Anyone here have the GDSA? Curious on the learning curve and perquisite knowledge/experience

Lazy_Rabbit

Employer is offering us a chance to take a SANS course and certification this year, and when researching everything they offer, I found the GIAC Defensible Security Architecture. I work in GRC as a consultant, 
and my reason for wanting to take this specific certification is to gain better insight into better secure architecture practices and implementation, which will coincide with the security governance and risk reduction side of my job.

However, my role is not overly technical, and I am concerned that if I try to take this course/certification I will be WAY over my head. I have a decent baseline knowledge of BlueTeam, but I haven't physically worked on anything in awhile and this would also be my first SANS course, which I know they are notoriously challenging. 

E Double U

I took the course two years ago after years of hands-on networking and information security experience. With your background and the fact this will be your first SANS course, I believe this will be a huge information overload for you. But given that you are interested in security architecture practices I would say this course is the right way to go. I feel that it is more about engineering, but good luck anyways.  

I shared a little bit about my experience here:

https://community.infosecinstitute.com/discussion/136966/passed-gdsa-with-87-6-mar-20#latest

qwerty88ks

Hello there!

just passed GDSA a few days ago, and am an IT auditor (more or less in the same context as you are )

I had the training, and after that went through the books 2x, created the index and followed it through. Honestly, it is a demanding exam, as it correlates a lot of the topics we encounter often, as well as those we don't see too often...If i can compare it to CISA, it is definitely more complex..

Having said that, i still absolutely recommend it! It is probably the first training/exam that is 100% practical and usable! Go for it!  

in case you need any additional info, don't hesitate to reach out!

cheers!