[TriLUG] SANS Security certification

[Kevin Flanagan]

I took the Security Essentials class last summer, how useful you find it 
would depend greatly on your experience.  I have had many years of 
experience as a systems admin, engineer, etc.  I found the class a 
complete waste of time.  However, if you don't have loads of experience, 
and are trying to break ground with HR filters etc, then it may do you well.

When test time came, a few weeks after class, I was even more annoyed.  
I don't see the value in seeing if I can memorize, or look up the 
parameters that you pass to NMAP.  If the questions were more oriented 
towards, "Under what circumstances would you use NMAP, and what kind of 
output would you expect to get?", then I would see the value.  Hopefully 
we all know about man or /?, mailing lists, etc.

Kevin

Jos Purvis wrote:
> Byarlay, Wayne A. wrote:
>> Greetings Triluggers, Midwest lurker here,
>>
>> Are any of you familiar with the SANS organization, and their various
>> certifications? If so, what is your opinion?   
> Disclaimer: I've been involved with the SANS organization for a long 
> time (author, certification grader, attendee, although not instructor).
>
> That out of the way, I like the SANS certifications. If you're looking 
> at security work, SANS are good technical certifications to have, and 
> they're starting to show up on more and more job listings alongside 
> longstanding certs like the CISSP. Having just been through the whole 
> job search process in security, I can tell you that the CISSP is still 
> a more valuable cert (especially in terms of money), but the SANS 
> certs will often get you through the "HR firewall" just as well, and 
> more employers are recognizing them these days as a plus.
>
> The SANS courses tend to reflect more technical than theoretical 
> content, although they have a wealth of new certs now and have 
> realigned the GSEC curriculum to align perfectly with the CISSP 
> domains (meaning that taking the GSEC curriculum will typically 
> prepare you decently well for taking the CISSP as well). The CISSP 
> tends to be described as an inch deep and a mile wide, whereas the 
> SANS individual curricula tend to be just the opposite--perhaps a foot 
> wide and a mile deep, as it were. The certification process is easier 
> than it used to be, as they're trying to encourage growth, but it's 
> nowhere near a cakewalk, so plan to spend some time working on it 
> after taking the course.
>
> If you have specific questions about the certification process, what's 
> involved, the history of the certs, or more of my personal opinions on 
> the subject (so I don't bore everyone), I'd be happy to share them 
> with any interested offline--just drop me an email.
>
>    Cheers,
>
>    Jos