Passed GCPN

I just passed the SANS Cloud Penetration Testing exam (GCPN) and I used the following books to get a better understand of cloud security:

Watched the SEC588 on demand videos three times.
Took the day 1-5 quizzes twice (until I understood each section and obtained at least a 85%-90%).\
Created a 205 page index/study guide.
Practiced each lab multiple times and took screenshots of the commands and placed them in my index.
Read the AWS Cloud Practitioner, Solution Architect Associate and Security books.
Read the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals and Azure Security book.
Read the GPEN and GCIH books (passed both exams in 2020).

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Comments

SteveLavoie

Did you get a good score? You look very prepared

Congrats!

E Double U

Congratulations!

quogue66

Wow, that's a lot of extra materials. I usually tell people to stick with the SANS books and not use anything additional. Do you think the other materials gave you knowledge that wasn't in the GCPN books?

JDMurray

quogue66 said:

I usually tell people to stick with the SANS books and not use anything additional.

Yes, I agree. The GIAC exam items are based entirely on the contents of the corresponding SANS course. Any non-SANS supplemental material will help you understand the topics better, but won't significantly increase your chances of passing a GIAC exam. Thoroughly deconstructing the SANS course material and building your index is the key to passing a GIAC exam.

Jove

quogue66 said:

Do you think the other materials gave you knowledge that wasn't in the GCPN books?

The other materials gave me a better understanding of cloud technologies, but having a well detailed index, as mentioned by JDMurray, is the key to passing the exam.

quogue66

Did you have any issues with the VM? I was unable to access the Internet due to DNS issues and had to work with the course author for a work around. I think they use the same VM for SEC588 and SEC510 because I had the issue for both courses.

Jove

quogue66 said:

Did you have any issues with the VM? I was unable to access the Internet due to DNS issues and had to work with the course author for a work around. I think they use the same VM for SEC588 and SEC510 because I had the issue for both courses.

No, I didn't have issues with the virtual machine or the vpn.

lucantis

Besides GPEN and GCIH, do you have any other pen testing experience? Is this part of your daily job?

Bolo88

Congrats!!

I also passed the GCPN exam recently. I also have a practice exam to give away that expires March 15.

Jove

lucantis said:

Besides GPEN and GCIH, do you have any other pen testing experience? Is this part of your daily job?

Yes, I perform vulnerability assessments on cloud and web technologies, so getting the GPEN, GCPN, and GCIH provided an excellent understanding of the technologies.

bhiter010

SteveLavoie said:

Did you get a good score? You look very prepared

Congrats!

also want to know what is your score