Passed CHFI

I passed as part of my Master's classes. I'm sure this would have been a harder exam for someone who was new to IT but I found it even easier than the CEH. There wasn't a lot of "meat" in the content of the exam and I learned about swap files, nbtstat, net use, net share, etc when I studied for my MCDST years and years ago.

I'm another step closer to my MSISA.

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sratakhin

Congratulations! I've never even heard of this exam before, but it looks like there is some fun stuff

Iristheangel

@Sratakhin - I thought that the EC-Council tests were going to have more substance to them to be honest but I was really disappointed. They were actually less technical and easier than CompTIA exams which is saying a LOT.

Hypntick

I feel the same way on both the CEH and CHFI tests. The CHFI was almost a let down really, I expected more. I get the feeling the GIAC test is going to be the killer out of the certs for this program.

Iristheangel

I spoke to my mentor and I have the option to "opt out" of the GIAC. They are making up their own test for the course that is more aligned with the course material that they have been using. I'm seriously thinking about opting out and going for the homegrown test. Since I'm not really interested in maintaining a GIAC exam or have a pressing need for it in my career, it's not really useful to me

webgeek

Congrats!

I've been hearing this a lot Iris but it seems that companies are more thrilled with the name since it appears they don't understand what the course entails.

JDMurray

Iristheangel wrote: »

Since I'm not really interested in maintaining a GIAC exam or have a pressing need for it in my career, it's not really useful to me

That's too bad. The information in the GIAC GSEC certification is really awesome for understanding and fixing system and network security issues. I assume that's the cert you'd be going for.

YuckTheFankees

Congrats! How many credits do you have left?

Iristheangel

@JDMurray - GIAC GSEC does seem like a good one. My degree program only has GIAC G2700 which doesn't really have as much value to me. I've been studying and taking certification exams for about 5 years now. I'm starting to want to see an "end game" as far as certifications are concerned (never with learning though!). I have the next 4 years where I can pretty much study as much as I want so I'm hoping to knock out the CCIE R&S and (maybe) the CCIE Security in that time after I'm done with the NPs. After that, I'll maintain and just pursue family, career, and hopefully some fun stuff somewhere in there.

@YuckTheFankees - I have 13 credits left. I have NOT been pushing as hard for my MSISA so I've been going the regular pace for it. I'll probably finish up 3 more classes for this semester, study the CCNP hard, and then do the final at a slow pace.

MrAgent

Congrats! I may have to take this exam next if its easier than the CEH. Hoping to report a pass on the CEH this Wednesday.

Hypntick

Iristheangel wrote: »

I spoke to my mentor and I have the option to "opt out" of the GIAC. They are making up their own test for the course that is more aligned with the course material that they have been using. I'm seriously thinking about opting out and going for the homegrown test. Since I'm not really interested in maintaining a GIAC exam or have a pressing need for it in my career, it's not really useful to me

Yeah my mentor was pushing me in that direction too. However at the pace i'm going, i'll have everything aside from the GIAC wrapped up in another 1.5 - 2 months. Which would leave me 3 months of nothing to do until the next term so they could switch me into the new program. While I could use that time to go after the ecppt or something, I don't think that would be the most effective use of my time, but I guess i'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

Iristheangel

@MrAgent, Good luck. Based on your other certifications, I think you have a very high chance of passing. It's just a lot of memorizing programs and syntax.

w77m

What is the MSISA? Is this the degree from WGU.edu? I was just reading a thread about that earlier. TIA

Corrsta

Congrats!

Iristheangel

w77m wrote: »

What is the MSISA? Is this the degree from WGU.edu? I was just reading a thread about that earlier. TIA

It's Masters of Science: Information Security and Assurance. It is a degree from WGU but many other institutions have this kind of degree

JDMurray

First time I've notice MSISA. I have seen MSIA, MSIAS, and MSIT-IS (what my degree is called).

I wonder how many of these acronyms aren't in a typical recruiter's keyword search engine.

Iristheangel

For me, it's more of having a "Master's Degree" in something IT related. I wish I had gone the network-related MS route but I'm already halfway through at this point

bobloblaw

Ugh. That's depressing. I plan on grabbing my CEH and CHFI, but I want a *little* challenge. I also don't want something else to come along that gets more industry recognition, and I've spent ~$1000 on a couple meaningless certs.

At the same time it's totally hard to trust you after seeing your laundry list of certs. It's like my friend who said "The CISSP was a breeze." Yeah... he reads tech manuals for fun.

Iristheangel

@bobloblaw - The CISSP was tough. There's an entire thread by me in the CISSP forums where I sweated for 6 weeks on whether I passed or not waiting for a response. The CCNA and CCNP exams (that I've taken so far) were fun but difficult. The MCSE was boring and that made it harder but technical level-wise, it was slightly easier than the CCNA. The CompTIAs were the easiest exams I took to date... before I took the EC-Council exams.... Hopefully that gives you a little more perspective on what I find easy or fun.

bobloblaw

Well that makes me feel better. Still disappointing they're so easy. They still pop on indeed/dice, so I guess I'll still get them.

Are there any other major forensics certs? Those GIAC certs costs so (expletive deleted) much. It's like you need to take out a personal loan to get a few.

t3ch_guru

Congratulations on passing the CHFI. Sorry to hear that it wasn't much a challenge. CEH and CHFI were on my radar, but now I'm not sure. I plan on working on some security related certifications and I hope that doesn't devalue them. It would probably still be worth getting them. What do you think?

ptilsen

Congrats!

No big surprise on the exam content. Everything I've read about EC-Council boils down to that the certs and company are trash.

Personally, I would definitely go with G2700. Even if it isn't in line with your career goals, I think it would be a nice addition to any security professional's resume.

SephStorm

I had no idea WGU had GIAC certs in their programs. I'll have to look at the BS program again, see what it has.