Book excerpt: Develop the skills you need in the real world Hit the ground running with the street-smart training you'll find in this practical book. Using a "year in the life" approach, it gives you an inside look at the common responsibilities of security administrators, with key information organized around the actual day-to-day tasks, scenarios, and challenges you'll face in the field. This valuable training tool is loaded with hands-on, step-by-step exercises covering all phases of a security administrator's job, including: Designing a secure network environment Creating and implementing standard security policies and practices Identifying insecure systems in current environment Providing training to on-site and remote users An invaluable study tool This no-nonsense book also covers the common tasks that CompTIA expects all of its Security+ candidates to know how to perform. So whether you're preparing for certification or seeking practical skills to break into the field, you'll find the instruction you need, including: Performing an initial risk assessment Installing, updating, and running anti-virus Encrypting files and securing e-mail Creating new user accounts Deploying IPSec The Street Smarts series is designed to help current or aspiring IT professionals put their certification to work for them. Full of practical, real world scenarios, each book features actual tasks from the field and then offers step-by-step exercises that teach the skills necessary to complete those tasks. And because the exercises are based upon exam objectives from leading technology certifications, each Street Smarts book can be used as a lab manual for certification prep.