Get Certified with GIAC Cyber Security Certifications
GIAC Certification offers many benefits for employers and professionals. Discover why over 70,000 cyber security professionals have chosen GIAC to validate their hands-on skills and how you can join them.
GIAC Certifications was created in 1999 with one mission: to validate the skills of information security professionals.
GIAC Cyber Security Professional Certification is recognized and trusted by thousands of companies and government agencies around the world. To date, over 70,000 Certifications have been awarded.
As a body, GIAC cyber security expert certification has been designed to address a range of skills through entry-level, intermediate and advanced. In total there are twenty certifications available. Eleven GIAC certificates have ANSI accreditation.
Certification Benefits
For an individual, possessing a GIAC Certification brings professional and career advantages. GIAC Certifications enable students to stand out from the crowd and earn the respect of their peers.
The Steps to Achieving GIAC Certification
Step 1. Decide Upon the Right Certification
In all, GIAC offers 20 Certifications spread across numerous cyber security fields. The first step in the journey to achieving GIAC certification is to pick the right Certification.
Each Certification is designed to certify an individual's expertise and mastery of a given skillset and knowledge base. As such, GIAC Certifications are self-contained.
There's no preordained order in which students should take Certification. We do recommend that lower level concepts are mastered before moving on to advanced topics.
Step 2. Take your Certification Attempt
To register for a GIAC Certification attempt, candidates need to submit an online application and pay the Certification registration fee. All applications are subject to approval and incur a fee.
Candidates then have four months to take the examination.
Step 3. Prepare for Examination
The next step in the journey is preparation. There is no prescribed route or preferred provider of training. GIAC is independent.
SANS aligns its training courses with GIAC Certifications.
SANS Instructors are widely regarded as experts in their given field. Indeed, along with leading training courses, many Instructors are expert consultants and cyber security practitioners themselves.
However candidates choose to prepare, remember that GIAC examinations are intensive, demanding and thorough.
Step 4. Book your Exam
Given the value and gravity of the examinations, exams take place in a special proctored environment - a supervised and secure space.
The primary method for taking a proctored exam is through our testing partner Pearson VUE.
Pearson VUE is an industry leader in examination testing and offers more than 3,500 testing centres worldwide. Click here to find your test centre.
Exams last between two to five hours, depending upon the Certification being sat.
Examinations are open book - this means no access to the internet and other computers, beyond the test machine. Candidates can only bring books and notes into the testing room. SANS training courses provide a comprehensive set of books students can take with them to the test.
Step 5. Receive your Certificate
When you've passed your examination, you will be officially GIAC Certified. GIAC emails instructions about how to receive an official certificate. Tweet @SANSEMEA for a congratulatory re-tweet #GIAC.
Re-sit
Students who don't pass a GIAC Certification Exam can purchase a retake. Log into the SANS/GIAC Account and click on "Certification Attempts" and then "Purchase Retake."
This option is available for 30 days after the deadline. If a candidate does not purchase a retake within the 30 days following an exam deadline, but wishes to attempt the exam at a later date, they will need to start over by purchasing a new Certification Attempt.
After three failed attempts, candidates must generally wait one year before continuing the process of earning a GIAC certification.
What is GIAC Gold?
GIAC Gold sees successful applicants write a technical paper that's published in the SANS Reading Room.
By being published in the Reading Room professionals demonstrate their skills, knowledge and their ability to communicate at the highest level.
Candidates work closely with an advisor to develop and write their technical report.
See the current list of GIAC Gold reports here.