SANS Index?

Now I know by that title alone you guys would kill me for asking for an index. Well I'm not asking for an index!

I'm actually asking has anyone noticed that some of their courses have indexes provided by SANS?

I noticed mine has one, the instructor even pointed it out.

Have I missed something or is this a new thing they are doing?

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kiki162

I'm taking a course currently, and have noticed the same thing. I took my last course a year ago, and they had an index in that one in the last book. I'll see if I can't get an answer from them on that this week.

One other thing to mention, although the index can be useful, the index you create is going to be far more beneficial during the exam.

TacoRocket

I completely agree. Thought it was odd though since that's always has been the bread and butter of SANS. This year I've also soon:

SANS books in PDF
Videos provided in the course
Ways to get back to course material after the class.

What world am I in?

kiki162 wrote: »

I'm taking a course currently, and have noticed the same thing. I took my last course a year ago, and they had an index in that one in the last book. I'll see if I can't get an answer from them on that this week.

One other thing to mention, although the index can be useful, the index you create is going to be far more beneficial during the exam.

cyberguypr

When you say "SANS books in PDF" do you mean officially sanctioned by SANS or those scanned copies on shady forums?

TacoRocket

Official. I am currently sitting in a SANS conference. I will concede that so far the PDF is on instructor's machine. Compared to last year though where instructor had his own set of physical books, this is weird.

cyberguypr wrote: »

When you say "SANS books in PDF" do you mean officially sanctioned by SANS or those scanned copies on shady forums?

Danielm7

TacoRocket wrote: »

I completely agree. Thought it was odd though since that's always has been the bread and butter of SANS. This year I've also soon:

SANS books in PDF
Videos provided in the course
Ways to get back to course material after the class.

What world am I in?

Hopefully a more reasonable one.

TacoRocket

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Danielm7 wrote: »

Hopefully a more reasonable one.

bigdogz

Yes, I am taking a course as well and they give an index that is simple. The instructor stated that you can make changes as we wish.

TacoRocket

I agree. You should edit or still make an index. Its odd when I havent had an index provided for me.

bigdogz wrote: »

Yes, I am taking a course as well and they give an index that is simple. The instructor stated that you can make changes as we wish.

iBrokeIT

When I was doing work study, a number of people stated that they wanted the books in PDF form on their evals. I don't remember which SANS staff member told me, maybe it was Katherine, that SANS will never distribute them digitally (via PDF or PPT) because it was one of the many ways they controlled how their intellectual property didn't end up on every torrent site and internal company share.

Videos are provided as part of the OnDemand bundle that you can purchase separately.

You seemed have forgotten that SANS is a for profit training company that is more popular than ever. Until their bottom line is threaten by people going elsewhere due to those things there is little reason for them to change.

TacoRocket

I completely understand what you're saying. I'm telling you as someone who is sitting in the class right now. What I am seeing.

Not complaining more shocked of the changes than anything else.

iBrokeIT wrote: »

When I was doing work study, a number of people stated that they wanted the books in PDF form on their evals. I don't remember which SANS staff member told me, maybe it was Katherine, that SANS will never distribute them digitally (via PDF or PPT) because it was one of the many ways they controlled how their intellectual property didn't end up on every torrent site and internal company share.

Videos are provided as part of the OnDemand bundle that you can purchase separately.

You seemed have forgotten that SANS is a for profit training company that is more popular than ever. Until their bottom line is threaten by people going elsewhere due to those things there is little reason for them to change.

FillAwful

I think they provide an "index" to show a sample of how you could design one. I don't think it comprehensive enough or a reason not to make an index yourself. Building an index for SANS is part of the whole experience for me and gives me another opportunity to go over the material.

One thing you will need though, any "**** Sheets" they provide. Walking into a SANS test without those is suicide, particularly for some of the harder tests.

beads

Let the challenge exams BEGIN! Couple of weeks of study/video/review and I could waltz these to a pass, no problem.

True dat!

-b/eads

sb97

They gave us an index in For408. In fact, they even asked for feedback to make it better. I still did my own and found it was much more helpful. I don't think I would rely solely on an index that someone else put together for these exams.

TacoRocket

The index they provide was around 20 pages. Real detailed "sample" index.

FillAwful wrote: »

I think they provide an "index" to show a sample of how you could design one. I don't think it comprehensive enough or a reason not to make an index yourself. Building an index for SANS is part of the whole experience for me and gives me another opportunity to go over the material.

One thing you will need though, any "**** Sheets" they provide. Walking into a SANS test without those is suicide, particularly for some of the harder tests.

TacoRocket

Not complaining. Found it odd. Still plan on making my own index as well. Because it just helps digesting the material.

sb97 wrote: »

They gave us an index in For408. In fact, they even asked for feedback to make it better. I still did my own and found it was much more helpful. I don't think I would rely solely on an index that someone else put together for these exams.

TechGromit

TacoRocket wrote: »

I'm actually asking has anyone noticed that some of their courses have indexes provided by SANS?

I've seen a coworkers old SANS 401 books that were several years old, they had a glossary in the back of one of the books. I tired using it for one of my practice exams, but it was next to useless. I would suspect the index they provide would be pretty useless for the exam well, the questions probably purposely avoid anything that part of the SANS provided index.

TechGromit

TacoRocket wrote: »

Official. I am currently sitting in a SANS conference. I will concede that so far the PDF is on instructor's machine. Compared to last year though where instructor had his own set of physical books, this is weird.

It was my understanding that PDF copies of the material on instructors laptops is strictly controlled. Just because the instructor has a PDF copy isn't an indication SANS plans to issue PDF documentation to students in the future. It's sort of like the teachers answer text book when you were in high school, where the students text books did not have answers.

TacoRocket

I agree, I'm basing this from the last class I took where the instructor had physical books just like the students.

TechGromit wrote: »

It was my understanding that PDF copies of the material on instructors laptops is strictly controlled. Just because the instructor has a PDF copy isn't an indication SANS plans to issue PDF documentation to students in the future. It's sort of like the teachers answer text book when you were in high school, where the students text books did not have answers.

JoJoCal19

Maybe it's a ploy to try and convert some more of the SANS class takers into GIAC exam takers by removing one of the barriers to entry so to speak.

bigdogz

The current SEC 504 I am taking the instructor has PDF's as well. They probably have no need to carry all of those books home with them or to their next training conference.

Erik1

You pay 6000 for a class I think you should get physical books.

BillHoo

In my Sans classes, I usually ask for a sample index and the instructors will usually provide one from a previous (albit out of date) class. You know, previous course material where the page numbers are no longer valid.

It was up to you to go through (meaning read) the course material and update the index to what you need as you go along.

As for PDF courseware. I can see that happening as they may have the tech to serial number or watermark each page with a unique serial number to trace back to the student. That is actually better than the hardcopy manuals that people can photocopy and put up on eBay.

That way, you get your courseware. Try to copy and put it out for sale on a torrent site, they can trace it back to you and you'll hear from their lawyers and lose your cert!

sb97

TacoRocket wrote: »

Not complaining. Found it odd. Still plan on making my own index as well. Because it just helps digesting the material.

Agreed. I did refer to the provided Index to see if I missed anything important while I was still organizing my notes.

kiki162

Here's one important thing to mention. Even IF you had the index in the back of the book, there will always be some questions that are NOT referenced in the index. Also, every time a specific topic comes up within the books, you'll find it in really obscure places across multiple books. Which if you think about it will take more of your time away from the exam. Having the information all in 1 spot makes the difference. Personally, I find it more gratifying to create your own rather than using the index in the back of the book.