Course Technology Addresses the Market Need for Security Courseware

Premier IT Publisher Collaborates with CompTIA on its Latest Certification, Security+

June 26, 2002 –Boston, MA - Course Technology, the worldwide leader in computer education products and services and part of Cengage Learning, announced that it will contribute to the development of CompTIA's new Security+ certification as a CompTIA cornerstone partner.

By partnering with CompTIA, the leading IT association, Course Technology is responding to the growing need for security courseware and curriculum. As a cornerstone partner, Course Technology will also help guide the direction of the Security+ certification exam and will publish CompTIA authorized Security+ materials for certification training in late 2002.

The need for computer security education and guidelines has become increasingly apparent, as organizations have scrambled to upgrade information security measures and academic institutions have tried to meet growing demand for IT security programs. The trend shows no signs of stopping.

According to the 2001 Computer Security Institute and FBI annual study on security trends and issues, 91 percent of respondents detected computer security breaches within the last 12 months and 64 percent acknowledged financial losses due to computer breaches. This amounted to an average loss of $1.5 million. In a survey conducted in September 2001 by InformationWeek and PricewaterhouseCoopers, it was discovered that Code Red Status has cost businesses more than $2 billion and security breaches cost businesses $1.4 trillion in 2001.

Due to strong market demand and industry support for a foundation-level network security certification, CompTIA has accelerated Security+ development and expects to offer the exam in November or December 2002. "Security is a critical issue in both industry and in academia," said Joe Dougherty, president of Course Technology. "Course Technology is honored to help develop the Security+ objectives. We are excited about the potential for this new certification and we are looking forward to developing world-class courseware to help the next generation of IT professionals tackle this growing topic."

"CompTIA's Security+ certification is rapidly developing into what will be the industry standard and benchmark for vendor-neutral foundational level security certifications," said Lutz Ziob, VP of Certification at CompTIA. "The composition of the Security+ committee, along with the support and consensus of industry, government, academia and subject matter experts worldwide demonstrates the tremendous broad-based commitment to this new certification."

Security+ will cover the following security domains: general security concepts, communications security, infrastructure security, basics of cryptography, and operational and organizational security. Course Technology currently offers an extensive list of courseware written for both vendor-specific and vendor-neutral certifications, including MCSE, Novell, Cisco, and CompTIA's A+ , Network+ , and i-Net+ certifications.

Course Technology is also a cornerstone partner on CompTIA's Server+ certification.

Visit www.course.com/security for more information on Course Technology's Security Solutions.

Visit www.comptia.org/certification/securityplus/index.htm for more information on Security+, or e-mail securityplus@comptia.org.

About Cengage Learning and Course Technology

With revenues of approximately US $6 billion, Cengage Learning is a leading, global provider of integrated information solutions for business, education and professional customers. Its learning businesses and brands Cengage Learning serve the needs of individuals, learning institutions and corporations with products and services for both traditional and distributed learning. Course Technology is part of Cengage Learning and the worldwide leader in computing education, offering more than 1,600 print and innovative technology-based products for business and technology training.


About CompTIA

CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, is a not-for-profit trade association, providing the technology community standards in the areas of Internet-enabled service provision, e-commerce, vendor-neutral technical certification, CRM, public policy, workforce development and training. Representing the computing and communications market for over 20 years, CompTIA has more than 10,000 corporate members in 78 countries, and 10,500 individual professional members. Almost half a million individuals worldwide have earned CompTIA certifications. More information is available at www.comptia.org.