SEC501 or 504?

wije

I'm a newbie to cybersecurity and am currently getting my butt kicked by SEC401. I'm planning my next step and would like to know which I should take first: SEC501 or 504? Everyone seems to love 504, but 501 has wider topics and discusses intrusion detection and malware analysis. I'd eventually like to get into CTI hence my interest in getting broad knowledge.

JDMurray

It's typically SANS SEC401 then 503 or 504. 501 is for people that want to continue with learning a wide variety InfoSec topics rather than specializing on one or two topics. (The GCED cert isn't very well-known.) However, if you are having problems in 401, just realize the 50x courses are much more demanding.

SteveLavoie

It all depend on your goal. Which job role do you want? What is the need? 

If you look at the training roadmap. I would say that SANS 504 is the best choice.  SEC 501 seem to be a class with a bit of everything but nothing in particular. It look like a class that was built for a specific customer in mind. I mean, it look like they were asked 1 week custom training as as baseline for a big customer with a bit of everything. 

Finally, if you do the associated exam GCIH is much more recognized than GCED. 

SteveLavoie

Additionnaly you can look at this book: it is for GCIH, that could help you decide.

https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/Nick-Mitropoulos/dp/1260461629/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/133-8218792-2738328?pd_rd_w=3PmQn&pf_rd_p=67279b87-ccd3-46cd-8df4-d8c53edf84d3&pf_rd_r=625YQEYGRMKB42HK3FX9&pd_rd_r=bac14576-eea1-4a6e-9e88-ba3f0f83c4b2&pd_rd_wg=cLgzL&pd_rd_i=1260461629&psc=1

Kasor

Specific topic always easier to learn.  301, 401 and 501 are all general topics which have a lot of questions on the exam.  This mean you will need more indexes. 

TechGromit

wije said:

I'm a newbie to cybersecurity and am currently getting my butt kicked by SEC401.

If you having trouble with 401 material, 500 material is even tougher and 600 material is suicide. 700? KILL ME NOW!

E Double U

No experience with SEC501, but I enjoyed 504 so much I that I highly recommend it. I have also taken 503/566/560/530 and GCIH still remains my favorite experience from SANS/GIAC.