Cisco or Checkpoint ??

Hi Everyone,

Recently I decided doing the checkpoint certification CCSA-NG but I heard that Cisco is also offering various certifications for Cisco Pix firewalls, to name a few there is 642-521 CSPFA, 642-501 SECUR which together certifiy to a "Cisco Firewall Specialist" adding 643-531 CSIDS Beta, 642-511 CSVPN, 642-541 CSI exams certify to CCSP "Cisco Certified Security Professional". Now I'm unable to decide which one I should go far, my interest is in enterprise secuirty and for which supposedly Cisco is the favorite one. The information above is collected from these URLs:

For Cisco Certified Security Professional:
www.cisco.com/en/US/learning/le3/le2/le3...ation_type_home.html


For Cisco Firewall Specialist:
www.cisco.com/en/US/learning/le3/le2/le4...ation_type_home.html

Can someone please help ?

Thanks,
Syed

Hi there Syed,

Cisco certifications certainly offer more value to the professional than most other vendors certifications.

I have also been troubled as to what I should choose next and I'm considered the Cisco Firewall Specialist as a first step Cisco security certification.

Checkpoint's certification is also well established, but I must admit, Cisco has the upper hand and is considered more valuable than Checkpoint's.

Keep in mind that the Cisco Firewall Specialist requires a valid CCNA! So all the above is assuming you have successfully completed your CCNA.

My personal opinion, which is also something I'll probably end up doing is start on the Firewall Specialist, once completed, I'm sure you will have a very good idea on what you should do next.

Let us know what your thoughts are.

Hi Chris,

I agree Cisco is more popular than Checkpoint ... they must be like Microsoft and Apple for firewalls ... I have finished my 640-607 and can continue to firewalls now ... but I guess i'm going to wait for some more time and study and practice some security first before going in for the vendor's certification ... in due course I might learn enough about both of them to make my decision more concrete ... maybe we can start a poll to understand the difference in people's opinion ... what say ?

Cheers,
Syed

From memory, members are allowed to start their own polls in the forum;

Check it out and if you can't, let me know so I can make the required changes.

Cheers,

From memory, members are allowed to start their own polls in the forum;

Check it out and if you can't, let me know so I can make the required changes.

Cheers,
_________________
Chris Partsenidis.

Hi Chris,
I checked but I have no option to start a poll.

Cheers
Syed

You should now be able to create polls!

Give it a try and let me know if you have any problems.

Cheers,