New Security+ certification course offered at Keesler Published March 23, 2011 By 81st Training Group KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A new course to provide Security+ certification to 3D personnel prior to air expeditionary force deployments stood up March 21 at Keesler. The course is currently programmed to train 1,297 students annually in Keesler's 336th Training Squadron. Last December during a training advisory meeting with chief master sergeants from across the Air Force, Secretary of the Air Force officials asked the 336th TRS to implement the new course. The course supports Department of Defense Directive 8570 that specifies that anyone touching the network must be certified. Within two months of the short-notice request, the 336th TRS, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Brian Worth, commander, launched the new 8570 just-in-time certification course, E2AZR3DXXX 00AA. This unclassified course, taught in Thomson Hall, lasts for seven academic days. It provides Security+ certification training to DoD personnel in knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of an information assurance technician when managing and operating the Air Force network. Course attendance is open to officers, enlisted and civilian personnel. Those requiring training for an AEF deployment or as part of a 6K communications and electronics unit task code have priority. Remaining seats are open to all personnel who require 8570 as part of their job. The scope of training includes systems security, network infrastructure, access controls, assessments and audits, cryptography and organizational security. A commercial certification exam, CompTIA Security+, is administered at the end of the course. For personnel who attend as part of pre-deployment, the home unit covers funding and then requests reimbursement from overseas contingency operations funding. For non-pre-deployment personnel, the course is unit funded or mission readiness training funding can be transferred from other classes. The course covers both Information Assurance Technician II and Information Assurance Manager I requirements and satisfies the requirement for Information Assurance Technician I certification, since higher level certifications qualify for lower level requirements. For more information, go to the Education and Training Course Announcements website, https://www.my.af.mil/etca/default1.asp.