1/12/2010 -- BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, has created a Foundation Certificate in Green IT which is now being offered through Prometric centers worldwide. There's not a great deal of information available yet on the certification, but the homepage for it can be found here.  

The only other green IT cert I'm aware of at the moment is one of the Strata certifications offered by CompTIA.

Strata IT Technology for Sales Exam Now Worldwide
Speaking of which, CompTIA has announced that the Strata IT Technology for Sales exam (FC0-TS1) has now become available at Prometric and VUE testing sites around the world. This exam is intended to authenticate skills of those who either sell or recommend IT products. It focuses on the following topic areas:

• Technology and computer hardware basics (48 percentof the exam).
• Compatibility issues and software compliance (16 percent).
• Preventative maintenance and green IT (18 percent).
• Sales and communication skills (18 percent).

There are 70 questions on the exam and 60 minutes allotted to take it, with a passing score of 70 percent or higher.

Microsoft Launches New Sites
Microsoft has recently created two new sites for students interested in IT and technology. The first, Microsoft Student Career Portal, is intended to provide students with information about careers in IT, as well as point them to certification and training options that are relevant to five jobs: Windows 7 consumer support tech, database admin, server admin, Web developer and Windows developer.

The second site is actually a Facebook page, called Microsoft Learning for Students, intended to allow peers to keep current on training and certification as well as interact with others in the IT community.

Book of the Week: 'Hacking Exposed Malware and Rootkits'
The Hacking Exposed series of books is one of my favorites. No matter how much you may know about security, it's almost impossible to read one and not scratch your head at something you find in there and contemplate the ramifications it could have on your network, computer, etc. While many of the books in this series are into the multiple editions now, the Malware and Rootkits entry is a new one that's much needed.

Written by Michael A. Davis, Sean M. Bodmer and Aaron LeMasters, this book's 11 chapters are divided into three parts: Malware, Rootkits and Prevention Technologies. It's the five chapters in the last part that I found of most value; while it's all well and good to know what a rootkit is, what I really need to know is how to detect the presence of one and take the appropriate steps to quash it.

In addition to talking about the standard OS anti-rootkit features, the authors also go into methods of detection such as IRP hooking, direct kernel object manipulation and more. It's this type of detail that makes this book stand out and one that you should consider reading very soon.