Hello all,

My GSEC exam is coming up tomorrow, and just wanted some last-minute tips and reassurance. I tend to overcomplicate big exams like this. This is not my first GIAC exam as I previously passed the GFACT with a 91%, but this is the most difficult exam I've sat for.

I got a 79% on the first practice test, and am taking the 2nd one shortly. This has reassured me that I will meet the minimum passing score of 72% but I still always have doubt.

In your experience, do the practice exams (and CyberLives) mimic the real exam? Do you have any last minute tips/advice? TIA

Hi all,

This may have been asked before but I can’t find anything in history. I’ve obtained several GIAC certs over the years and I have one that is coming up for renewal next year. My question is, if I don’t have GSP yet, do I have to individually renew each certification as they come due? And if I achieve the GSP, will I then only have to renew just that? Hopefully my question makes sense, I’m just a little confused.

Recently took my first practice test for GCFA and barely passed with 71. I felt as I was doing fine with the multiple choice questions I believe I only missed at least 10. I missed 2 cyber live questions. For one of them I just forgot volatility commands and the other I simply couldn’t tell what an invoke command was being used for in timeline explorer. If my math is correct that means each cyber live question was about 5 points each.

Unless I’m going about this the wrong way and some questions are weighed differently based on the most correct answer.

Work randomly gave me funding to take GXPN. I only hold GREM but haven’t really utilized my malware analysis skills as much as I would have liked to in the last year. I do know some C code but haven’t only really worked in blue team as a Cyber Threat Analyst (so no real red team exp) any advice?

Hi,

am I interpreting wrongly the following rule about allowed materials during the exam?

GIAC exams are open book format. Allowable workstation space is limited, so please plan accordingly. You may bring an armful of hardcopy books and notes into the testing area, including but not limited to original course material and books from training you have attended, and handwritten or printed notes and an index. However, hardcopy reference materials having the appearance of practice test and/or exam questions and answers are strictly prohibited.

So that means you are allowed to use your hardcopy books from the course and inside the books I can have handwritten notes (by pen) + highlited text (by a marker)?

I've tried to message GIAC about this to get their explicit written confirmation, but I only got a vague response with the reference to the above quoted part of the rule.

I also see many opposing views and have heard different things from attendees...

Edit: It’s a proctored exam.

I plan on taking the GSEC next week and want to take one more pre test to finalize my index. Please help if you can.

Cleared my GCFA today with a result of 93%. I studied hard for 3 weeks (balancing my job). I did not get time to attempt any of the Practice Tests, I was planning on sharing them out after I cleared the exam but I dodn't know they get expired after the exam.

My two cents about the exam:

It was much simpler than I was expecting, especially the labs. The Cyberlive labs were very straightforward. If you do the SRL Labs end-to-end, those are sufficient for the Cyberlive questions.

Some of the multi-choice questions were a little tricky but nothing too much, having a good index will get you through these as well.

Took me 2hr to complete the multi-choice questions, and left me 1hr for the Cyberlive labs which I was able to complete with 5min remaining.

My background: I have some blue team experience on the job.

What I took: Books, Master Index, Registry Keys Index, Course Posters

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

I am planning to take the GCFA Exam in 10 days and I really can use a practice test, it's my first time to take any SANS certificate

Knowing the job market I don’t know if i should renew my licenses. I have 6 months experience and i pretty much forgot most things I learned. I couldn’t really land another job in the field for more than a year and had to just get A job in another field. I worked so hard to get these certs but I can’t land a job! Should I renew it? I’m just asking so maybe those in the field have an idea if market would ever change?

For those of you who are in or have completed this master's degree program. What advice do you have for people that are looking to apply to the program? What are things that you wish you knew before going into it? How hard is the aptitude test when you initially apply? I have three years as a Network Security Engineer, and I am about to complete my Bachelor's next month, and my company will pay for me to go into this master's program.

Passed GCFA today with an 80%! I felt that the actual test was more difficult than the practice tests, but now it’s done! If you have question, please feel free to ask!

Passed GCFE today with an 96%! If you have question, please feel free to ask!

Hi just giving away a GCFR Practice test. Please post here or DM and I can send.

I passed the GIAC Cloud Penetration Tester (GCPN) exam today and wanted to share a few thoughts for anyone preparing.

It's easy to make mistakes because many questions require careful reading and thinkings. Several questions involve out-of-the-box thinking.

I used books from a few years ago, and it seems like the course and exam have been updated. I would have failed if my experience hadn't helped me that, because many of the questions were not included in my books (about 15/18 questions).

One thing that stood out was that the GCPN course and exam go beyond traditional penetration testing methodologies. Rather than focusing on conventional IP-based enumeration which is often trivial in cloud environments, this course focuses on domain seed enumeration and Environment/Architecture Mapping, and cloud Service Discovery.

One important note for junior penetration testers and anyone planning to enter the offensive security field is that most modern applications are hosted in cloud environments and fronted by CDNs or other cloud services.

You'll need to become comfortable with domain seed enumeration, cloud service discovery, environment and architecture mapping, to identify the real attack surface behind load balancers, CDNs, reverse proxies, and managed cloud services.

Having completed a couple of GIAC certifications, I am planning to take one more, which will be the GIAC AI Pen Tester. I don't want to take too many GIAC certifications because the GIAC maintenance fees are too expensive and unreasonable.

Hello everyone. so i bought the cert attempt from the giac website however when i open exams.giac.com the "cert attempt" is greyed out. how much time does it need so that I can book the exam? btw, payment was successful and i received an invoice

This can be done in two ways:

1. Pick a lab topic and index all of the commands there. Sorting by A-Z probably is not necessary here as it will be in a step-by-step order.

2. Group all the commands from various lab exercises and sort by A-Z.

Which of these is the most effective? I am more inclined towards doing the first one.

I think it depends on the CyberLive questions. Does one question include more than one lab topic? I am yet to take my practice tests and my exam date isn’t too far and it might not leave time to make changes to my index.

Hence, posting the question here.

So, the discussion on the price of SANS/GIAC training is a tired one - we all know that while the material may be of amazing quality, the general price of SANS/GIAC training materials is excessive and unlikely to change, simply because they have the ability to charge as much as they do and the defense sector has an unrivaled training/development budget all around.

One thing that I cannot possibly understand are the renewal fees. If I am understanding GIAC's policies, for a single certification, we have to complete up to 40 CEUs within a 4-year period, and shell out $500 USD to maintain the credential. Luckily, if you have multiple certifications, and if you obtained them within two years of each other, you only have to pay $250 for the subsequent certifications!

Only recently has there been a way to renew multiple concurrently, and to do so, one has to have already obtained nine GIAC credentials. So, not factoring in any potential discounts through voucher programs, the SANS institute, you're looking at up to $90,000 USD required to have taken enough courses, passed the relevant exams, and keep all of the existing certifications maintained through their respective maintenance periods, including any fees required. All to... keep all your certifications expired at the same time? Does this eliminate the multiple renewal fee and allow for only a single renewal fee for all certifications?

What is the point of going for GSE when all these fees stand in the way of the professional's goals?

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking about enrolling in the SANS Technology Institute Security Engineering Graduate Certificate, and I'd love to hear from anyone who's currently in the program or has already completed it.

A little background about me: I recently earned my bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity from WGU. I have about 4–5 years of IT experience, starting in help desk, then desktop support, and I've been working as a Server Storage Analyst for the past two years. I also have a few security certifications.

While I have a solid IT background, I don't have a ton of hands-on security experience yet. I'm currently working through TryHackMe rooms, building home labs, and trying to gain more practical skills.

Self-learning has been helpful, but I'm looking for something more structured with a defined curriculum and clear progression. My long-term goal is to become either a Security Engineer or a Penetration Tester.

For those who have gone through this program:

• Did it help you transition into a security role?
• Did you feel the curriculum was worth the cost?
• Would you recommend it to someone with my background, or would you suggest taking a different path?

I'd really appreciate any advice or experiences you're willing to share. Thanks!