How I passed GCFW

Dear friends,

As I recently passed the GCFW silver certification, I thought I would share my study strategies with you.

Even though SANS has changed the way GIAC certifications are awarded, I still think they are very valueable to a security professional. After having completed the 502 track, I can easily see myself attending other SANS tracks in the future.

I attended a LMP (Local Mentor Program) session, but there are other ways to approach this. The most common is attending one of their conferences. The month prior to starting the LPM, I read the book "Inside Network Perimeter Security" by Stepken Northcutt (ISBN: 0-672.32737-6). The content of the book is very similar to the curriculum of the actual course thus filling out areas I were weak in, in advance.

I studied doing the following:

First, I read about a particular subject in the textbooks. Then I heard the audio files (they are very good by the way) while going over the textbooks again. After completing a subject, I did the practical assignments if I felt I needed practice in a particular area.

The week prior to taking the exams, I read the textbooks cover-to-cover. That's about it actually Very Happy I used 4 of the 6 months available.

One final note: I will definitely go for the GCFW gold later this year. I have learnt more in the 4 months of studying for the GCFW, than I have learnt by doing any of my other certifications. I highly recommend this SANS course to anyone working in network/perimeter security.

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Comments

crap I forgot my old pwd

Excellent job man! I haven't really explored the world of SANS yet, but I do hear that their certs are mighty tough to tackle. I was looking into GIAC myself. Thanks for your input!

JDMurray

Congratz on passing the GCFW!

Did you pay for it yourself or is your employer footing the bill?

Munck

My employer paid for the course

Webmaster

Those are the best kind of employers

Congrats and thanks for the info!

JDMurray

Munck wrote:

My employer paid for the course

Until I get one of those types of employers the SANS certs are just a dream in a thick brochure to me.

Ten9t6

Congrats...that is a nice one to have.

darkuser

one thing that kept me from the sans certs was writing that thesis they wanted ..... kids .... job .. no_time