Observations of Instructor Led Training with Real Hardware

TechNow has heard many students talk about virtualized/remote training that TechNow Does Not Do. While training our most recent offering of PA-215: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Essentials FastTrack a student told his story of how he endend up in our course. His story we have heard for other technologies like Cisco, VMware, BlueCoat and other products.

A large percentage of training is moving to the virtualized/remote lab environments. Students are asked to use some variant of remote access software and remote into the training company's lab environment. Our student in our Palo Alto Networks Firewall course informed us that he went to a very costly offering of that course from the vendor and was not able to perform any labs. There were either network connectivity issues, or issues with the remote access software, or other problems. The whole training experience was very frustrating and not productive.

We keep our labs open to students if they would like after hours, or before hours access. Repeatedly going through a lab engrains that knowledge for later recall. Touching hardware is so critical in understanding the problems that arise when a cable comes loose, or a cable gets plugged in the wrong port. There are other scenarios such as just pulling the power cable, or turning off a power strip, or accidently overwriting a configuration. These disaster scenarious requires hands-on physical access to hardware. Preventing and recovering from disasters is what it's all about, and that requires hands-on, instructor led, real hardware.

TN-825: Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) Seminar

Course Overview:

The Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certification program is developed specifically for experienced information security managers & those who have information security management responsibilities. The CISM certification is for the individual who manages, designs, oversees and/or assesses an enterprise’s information security (IS). The CISM certification promotes international practices & provides executive management with assurance that those earning the designation have the required experience & knowledge to provide effective security management & consulting services. Individuals earning the CISM certification become part of an elite peer network, attaining a one-of-a-kind credential. The CISM job practice also defines a global job description for the information security manager & a method to measure existing staff or compare prospective new hires.

This course is designed to assist in your exam preparation for the CISM exam.

Attendees to TN-825: Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) Seminar will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Dates/Locations:

Date/Time	Event
11/17/2025 - 11/21/2025 08:00 -16:00	TN-825: Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) Seminar TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX

Duration: 5 Days

Course Objectives:

Information Security Governance (24%)
Establish and/or maintain an information security governance framework and supporting processes to ensure that the information security strategy is aligned with organizational goals and objectives
Information Risk Management (30%)
Manage information risk to an acceptable level based on risk appetite to meet organizational goals and objectives
Information Security Program Development and Management (27%)
Develop and maintain an information security program that identifies, manages and protects the organization’s assets while aligning to information security strategy and business goals, thereby supporting an effective security posture
Information Security Incident Management (19%)
Plan, establish and manage the capability to detect, investigate, respond to and recover from information security incidents to minimize business impact

Prerequisites:

A minimum of five years of information security work experience, with a minimum of three years of information security management work experience in three or more of the job practice analysis areas.

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User: tracycampbell

Instructor comments: Dave had great command of the class and the flow of information. The lessons seem relevant to the exam and the course material should assist greatly with passing. As a bonus, his breakdown of PKI helped with my current job requirements.

Facilities comments: The Home2Suites by Hilton was FANTASTIC!

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CT-395: CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst

Course Overview:

CT-395: CompTIA CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst is for IT professionals looking to gain IT security analyst skills, and for those following the recommended skills pathway to achieve cybersecurity mastery. It provides a bridge between CompTIA Security+ (CT-325) and CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP,CT-425), thus completing a certification path within the CompTIA family of certifications. As attackers have learned to evade traditional signature-based solutions, an analytics-based approach has become extremely important. CySA+ applies behavioral analytics to the IT security market to improve the overall state of security. The CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) certification verifies that successful candidates have the knowledge and skills required to configure and use threat detection tools, perform data analysis and interpret the results to identify vulnerabilities, threats and risks to an organization, with the end goal of securing and protecting applications and systems within an organization. Let us help you bridge this gap, and leave you prepared for the certification exam (CS0-002).

TechNow is a CompTIA partner uses official CompTIA CySA+ curriculum.

Dates/Locations:

Date/Time	Event
09/08/2025 - 09/12/2025 08:00 -16:00	CT-395: CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX
12/01/2025 - 12/05/2025 08:00 -16:00	CT-395: CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX

Duration: 5 Days

Course Objectives:

Threat Management
Vulnerability Management
Cyber Incident Response
Security Architecture and Tool Sets

Prerequisites:

While there is no required prerequisite, the CompTIA CySA+ certification is intended to follow CT-325: Security+ or equivalent experience. It is recommended for CompTIA CySA+ candidates to have the following:

3-4 years of hands-on information security or related experience
Network+, Security+, or equivalent knowledge.

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TN-5125: Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

Course Overview:

This course gives students the knowledge and skills to configure Active Directory Domain Services in a distributed environment, implement Group Policies, perform backup and restore, and monitor and troubleshoot Active Directory related issues. This course includes material contained in Microsoft’s 6424, 6425, 6426 and is an aid to preparation for the 70-640 exam.

Attendees to TN-5125: Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 Days

Course Objectives:

Installation
Administration
Users
Groups
Computers
Group Policy Infrastructure
Group Policy Settings
Domains and Forests

Prerequisites:

Basic understanding of networking
Intermediate understanding of network operating system
An awareness of security best practices
Basic knowledge of server hardware
A+ or equivalent knowledge
Some experience creating objects in Active Directory
Basic concepts of backup and recovery in a Windows Server Environment

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CT-405: PenTest+

Course Overview:

PenTest+ is an intermediate-level certification for cybersecurity professionals who are tasked with penetration testing to identify, exploit, report, and manage vulnerabilities on a network. PenTest+ is at the same certification level as CT-395: CySA+. Depending on your course of study, PenTest+ and CySA+ can be taken in any order, but typically follow the skills learned in CT-325: Security+. PenTest+ focuses on offense through penetration testing and vulnerability assessment while CySA+ focuses on defense through incident detection and response. The most qualified cybersecurity professionals have both offensive and defensive skills. Attend Tech Now training for hands-on, instructor led course to prepare you for the CompTIA PT0-002 exam. This exam is hands-on, performance-based questions and multiple choice, to ensure each candidate possesses the skills, knowledge, and ability to perform tasks on systems.

What’s Included:

5 days of instructor led in classroom training
Labs
PenTest+ Courseware
Exam Voucher
PenTest+ onsite exam scheduling

Course Objectives:

Plan and scope penetration tests
Conduct passive reconnaissance
Perform non-technical tests to gather information
Conduct active reconnaissance
Analyze vulnerabilities
Penetrate networks
Exploit host-based vulnerabilities
Test application
Complete post-exploit tasks
Analyze and report pen test results

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 Days

Course Content:

- Module 01. Planning and Scoping Penetration Tests
- Module 02. Conducting Passive Reconnaissance
- Module 03. Performing Non-Technical Tests
- Module 04. Conducting Active Reconnaissance
- Module 05. Analyzing Vulnerabilities
- Module 06. Penetrating Networks
- Module 07. Exploiting Host-Based Vulnerabilities
- Module 08. Testing Applications
- Module 09. Completing Post-Exploit Tasks
- Module 10. Analyzing and Reporting Pen Test Results

Prerequisites:

- - CT-225: Network+
  - CT-325: Security+
  - 3-4 years of hands-on information security or related experience

Target Audience:

This course is designed for cybersecurity professionals tasked with penetration testing and vulnerability management.

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