cisco firewall specialist and checkpoint

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hi guys, i just wanted to know what is the difference betwen cisco firewall specialist and checkpoint and which is better, im looking for work with just ccna and i dont think its enough, what do you guys reckon

any advice is appricated
thanks

 

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Zimmy

Hi - welcome to CF

To be honest, you've no chance of working in security without prior experience. If you don't have at least three years solid background in a networking/sysadmin role then no organisation worth it's salt will even look at you.

That said, if you've already put in the graft, then it would depend on what you wanted to work in. It might sound like I'm taking the piss here, but, if you wanted to work with PIX's & the ASA, go for a Cisco cert - if you want to work with Checkpoint's, go for a Checkpoint cert

There are pros and cons to every firewall, and it would probably be a matter of getting some basic exposure to each platform and deciding which one you wanted to work with. For my money, PIX firewalls are pretty easy to work with, but most companies now wouldn't employ a PIX for anything except pretty basic 'dumb filtering'. Many are moving to much more sophisticated models from Checkpoint & NetScreen. They're so much more flexible than the PIX, plus ScreenOS and the Nokia platform are considered 'safer' by many folks than the PIX OS (personally I don't see an enormous amount of difference between them, but the consensus amongst more knowledgable folks than me seems to be that the Nokia/Checkpoint platform is the most secure, followed by NetScreen's ScreenOS then the PIX OS)

It would probably be better for you starting out to go for the Cisco cert - its more widely recognised (simply because it says 'Cisco' at the top) and more places have at least one PIX sitting somewhere in their network.

 

What he said... I agree completely.

 

thanks for the reply, som good advice, from what ive heard checkpoint is prefered by more companys so maybe it would be better.just that theres a local school that teaches firewall pix and i cant find any1 who teaches checkpoint.

in regards to finding work with ccna, i was hoping i cud apply for 1st line work and gain experince like that, i guess thats how most ppl do it, but im dunno if ccna is enough? what do u guys think

 

The CCNA won't help you get a 1st line job... the CCNA far surpasses 1st line work, and thus, won't help you in getting a 1st line job. If you want a 1st line job, you should get entry-level certifications like the A+, Network+, and MCDST.