that would impede the project (the servant) and to chair the meetings and encourage the team to continually improve (the leader).

Certified Scrum Master certification was created and is managed by the Scrum Alliance and requires the individual to attend a class taught by a certified Scrum trainer and to pass the associated exam.

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Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) - $104,240
The CCEE certification is a legacy certification from Citrix that proves expertise in XenApp 6, XenDesktop 5, and XenServer 6 via the Citrix Certified Administrator (CCS) exams for each, the Citrix Certified Advanced Administrator (CCAA) for XenApp 6, and an engineering (advanced implementation-type) exam around implementing, securing, managing, monitoring, and troubleshooting a complete virtualization solution using Citrix products.

Those certified in this area are encouraged to upgrade their certification to the App and Desktop track instead, which focuses on just XenDesktop, taking one exam to become a Citrix Certified Professional - Apps and Desktops (CCP-AD). At this point though, the CCEE is available as long as the exams are available for the older versions of the products listed.

Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix NetScaler - $103,904
The CCA for NetScaler certification has been discontinued for NetScaler 9, and those with a current certification are encouraged to upgrade to the new Citrix Certified Professional - Networking (CCP-N). In any case, those with this certification have the ability to implement, manage, and optimize NetScaler networking performance and optimization, including the ability to support app and desktop solutions. As the Citrix certification program is being overhauled, refer to http://training.citrix.com/cms/index.php/certification/ to view the certifications available, upgrade paths, etc.

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) - $103,822
The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) created and manages CEH certification. It is designed to test the candidate's abilities to prod for holes, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities in a company's network defenses using techniques and methods that hackers employ. The difference between a hacker and a CEH is that a hacker wants to cause damage, steal information, etc., while the CEH wants to fix the deficiencies found. Given the many attacks, the great volume of personal data at risk, and the legal liabilities possible, the need for CEHs is quite high, hence the salaries offered.

ITIL v3 Foundation - $97,682
IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) was created by England's government in the 1980s to standardize IT management. It is a set of best practices for aligning the services IT provides with the needs of the organization. It is broad based, covering everything from availability and capacity management to change and incident management, in addition to application and IT operations management.

It is known as a library because it is composed of a set of books. Over the last 30 years, it has become the most widely used framework for IT management in the world. ITIL standards are owned by AXELOS, a joint venture company created by the Cabinet Office on behalf of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and Capita plc, but they have authorized partners who provide education, training, and certification. The governing body defined the certification tiers, but they leave it to the accredited partners to develop the training and certification around that framework.

The Foundation certification is the entry-level one and provides a broad-based understanding of the IT lifecycle and the concepts and terminology surrounding it. Anyone wishing for higher-level certifications must have this level first, thus people may have higher certifications and still list this certification in the survey, which may skew the salary somewhat.

Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix XenServer - $97,578
The CCA for XenServer certification is available for version 6 and is listed as a legacy certification, but Citrix has yet to announce an upgrade path to their new certification structure. Those with a CCA for Citrix XenServer have the ability to install, configure, administer, maintain, and troubleshoot a XenServer deployment, including Provisioning Services. As the Citrix certification program is being overhauled, refer to http://training.citrix.com/cms/index.php/certification/ to view the certifications available, upgrade paths, etc.

ITIL Expert Certification - $96,194
The ITIL Expert certification builds on ITIL Foundation certification. It is interesting that ITIL Expert pays less on average than ITIL Foundation certification. Again, it’s likely the salary results may be somewhat skewed depending on the certifications actually held and the fact that everyone who is ITIL certified must be at least ITIL Foundation certified.

To become an ITIL Expert, you must pass the ITIL Foundation exam as well as the capstone exam, Managing Across the Lifecycle. Along the way, you will earn intermediate certifications of your choosing in any combination of the lifecycle and capability tracks. You must earn at least 22 credits, of which Foundation accounts for two and the Managing Across the Lifecycle exam counts for five. The other exams count for three each (in the Intermediate Lifecycle track) or four each (in the Intermediate Capability track) and can be earned in any order and combination, though the official guide suggests six recommended options. The guide is available at http://www.itil-officialsite.com/Qualifications/ITILQualificationScheme.aspx by clicking on the English - ITIL Qualification Scheme Brochure link.

Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) - $95,602
Cisco's certification levels are Entry, Associate, Professional, Expert, and Architect. Those who obtain this Associate-level certification are typically network design engineers, technicians, or support technicians. They are expected to design basic campus-type networks and be familiar with routing and switching, security, voice and video, wireless connectivity, and IP (both v4 and v6). They often work as part of a team with those who have higher-level Cisco certifications.

To achieve CCDA certification, you must have earned one of the following: Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT), the lowest-level certification and the foundation for a career in networking); Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching (CCNA R&S); or any Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE), the highest level of certification at Cisco. You must also pass a single exam.

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) - $95,276
This certification ranked number 14 with an average salary of $95,505 for those who didn't list an associated Windows version and $94,922 for those who listed MCSE on Windows 2003, for the weighted average of $95,276 listed above.

The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer is an old certification and is no longer attainable. It has been replaced by the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (yes, also MCSE). The Engineer certification was valid for Windows NT 3.51 - 2003, and the new Expert certification is for Windows 2012. There is an upgrade path if you are currently an MCSA or MCITP on Windows 2008. There is no direct upgrade path from the old MCSE to the new MCSE.

Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix XenDesktop - $95,094
The CCA for XenDesktop certification is available for versions 4 (in Chinese and Japanese only) and 5 (in many languages including English). Those with a current certification are encouraged to upgrade to the new Citrix Certified Associate - Apps and Desktops (CCA-AD). In any case, those with this certification have the ability to install, administer, and troubleshoot a XenDesktop deployment, including Provisioning Services and the Desktop Delivery Controller as well as XenServer and XenApp. As the Citrix certification program is being overhauled, refer to http://training.citrix.com/cms/index.php/certification/ to view the certifications available, upgrade paths, etc.

Microsoft drags customers 'kicking and screaming' into its world of faster updates

Mandates Windows 8.1 Update to receive future patches; evidence of commitment to constant OS refreshes, say experts

Microsoft's demand that Windows 8.1 users install this week's major update was another signal that the company is very serious about forcing customers to adopt its faster release strategy, experts said today.

"Microsoft is going to drag organizations and users into this new world of faster updates kicking and screaming," said Michael Silver of Gartner in an email. "Microsoft wants users to trust it to keep their systems updated. Maybe they figure forcing organizations to deploy [Windows 8.1 Update] will get them used to taking updates and keeping current."

Earlier this week, Microsoft shipped Windows 8.1 Update (8.1U), adding that to obtain future updates, including fixes for vulnerabilities distributed each month on "Patch Tuesday," Windows 8.1 users had to install 8.1U.

"Failure to install this Update will prevent Windows Update from patching your system with any future updates starting with updates released in May 2014," Microsoft said.

May 13 is the first Patch Tuesday that will require 8.1U.

That requirement got the attention of users. And not in a good way.

"What happened to Microsoft's Lifecycle policy with providing customers with a 24-month timeframe before ending support of a superseded operating system RTM/Service Pack?" asked a user identified as "wdeguara" in a comment appended Tuesday to Microsoft's blog-based announcement. "By immediately withdrawing all future security updates for Windows 8.1 RTM, in the eyes of most enterprise customers you are effectively performing an immediate End-of-Life on Windows 8.1 RTM.

"I know that Microsoft wants its customer base to adopt updates to its Windows platform faster, but immediately dropping security patching on the Windows 8.1 RTM release is just plain crazy," wdeguara added.

But to Silver, that is exactly Microsoft's intent.

Others see similar method to Microsoft's madness.
"The reality is that Microsoft is moving the OS toward a more service-oriented model," said Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, in a Thursday telephone interview. "This reflects the fact that there are shifting sands, that Microsoft is trying to move toward one servicing model for a variety of platforms. They're trying to harmonize Windows Phone and Windows with one servicing model that works for everyone."

From Miller's perspective, Microsoft was striving for a mobile-style model for Windows that would not only rely on more frequent updates, but one with a goal of getting the bulk of users onto each new this-is-current update or version.

Other Microsoft customers joined wdeguara to criticize the forced migration, which had not been announced prior to Tuesday and which they saw as a betrayal of the 24-month rule that has given them two years from the launch of a service pack to upgrade from the original, called "RTM" in Microsoft-speak to reference "release to manufacturing."

"This is a massive shift from a patching perspective," said Julian Harper, an IT manager, in one of several messages posted to the Patchmanagement.org mailing list on the topic. "For years, we've had [two] years to plan service pack roll outs and now we're given one month. And this is on top of the fiasco that was Windows 8.1 for volume license customers."

Previously, Microsoft had said that the 24-month rule for Windows, once reserved for service packs, would apply to Windows 8 and its successors, including Windows 8.1 of October 2013, even though the latter was not labeled as a "service pack." Customers on Windows 8 RTM, which shipped in October 2012, would have until Jan. 12, 2016 to migrate to Windows 8.1. After that date, Windows 8 RTM will not be eligible for security updates and other fixes and enhancements.

"Microsoft has the most generous and transparent support policies, but everything depends on what they call the new code," said Silver. "A 'service pack' has a support policy. A 'version' has a support policy. Something with a different name, well, Microsoft can do what it wants."

Miller wasn't shocked at the complaints from enterprise IT personnel, like Harper. "It bothered me, too," Miller said. "The support lifecycle page doesn't reflect this, and it absolutely should," he continued, referring to Microsoft's support timetable for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. "Customers need to be able to keep track of what they have to do for support."

Andrew Storms, director of DevOps at CloudPassage, a San Francisco-based cloud security firm, acknowledged the historic nature of the Windows 8.1 Update's deployment requirement.

"What was surprising to me was that there was no prior notification from Microsoft," Storms said. "But what was not so surprising was that they made this decision. The number of SKUs that they support is getting out of hand. Microsoft can only support so many products. At some point, they just have to cut it."

Storms sympathized with corporate IT administrators nervous about the rapid release pace.

"Given the environment they're in, the complaints were well justified," Storms said. Traditionally, that has been an environment where companies downloaded an update, tested it for weeks or even months, then slowly deployed it to devices.

"That's an ongoing process that's constantly in motion," said Storms of the practice. "But we know everyone needs to move to [a process] where you have to take the updates as they are. So this really calls for a new way of thinking. IT must rethink the environment that they're in."

In other words, enterprises may not like Microsoft mandating 8.1U but they'll have to learn to live with not only that, but future demands, too. "If the [software vendors] are moving faster than you can keep up with using the traditional methodology, you're going to have to just take [the updates]," Storms said.

Microsoft did not reply to questions, including why it mandated 8.1U and whether it believed the requirement is a change of its 24-month rule.

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Can anti-virus technology morph into breach detection systems?

Can anti-virus technology morph into breach detection systems?
Such breach detection systems would need a centralized management reporting system and cloud-based analysis of gathered threat data.

Anti-virus software is still often considered a "checkbox" item for enterprise deployments, especially on Microsoft Windows, but over the decades, anti-virus software changed to do far more than just signature-based virus blocking. Today, the question is whether the type of anti-malware product that evolved from virus checking can transform again to be a part of a "breach detection system," or BDS

“The premise of breach detection is things will get through all your defenses and you need to contain it as soon as possible,” says Randy Abrams, research director at NSS Labs, which has begun testing what it calls BDS products that can identify evidence of stealthy cyberattacks, track down what corporate computers and networks were hit and quickly mitigate against any malware dropped in that attack which would be used to spy and exfiltrate sensitive data. BDS products, however they do it — through sandboxing, an endpoint agent or other approach -- should be able to at least catch the breach within 48 hours, he says.
The premise of threat detection is things will get through your defenses and you need to contain it as soon as possible.
— Randy Abrams, research director at NSS Labs

BDS products are largely immature, Abrams acknowledges, but enterprise customers are keenly interested in them and asking to have them independently tested. NSS Labs started doing that last year with products from AhnLab as well as FireEye and Fidelis Security, which was acquired by General Dynamics. These three did fairly well in that first round of basic testing, Abrams says. But the main limitations appeared to be there needs to be more protocol analysis done in to ensure attackers don’t have “a hidden tunnel out of the enterprise,” he adds. The next round of BDS tests anticipated for later this year will be tougher, he says.

+More on Network World: McAfee plans enterprise security package for fast threat detection and response | Is rapid detection the new prevention? | IDC tabs ‘Specialized Threat Analysis & Protection’ as new segment +

The vendors that NSS Labs consider to be part of the emerging BDS market today include Cisco, FireEye, Symantec, McAfee, Palo Alto Networks, Damballa, Fidelis and AhnLab. The security industry itself is abuzz with the utterances of “indicators of compromise,” the “IOC” clues such as anomalous outbound traffic that might indicate an attacker successfully broke in. Abrams thinks any BDS will need a centralized management reporting system and probably a lot of cloud-based analysis of gathered threat data.

Where this will all go is uncertain. The term BDS isn’t universally applied as a description. One research firm, IDC, last year started tracking what it calls “Specialized Threat Analysis and Protection” as a new segment that seems similar to BDS.

The question is whether the established vendors in the traditional antivirus industry, particularly Symantec and McAfee which lead in market share, can transition over to anything close to the NSS Labs’ view of BDS. Abrams notes the problem with any anti-malware product, however good, is that criminals determined to break into corporations are testing the attack and espionage code they’ve developed for that against existing antivirus products to find something that will get through and not be noticed, at least for a while.

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