What can you guys tell mme about the GCIH/GPEN recently?

saskiller2

I have a friend who waited too long and now has to take one of the newer exams Anyway I have no experience with them, but it seems there is some kind of hands on component now. What can you guys tell me? I think he told me about some things with powershell, and other stuff I don't think was in my exam last time.

How much effort should be spent on book vs hands on? And what is a good lab to have if someone doesn't have the official lab?

Thanks in advance!

veritas_libertas

A former coworker said it's pretty slick, similar in a way to the Cisco exams in that you can interact with a VM (maybe a container?) that gives you access to a BASH shell, Windows shell, etc. to interact and verify you actually know what you're doing.

SteveLavoie

I did GPEN with CyberLive last year. There is 7 or 8 lab questions, most are a variant of the lab you did in the class. Question are rather focused and dont take too many step to complete. If you bought a voucher for the exam, it come with 2 practices test that include some lab question as in the exam. They are very representative of what you will find out in the real exam.  

saskiller2

Thanks, if someone didnt take the course, what kind of practice would they need to do to meet the requirements?

SteveLavoie

GIAC certification value come a lot from the SANS training. However if you have a lot of experience, it may be possible to pass without doing the classes. Exam is refreshed quickly and new book are constantly updated. However, I would look at this book, 

https://www.amazon.com/GPEN-Certified-Penetration-Tester-Guide/dp/1260456749/ref=sr_1_2

It is from 2020, so quite "new" and with enough experience, you should be ok.

However, if you didnt register for the class, the exam voucher will cost you 2000$ US (with 2 practice test).  At this price, I would do another certification like OSCP. 

Danielm7

SteveLavoie said:

I did GPEN with CyberLive last year. There is 7 or 8 lab questions, most are a variant of the lab you did in the class. Question are rather focused and dont take too many step to complete. If you bought a voucher for the exam, it come with 2 practices test that include some lab question as in the exam. They are very representative of what you will find out in the real exam.  

I took the GPEN last year and had the same experience, it's like the practice tests. They do take a lot of questions straight out of their labs, and all questions are straight out of their books. So if you don't have them or the class it's going to be a hard climb assuming you don't already also know all the material off the top of your head.