I fortunately stumbled upon the SANS Webcast Archive and have been making my way through the streaming media presentations as I prepare for a security certification exam. Some are outstanding (even if a few years old), and I’ll be posting about them here: they usually provide interesting explanations of important topics accessible to an IT generalist.
To access the Webcast Archive as well as the current webcasts, you must register for free with the SANS Institute at http://sans.org using the
portal > create account
menu entry.
Once you are registered, login via the http://sans.org
portal > login
menu entry and then select the
resources > webcasts
menu entry. Then click on the Webcast Archive link and click on whatever presentation you’re interested in. You will be taken to yet another page where you’ll need to click on the “click here to proceed” button, but I usually uncheck the “share my info with sponsor” checkbox before doing so.
The presentations are usually sponsored, so the sponsor gets first crack at you. The quality of the advertising presentation is variable, but if I recommend a webcast it’s worth getting through so you can enjoy the main presentation that follows. There is usually a question-and-answer period after the presentation in which emailed questions are entertained, and the presenter’s answers to the questions often supplement the main presentation in useful ways.
The presentations can be accessed as audio with synchronized slides, though this of course ties you down in front of your computer. I just listen to the audio over a wireless headphone connection and go about my business at home while taking in the audio, and have never tried to view the slide part of a presentation. This way, I gain valuable IT background without having to dedicate time to it exclusively.