Cisco Systems this week introduced education programs for designing network security architectures and updated certification tests for specific Cisco security gear.

The two courses are "Designing Perimeter Security" and "Designing VPN Security," covering the technical aspects and best practices of firewall and VPN design. Cisco also updated its Cisco Certified Security Professional tests for firewalls, VPNs and intrusion detection systems.

The "Designing Perimeter Security" course is a three-day program that covers firewall basics — what firewalls can and can’t do — as well as guidelines for deploying firewalls in an enterprise and designing high-availability firewall architectures with load-balancing technology. "Designing VPN Security" is a four-day course targeting all aspects of VPN design and implementation, from VPN design to cryptography technology and VPN management.

The two security courses are available now through Cisco Learning Partners and the Partner E-Learning Connection locations. New versions of several Cisco product certifications are also now available. They include: Securing Cisco IOS Networks; Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced; Cisco Secure VPN; and Cisco SAFE Implementation. An updated Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System test will be available in October.