Introducing Cosaint CertifyTM - Online Computer Virus Awareness Training And Testing For End-users
April 19, 2002 - Mount Vernon, WA
Cosaint Inc., a Mount Vernon (WA) based company specializing in Information Security education, today announced the launch of Cosaint Certify (http://www.cs-certify.net) - online computer security training and testing for end-users.
Cosaint Certify's first course - "Defend Yourself Against Viruses" - has been produced in response to the increasing frequency and venom of virus attacks. With hackers firmly targeting the end-user community and particularly users of Microsoft's Outlook e-mail client, educating general business users is becoming of paramount importance.
This short (about 30-minute) web-based training course introduces students to computer viruses. It covers the most critical actions required for safe use of the internet and computer systems with a special emphasis on e-mail viruses such as Goner, LoveBug and Melissa.
Interactive features such as pop-quizzes keep the learners attention. An optional audio track - optimized for low bandwidth connections - is provided through a Java applet so that no plugins are required. At the end of the course, a mastery test is provided and successful students can download and print out their own personalized certificates. The material has been audited for accuracy by IT managers in client companies, and by a number of senior analysts at leading Information Security companies.
The Cosaint Certify management interface has been designed with an emphasis on ease-of-use for both IT and non-IT staff such as HR departments. It features bulk upload and setup of accounts, automatic password generation, an e-mail tool to send reminders to the student list, and monitoring of student progress.
Connie Wedel, HR Manager for Southborough (MA) based Flomerics Inc. said:
"'Defend Yourself Against Viruses' is an excellent web-based course. Our employees said it was convenient, easy-to-follow, engaging, and informative. I found the administration to be extremely easy which is particularly important to us since we have employees in a number of remote offices. Last but not least - if we've avoided the damage, downtime and hassle of even one virus infection, the course has more than paid for itself! It's obvious that Cosaint has used their expertise in IT and e-learning to develop this course for business users like us."
Cosaint CEO, Steve Addison, explained the reasons for development of the product.
"When we surveyed the market, we found that most of the available training products targeted IT staff - not end-users - or required the deployment of a large Learning Management System (LMS) to track student's progress. Whilst large corporations are able to invest in these systems and develop custom training courses, most of the 7 million plus small businesses in the US (and more in the rest of the world) can't afford to do this. Yet they're just as vulnerable as larger businesses to virus attacks. Cosaint Certify was developed to meet the needs of growing businesses who really care about security, but who have to live within the tight budget constraints that we are seeing today."
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