7/15/2009 -- Every so often, the topic of whether the IT profession has a negative attitude toward older workers makes the news. Usually, the story goes something like this: 60-year-old programmer let go from XYZ Corp. and now can't find employment anywhere. And the moral, usually, is this: While ageism isn't exclusive to the IT field, it's certainly practiced there more than in other professions.

With economic conditions being what they are -- and stories like my hypothetical one above building steam once celebrities stop dying -- I decided to do some research. My first stop was the Internet, where I typed "average age" into a couple of different search engines followed by various job positions. According to my findings, the average CIO is a little more than six years younger than the average CEO.

Don't get too excited, though: The average CIO is over seven years older than the average CFO. Rats! Those folks in finance discriminate more than those in IT!

I then consulted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to find how many age discrimination charges are placed each year in IT. While I couldn't get a breakdown by field, it turns out that the total number of claims filed for age discrimination in 2008 isn't as high you might think (in fact, it's lower than the number of claims for discrimination based on race, sex and retaliation). A total of 24,582 age-related claims were filed last year, 1,974 of which led to settlements.

I did a few more similar searches but couldn't uncover anything substantial. While I'm sure discrimination based on age exists, I'm not sure that there's a confirmed pattern of it being worse in the IT field than in any other. If you have thoughts on the topic, I'd be interested in hearing them. E-mail me [email protected].

Citrix Narrows Its VUE
Heads up, Citrix cert-seekers. Following the trend of companies no longer supporting both testing channels -- in 2007, Cisco announced it was going VUE-only shortly after Microsoft announced its tests would be available exclusively from Prometric -- Citrix, which offers the Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA) and the Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) among others, has chosen Pearson VUE to be the only provider of its exams.

Cisco Releases Mid-Year Security Report
Cisco has just released its "2009 Midyear Security Report." According to the company, some specific threats currently making administrators' lives include botnets, spam, worms, "spandexing" (packing a Web site with keywords), text message scans and the ever-dangerous insider.

You can find the full report here.

Book of the Week: 'Hacking Exposed 6: Network Security Secrets & Solutions'
I'm not sure where the idea of using "hacking" for the title originally came from, but it's certainly an attention-grabber. I say this because the audience for this book isn't really supposed to include hackers (who aren't very likely to buy the book, anyway). Rather, it's directed toward administrators who want to prevent hackers from obtaining access to their systems. This seems like a trivial distinction, but it's not: After explaining the nature of an attack/hack, most of the book discusses how to prevent such attacks/hacks, not how to cripple the system and erase all traces.

That said, Hacking Exposed 6: Network Security Secrets & Solutions by Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray and George Kurtz is one of the best security books out there. The update includes the latest operating system information as well as information on RFID and wireless security. The 12 chapters are divided into four parts: "Casing the Establishment," "System Hacking" (which examines both Windows and Unix), "Infrastructure Hacking" and "Application and Data Hacking." All of the authors hold high-level security certifications and their expertise comes across on every page. Particularly helpful are the tables rating each new topic in several categories (simplicity, popularity, etc.).

If you're a network administrator charged with keeping your systems secure, this is one book you'll want to read -- and carefully.