CWSP and CWNA training references?

[Wildcats]

Hi,

Any opinions on training sources for CWNA and CWSP certification?

These (below) may be OK, but I hate to spend $2500-$3500 and not get what I paid for.

http://www.technettraining-fl.com/
http://www.ntec-co.com/ntec_cwnp.html

Any opionions or references would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Wildcats.

[lwheeler]

Global Knowledge is offering training now as well.
Larry

https://www.cwne.com/training/gk_about.html

[Aiakos]

I think those classes are a waste of money. For a simple cert like CWNA read the study guide a few times, buy some equipment and mess around with some programs then go take the test.

I personally have the Oriellys book on wireless, the CWNA study guide and read both of those (Oriellys once & study guide twice)

I also bought 4 cards with prism2 (linksys wpc11), hermes(orinoco gold), cisco (aironet 350) & broadcom (linksys wpc54g) chipsets, two access points (dlink 614+ and belkin) and messed with those for awhile.

Anyways I studied for a couple of months and bought the practice tests + exam voucher for $195 from planet3 and passed with flying colors.

The funny part is I was at a wireless user group meeting and a presenter was a trainer from some Colorado company who flew all the way to socal to try and get us interested in a $3000 7 day class for CWSP and I was teaching him stuff!

Oreillys book $50
CWNA book $50
WPC11 $30
Cisco 350 $75
dlink 614+ $45
voucher + practice tests $195
======================
total ~$445


The vacation in amsterdam you paid for with the money you saved from not taking a training class: priceless

[Wildcats]

Thanks for the feedback.

My intent is not so much to get the CWSP or CWNA, but to get some "wireless security" hands-on with some different wireless products. According to the web site: http://www.cwne.com/cwsp/course_outline.html, I'll get some hands-on with these products:

BlueSocket
Colubris Networks
Cisco Systems®
Fortress Technologies
SnapGear
Intermec
Proxim
Symbol Technologies
Funk Software
Microsoft
TamoSoft
Zoom Telephonics
SafeNet
System Tools
Van Dyke Software
WildPackets
IPSwitch
Young Design

I could get an eval unit from each of these companies, but I don't have the time. Hopefully some hands-on time will help me make the decision to go the wireless switch route (ie: Aruba), wireless gateway (Bluesocket), or try to use the MAC/IP/Port filters that are available with the Cisco 1200 AP. Hopefully the instructor and other students will have some opinions to discuss.

http://www.technettraining-fl.com/ is $1000 more than ntec, and ntec includes the CWSP study guide. I'm more concerned with a quality education than price though (my employer is paying).
http://www.ntec-co.com/ntec_cwnp.html

Your thoughts? Thanks folks.

Update: 4:24PM EST, 24Oct03. Just registered at technettraining in Atlanta, GA. Class sizes are normally no more than 8, to allow time for questions and the labs. 85% of the classwork is hands-on labs. $2995 includes the CWSP Study Guide and the course material. Free retakes of the class, if you live near a training center (no good for me).

[Aiakos]

If you want some hands on security, the hardware you referred to would be good but I would recommend also running some of these programs.

netstumbler (http://www.netstumbler.com/) is the best (imho) windows based access point discovery tool. It runs off hermes chips and will show you where access points are, their SNR, tell you the SSID, log them into a gps unit and tell you if their using WEP.

kismet (http://www.kismetwireless.net/) is the best linux based ap discovery tool. You have to be fairly familar with linux to get it up and running, but its well worth it. It runs monitor mode which basically means it will pick up more stuff and is undetectable (netstumber is detectable). It will pipe into snort if you want to use it for an intrusion detection system, it will dump into ethereal for network analysis, plus a bunch of crap. Trust me its worth it.

airsnort (http://airsnort.shmoo.com/) & wepcrack (http://sourceforge.net/projects/wepcrack) are used to break WEP encryption.

ettercap (http://ettercap.sourceforge.net/) is used for cracking ssh1, arp poisoning, dosing and all sorts of fun stuff.

nessus (http://www.nessus.org/) is the best vulerability scanner on the planet. Its so good its scary.

dsniff (http://www.monkey.org/~dugsong/dsniff/) is a password logger and more.

and no list could be complete without nmap (http://insecure.org/) the best port scanner around. Check out their tools (http://www.insecure.org/tools.html) page, it has a bunch of goodies that are fun for the whole family.

Hope this helps

[Wildcats]

Thanks for the info.

Update: Ntech in Dallas has reduced the CWSP course to $1995.

To late for me. I already have purchased my airline tickets and paid for the course at TechnetTraining. I hope the class is good.

[dal1221]

I lucked out and got into a class which my company paid for entirely. It was done by NTEC. I must say it was a good class, however, I had already been studying and installing this stuff for the past year or so. After the class I bought the Practice test and Exam Voucher for $195. Reviewed for 1 week and then took the test. Passed with no problem. YEAH!!!
I am with some of you guys...If you are pretty savvy and just buy the study guide and do some hands on installing, you should have no problem taking and passing the test.