GIAC or Global Information Assurance Certification as a wide-recognized standard in the Cyber Security accreditations is filling the existing skill gap and helping professionals to become a part of a promising and booming field. Furthermore, it is a right choice to obtain professional certification as it is an established organization that adheres to Department of Defense Directive 8570 guidelines that supposes the highest confidence in cybersecurity knowledge and skills available to industrial, government, and military customers around the world.

Top Certifications from GIAC

GIAC offers 30+ professional cybersecurity designations that are related to appropriate SANS training which ensures mastery in specialized security domains such as Cyber Defense, Industrial Cyber Security, Management & Leadership, Offensive Operations, Cloud Security, Digital Forensics & Incident Response, as well as GIAC Security Expert direction. The certifications offered fall into the following levels: introductory, intermediate, advanced, and expert. Below you can learn about the most sought-after GIAC accreditation pathways.

• GSEC: GIAC Security Essentials

It is an intermediate-level accreditation with a smooth career journey as it proves the candidate’s knowledge in information security outside of mere terminology and concepts. As a result, holders of the GSEC certificate are qualified for practical IT roles concerning security tasks.

Also, this validation path is suitable for practitioners in the positions of Security Manager, Forensic Analyst, Penetration Tester, or Auditor, as well as for all those who are new to information security but have a background in networking and information systems.

Exam Overview

Obtaining this GIAC certification demands passing an appropriate proctored test, administered remotely through ProctorU or at one of the PearsonVUE centers. The cost of the exam voucher is $2,499.

So, on the scheduled day, you will meet 180 questions that need to be completed within 5 hours. They will evaluate the candidate’s competency on numerous topics like internet security technologies, cryptography, networking basics, incident handling, principles of network security, secure web communications, Linux security, and Windows security. Moreover, to become GSEC certified, each candidate must achieve 73% as a minimum score.

Career Opportunities

Regarding benefits, candidates holding this qualification earn an average of $91,838 annually according to the Payscale.com website and can be placed in job roles like Cyber Security Analyst or Information Security Engineer.

As for continuing on the GIAC validation track, you may be interested in GOSI: GIAC Open Source Intelligence and GCED: GIAC Certified Enterprise Defender among other designations offered by the vendor in the Cyber Defense category.

• GCFA: GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst

This accreditation validates the candidate’s expertise in the collection and analysis of data computer systems including their ability to handle advanced incident scenarios and pursue formal incident investigations. Therefore, the GCFA certified professionals are capable to assist organizations in accumulating security data from Windows and Linux systems.

The audience considered include specialists working as Incident Response Team Members, Threat Hunters, SOC Analysts, Experienced Digital Forensic Analysts, as well as GCFE and GCIH certificate holders.

Related Exam Details

The appropriate proctored exam is based on the knowledge areas such as digital forensics and advanced incident response, timeline analysis, memory forensics, and anti-forensics detection alongside APT intrusion incident response and threat hunting. All of these topics will be covered through 82-115 questions that you must answer within 3 hours. So, to earn your GCFA certificate, you must choose to take the exam, either remotely or on-site, pay the $2,499 registration fee, and achieve a passing score of 72% on the final test.

Career Opportunities

The profile of Forensic Analysts is in-demand and supposes the higher salary considering data from ZipRecruiter.com, which claims that this specialist receives an average of 87,115 annually.

However, you cannot stop there and continue your professional path with GIAC Network Forensic Analyst (GNFA) and GIAC Cyber Threat Intelligence (GCTI) certifications.

• GPEN: GIAC Certified Penetration Tester

This advanced certification proves your ability to use the best practice techniques and methodologies as well as perform a penetration test. In addition, it checks your skills to implement a process-oriented approach related to penetration testing projects. So, professionals, holding this qualification are recognized to detect the vulnerabilities in the infancy stage and device-up a remedial solution.

Moreover, GPEN is an ideal validation option for those who are the part of Red or Blue team of an organization. As well, ethical hackers alongside auditors, defenders, and forensic specialists can take their career to a whole new level with this certificate.

Exam Overview

You can gain this GIAC certification after passing the relevant GPEN proctored exam that includes 82-115 questions concerning the exploitation and in-depth scanning, post-exploitation, and pivoting along with web app pen testing, advanced password attacks and attacking password hashes. Every test-taker has 3 hours to score 75% of correct answers and to come up with flying colors in this official test.

Career Benefits

One of the primary roles that one can grab after this certification is Penetration Tester with an average salary of $102,240 per PayScale.com. However, there is no stopping for ideal savvy candidates can march ahead and obtain high-end skills with such qualifications as GWAPT: GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester, GCPN: GIAC Cloud Penetration Tester, GCPN: GIAC Cloud Penetration Tester as well as GXPN: GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester. All these are superior-level certifications imparting a best-of-breed understanding of security in the Offensive Operations area.

• GSLC: GIAC Security Leadership

GIAC Security Leadership designation is an ideal way to shape the career of information security managers, security professionals with supervisory responsibilities, alongside IT and other managers in the security field. In other words, thanks to this certificate, applicants can prove their knowledge of network, data, application, host, and user controls in parallel with core management topics related to the security lifecycle.

Exam Overview

GSLC accreditation is associated with the exam of the same name that consists of 115 questions about the management of a security operations center, security frameworks, risk management, vulnerability management, managing security architecture, and much more. Test-takers will have three hours for completing this proctored test that has delivery formats both online through ProctorU and offline in the nearest PearsonVUE testing office. To award you the “passed” status, the vendor expects you will get a passing score of 65% on this official exam.

Career opportunities

With GIAC Security Leadership accreditation, an individual can expect better career prospects as the average salary of this profile is $116,568 annually according to Payscale.com. Moreover, you can qualify for the following positions: Security Architect, IT, Cyber Security Analyst, or even Information Technology Operations Manager. In other words, you have a lot of career prospects waiting for you. Especially when GIAC offers a whole range of designations for those who have a passion to grow. Thus, if you don’t want to stagnant your career then it can aim at advanced certifications like GSTRT: GIAC Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership, GCPM: GIAC Certified Project Manager Certification, and GLEG: GIAC Law of Data Security & Investigations among others.

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