InfoSec Institute now Offering GIAC Courses
So, I log into TechExams and see that InfoSec Institute is now offering GIAC exams.
Of course I didn't click on the link, I went straight to the website through google.
After making up all of the information they requested, I got the price.
GPEN 5-day tuition
Included
GPEN Boot Camp all-in-one textbook
Included
GPEN sample exam questions
Included
GPEN exam voucher
Included
Pre-shipment of textbook
Included
InfoSec Flex video archive of course you attended
Included
InfoSec Flex detailed reporting on exam readiness
Included
Total
$8,189.00
Standard Discount
$1,890.00
Your Total
$6,299.00
1. Thanks for the discount.
2. Thanks for the laugh.
Of course I didn't click on the link, I went straight to the website through google.
After making up all of the information they requested, I got the price.
GPEN 5-day tuition
Included
GPEN Boot Camp all-in-one textbook
Included
GPEN sample exam questions
Included
GPEN exam voucher
Included
Pre-shipment of textbook
Included
InfoSec Flex video archive of course you attended
Included
InfoSec Flex detailed reporting on exam readiness
Included
Total
$8,189.00
Standard Discount
$1,890.00
Your Total
$6,299.00
1. Thanks for the discount.
2. Thanks for the laugh.
Comments
Current Goal: CCSE
Continuous Education Plan: AWS-SAA, OSCP, CISM
Book/CBT/Study Material: Max Power
That adds up to a nearly 40% discount for some of our GIAC training courses. Live Online students get 90-day access to their recordings and six months of access to labs. We also run evening sessions with optional study groups and lab activities so that we can pack all of the training into a 5-day session and keep it during the workweek for students.
Happy to answer any questions you have as I'm assisting with the rollout of the new InfoSec Institute courses.
Who we are | What we do
The cost of the courses are roughly the same, not considering if you go to a live event...but if you don’t attend an official SANS course, you won’t get the official courseware on which the exams are created. Perhaps if you charged no more than half the cost it might be a reasonable consideration, but then you are competing against the work study program.
The short version....This course isn’t worth it.
Young Grass Hop-e-rss
Here is a tip. If I want to sell you something and want you to jump on it, here is how I do it.
I want to sell it to you for $2,500.
But, to entice you into buying it I will say I am offering a "discount". So, I will say the regular price was $4,000. I say it's a discounted..for today only, week only, for military only, for veterans only, for senior citizens only, or just a plain discount. You are thinking you saved $1,500 but realistically I was going to sell it for $2,500 anyway and the extra discount stuff was a worm and you were the fish. Truth be told, I made a $500 profit off of the $2,500. No Point Intended In This Particular Situation.
Our training course is a few hundred dollars less, and SANS upsells $2,700 worth of additional material (including the certification attempt) – all of which we include for free. As for our instructors, they all have at least 10 years of industry training experience and are professionals with real world experience.
Who we are | What we do
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
Post the LinkedIn/Names of the instructors or we don't believe you. Let us do our own research. We are not and I mean not going to take your word for it! Post the instructor names, let us be the judge and jury!
I'm still skeptic but don't want to judge without having all the facts. My proposition: how about having someone from here audit a GIAC course and provide a full review after? Maybe someone who is already GIAC certified in some of your bootcamps and is a SME for GIAC, CompTIA, and ISC2. I know a guy
#inb4loominglawsuit
On a side note, Infosec Institute WILL NEVER GAIN MY BUSINESS. I inquired about a course 3 years ago and despite my numerous messages and responses, you still spam my email on a daily basis. You and your institute are scum.
This isn't illegal / copyright violation per se, so long as InfoSec is careful not to copy materials from the SANS courseware, and pulled from it other sources they can legally teach a course designed to pass a GIAC exam. But I would look for a significant price cut for there course over a SANS course, a few hundred dollars isn't enough of an incentive to me to take their course instead of just taking an official SANS course. Even assuming the material / instructor was on par with a SANS course, it would have to be better for me to even consider paying a price so close to the SANS prices. The only way I can see it being better for some than a SANS course is if they are basically teaching you how to pass the exam. While it's not ideal teaching method, in the end some just want to get the cert, having the knowledge is secondary to them.
Agreed. This is no different than SANS giving ISC2 courses. My issue is solely the value proposition, as you mention.
In the end, it really makes zero sense to save even say $1,000 on a course which is a 3rd party versus taking the class directly from SANS (and potentially the instructor who made the course). As I said before, to get traction you are really going to need to charge a lot less and build up a list of successful candidates challenging the exam because there is way too much risk for the candidate when the price points are that close.
The problem I see is that GIAC tests can be taken solely based on the SANS books, everything else just reinforces it. There are dozens of pentesting courses out there already, but if you're not wording everything and teaching the same exact way SANS is, than you're going to miss items on the GIAC test. If you are wording your course exactly like SANS, teaching the same exact materials, etc. you're just cloning their course. So in order to be applicable towards GIAC it is either a clone, or not going to be specific enough. Why would I pay roughly the same amount to go to the knock-off version?
Honestly, I'm not involved with Infosec Institute, but I think they were on the right track before by offering their own pentesting courses with certifications that lined up similar to SANS/GIAC. My company requires a number of certifications and there's always multiple options, CPT/GPEN, GREM/CREA, etc. I had GPEN prior to this company, but would have happily done CPT to save the money.
I took the Reverse Engineering mentored on-line last year from Infosec Institute because of the value in price/training materials. Trying to call the same courses you're already teaching by the GIAC name, and doubling the price, is going to make it less valuable.
The other thing I would be wary of is the update/refresh cycle. SANS courses have minor updates quarterly, and major updates fairly often. These items end up reflected in the GIAC exams quickly. The Reverse Engineering course I took at the end of 2017 from Infosec Institute was on Windows XP, with the instructor constantly referencing the "new" Vista OS and how it might affect some of what we were doing. It was still a good course in the basics, but Infosec Institute clearly doesn't refresh courses like SANS, which means by next quarter the new GIAC training courses will start to fall behind.
Sure they are, not only do they share office space, they even share the same business number. And it's not like they are such small operations they are forced to share resources to stay in business, with the profits they make they could easily afford to buy two good sized office buildings. If you truthfully believe they are separate entities, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I believe you would be interest in purchasing.
But don't you just love it?