Excited to share that I've officially received my CompTIA Pen Test+ voucher!
A big shout out to @Stephen Schneiter for making this possible—really appreciate the support!

Just bragging Received exam voucher yesterday, passed the exam today!
Thank you, CIN and @Stephen Schneiter, for this opportunity, and @Nicholas Pierce for the awesome TTT sessions!

Good luck, fellow CIN-ers, with your exams!

Hello,

When will the vouchers from attending the PenTest TTT be disbursed?

Thanks.

I can't seem to find the latest partner price list for CompTIA exam vouchers. The partner website seems broken too. Anyone have the latest? I believe it was in an excel format.
Thanks!

Is CompTIA planning to offer CIN-TTT series for Linux+ in 2025?

CIN TTT Series: A+ Core 2 Sessions run from May 06, 2025, to June 05, 2025.

It is time to continue our journey through the new A+ 1200 series! Join CIN and special guest Lynn Warne for the CIN TTT Series: A+ Core 2 220-1202. The series will cover ten sessions covering the A+ Core 2 exam domains. Lynn will teach the advanced skills and concepts covered on the exam as well as hands-on activities with key technology tools to help students launch a career in IT.

What: CIN TTT Series A+ Core 1 1202 10 sessions
When: May 6, 2025, 6:00 - 8:00 PM Central Daylight Time, Tuesday and Thursday through June 5, 2025
Who: Lynn Warne
Where: ON24

REGISTER HERE

In the past ther was a price list for student discounts on vouchers and materials for Comptia Academy school students. Is that still offered and where is that current information?

Hi CINers, I would like to ask, is it still possible for me to be eligible to get the voucher exam for CloudNetX because I just finished watched all the 5-sessions videos on-demand by today (20 April 2025) ?

Hi everyone-

I'm in the process of launching a new CompTIA A+ Training Program at a Minnesota based non-profit organization. We need to train 200 students over roughly 5 weeks (40 clock hours of training each week - 25 students per week - 1 week 'makeup' at the end.)

I'm curious if anyone has data or person experience regarding a sufficient hourly rate. This would be a contract role but is likely to be extended at the end of this initiative.

Let me know if you have additional questions - seeking someone with at least 1 or 2 years teaching experience (technical or otherwise,) is comfortable with remote instruction, and currently holds at least their CompTIA A+ certification.

Thanks! I can provide further details upon request.

Hey, everyone!

We're all using AI, sure. But, can you easily summarize the four modalities, or ways, that we use AI? The attached slide deck (put it into "Presentation mode") contains a summary, as given to me from Robert Wenier, who leads up AstraZeneca's cloud and data center tech. The slide deck contains examples, including of agentic. The last image shows code on the left, and an agent checking code on the right.

Robert may look a bit like a bouncer or a U.S. Secret Service agent, but he's a fount of wisdom! Let me know what you think, folks!

Hi has anyone received exam vouchers for the new Pentest PTO 003 from the TTT

This confuses me.

Just wanted to share that I passed my CySA+ exam yesterday!!! I’m still on a high!

Hello CIN'ers (and particularly those who are SpiceHeads) -

Not sure if you heard the news, but it would seem that SpiceWorks' pledge to be forever free has gone the way of the dodo. Those of us who have been using the SpiceWorks cloud helpdesk for years, asking for Entra ID and better methods for inventory and asset tracking have been disappointed, particularly when SpiceWorks discontinued the On-Premises model that worked so well in the early years. But I guess their pricing model isn't paying the bills, so...

If you have more than five active employee users in the system, as the annoying banner says, you have until 05/31/2025 to pay up or find a new home for your helpdesk needs.



So, let's talk Help Desk Systems...

What are you using for your current ticket tracking? Is it working out? Are there things you wish you could do that you can't? Paid or premium options? Worth paying or nah?

I had a few students ask about CompTIA AI certs. This one caught me off guard since I missed this AI notification, beta tests, etc. I've seen a few posts, but I'm not sure I understand the mission here with CompTIA. It seems like CompTIA is going to release an "AI Essentials exam," but I admit these so called expansions are quite perplexing(seems like throwing pancake batter on the kitchen wall).

I'm not sure why they want to develop all these certifications at once when, from what I can see, they have not released one.

I find it entertaining that there are numerous CompTIA AI courses on Udemy, but I can't find the certifications.

https://www.comptia.org/newsroom/comptia-announces-ai-product-roadmap-expansion-covering-six-domains

Any insight would be appreciated. Cheers. Joe

Hey, CINners! James Stanger and I are wondering about your use of cyber ranges. By "cyber ranges," we're talking about interactive individual and/or team-oriented environments where people work on specific skills (e.g., security analytics skills), courses (e.g., Security+), individual skills (securing APIs against Advanced Persistent Threats), and/or Capture the Flab (CTF). So, here's the question:

What cyber range environments do you use?

And, here's a follow up question: What do you like or not like about cyber range environments?

Hello CINners! We have a special virtual livestream event coming up just for you! CompTIA and Dr. James Stanger will be conducting a workshop at the AFCEA TechNetCyber Baltimore conference on May 7th, 2025.

During this session, Dr. Stanger will be joined by special guest Zach Vaughn of Vectra AI, Dr. Matt McFadden of GDIT, and Bill Newhouse of NIST for a discussion of how traditional IT and cybersecurity workflows and approaches are changing in the face of AI and Post-Quantum Computing. They will discuss topics such as:

• Analyzing today's vulnerable tech footprint: The impact of Post-Quantum Cryptography and AI on how we do things today
• AI: Hunter or hunted? A look at the attack lifecycle and today's hybrid environments - traditional and AI-based approaches
• Migrating to post-quantum encryption
• How AI and Post-Quantum are affecting traditional pen testing, analytics, and attack surface paradigms
• A practical overview of post-quantum issues and readiness: What we've learned from past rollouts
• Analyzing your problem surface for post-quantum readiness
• Upskilling opportunities

We are pleased to offer this event to CIN members in conjunction with the AFCEA TechNet Baltimore conference attendees. Your participation will even include a Participation of Attendance certificate valid for two hours of CE credit for CompTIA certifications.

What: CIN TTT Series A+ Core 1 1202 10 sessions
When: May 7, 2025 12:30-2:30 PM Central Daylight Time
Who: Dr. James Stanger, Zach Vaughn, Dr. Matt McFadden, Bill Newhouse
Where: ON24

REGISTER HERE

On April 16, a foundational piece of the world’s cybersecurity infrastructure may quietly grind to a halt.

MITRE’s stewardship of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures program—a backbone of coordinated vulnerability disclosure for more than two decades—is facing an uncertain future as its U.S. Department of Homeland Security contract expires. Without confirmed renewal or replacement, the industry risks entering a period of dangerous opacity in vulnerability tracking.

For the cybersecurity community, this isn’t a minor bureaucratic lapse. It’s a five-alarm fire.

My A+ and Network+ had expiration dates in 2028. This was due to my earning the CASP+ and then renewing it by passing the ISACA CISM.

I passed the fifth version of Network+, which extended my Net+ and A+ until 2031. My first Network+ certification was in 2005.

At this point, I don't really see the point of taking any of the certification exams again if I've already passed them. Especially if I've passed multiple versions already.

I didn't even study for the Net+ this time. Didn't even download the objectives. Just signed up and took it blind and passed easily. The exams don't change enough from one version to the next to justify constantly retaking them. Maybe 10%-15% changes, tops.

I'll just renew them with CEUs from now on because there is zero value to constantly retaking exams just because the version changes. They don't list the version number on the certificate. Just the date originally earned and the expiration date.

For the record, none of my clients require that I have the most current CISSP, CISM, CAPM, MS Azure, or any other certification. It makes no sense at all for me to retake any CompTIA exam that I've already passed before.

I've still got DataX and Linux+ left to pass, and then I'm done taking CompTIA exams.

Moving from ITF to Tech+ in the Fall 2025.

Noticed CompTIA offers Tech+ Learn and Tech+ Labs.

I have instructor access to both.

I noticed in CompTIA Tech+ Learn there are labs. Of course, I have access to Tech+ Labs.

My question is do I need to purchase CompTIA Tech+ Learn and CompTIA Tech+ Labs for the labs to work? Is there any benefit in purchase CompTIA Tech+ Labs if my students already have CompTIA Tech+ Learn?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

YES! It is time for our first TTT series of 2025! Join us for the PenTest+ series beginning Tuesday, January 21st! @Nicholas Pierce will lead this series, which consists of eight sessions covering the PenTest+ exam domains. Nick will teach the key cybersecurity concepts covered on the exam and conduct hands-on activities with key technology tools used by cybersecurity professionals. We will also discuss instructional strategies for presenting the concepts to students and best practices for implementing a PenTest+ course.

What: CIN TTT Series PenTest+ PT0-003 8 sessions
When: Jan 21, 2024, 6:00 - 8:00 PM Central Daylight Time, Tuesday and Thursday
Who: Nicholas Pierce
Where: ON24

REGISTER HERE

I am considering offering a Linux+ certification study group at the community college where I teach Linux+. In class, we use the CompTIA book and CertMaster labs. I don’t have any experience in creating a study group, so I am looking for advice and resources that could help.

Hi everyone!

It's been a few weeks now, but I'm so glad to share with you guys that I passed the exam Cloud+ CV0-004