So, just before the end of a remarkably interesting and odd 2020 year. I decided to go ahead and take the FOR 508 class on Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting, and Digital Forensics. I felt this was a course that could really benefit security practitioners for understanding best practices & methods related to IR. As well as, learning new techniques for threat hunting in a large enterprise environment. I decided to put up a post listing our what you can plan to learn from this course should you decide to take it.
Winning the Coin
One of the coolest parts of the class is Day 6 (more details listed later). You get a chance to join into teams and compete in a class APT Threat group challenge. The team that wins the CTF gets an award in the sign of a special course specific SANS Coin. On top of that, SANS will add your name to the Community DFIR Coin holders list! It is a great achievement, and I have to say the challenge was very realistic and fun to tackle.
I’m proud to announce that I have now obtained my SANS – GIAC GCIH certification. It was a long process, and I pushed myself to get it done before the start of the New Year – 2020.
New SANS GIAC changes to exams
One thing that was particularly new
for me compared to the other 2 SANS exams I’ve done was the lab questions. SANS
with GIAC now has added a section that tests your knowledge through a virtual
lab. Now, I have to say I think it’s actually pretty awesome! It puts your real
world skills to the test to see if you can actually can apply needed practical
skills. It also gives companies assurance that their employees are also getting
and being tested on real hands on work and not just theory based topics.
SEC545: Cloud Security Architecture and Operations
Just recently I went to attend a local SANS Community class in my city. For those that are not aware, SANS Community classes are usually smaller classes with 5-10+ students. It’s a small venue with more of a small class size, but the material would be the same that SANS would teach on vLive, OnDemand, or at a SANS conference.
I can say that the SEC545: Cloud Security Architecture and Operations class is VERY popular. There were many students there that were not hardcore SANS enthusiasts such as myself. Many people were there on the basis that companies are all now starting to move to the cloud. And, many companies are worried about the security implications of moving, and with larger concerns on if the architecture is not setup and configured correctly.
The class was very much AWS focused, which was great for me in terms of learning AWS. However, Read The Full Post
So I wanted to post a blog post on my experience related to the SEC 542 course. This way I can share my experience out there with others, and hopefully give others insight to see if the course is a right fit for them too.
Now because I took the vLive course, my course was not a 4-6 day course. This course was actually completed over 6+ weeks with 2 class sessions per a week. This was an excellent course, very well designed and presented out to students. There were things I already knew and had experienced. But, there were a lot of tools that were introduced in the course, which I had not used or heard of before. And, these tools definitely help save some time especially when it comes down to recon.
I’ll briefly list some of the things you learn during each week, but for the full list you’ll have to take the course for yourself. Trust me, it’s an awesome course! Read The Full Post
So, I finally went for it and attempted the GIAC GWAPT exam and passed it! I’ve been conducting some pen tests prior to taking the SANS SEC 542 course and the GWAPT exam. The course taught me many new things, and gave me a new perspective, and insight when it comes to web application pen testing. This blog post is to share my experience on how to best prepare for taking the GWAPT exam.
Should I take this exam or challenge the GWAPT ?
Many people will ask themselves this very same question. The best answer really depends on what your career goals are for your future. If you plan on being a pen tester, then this is a must at least if you are new or an intermediate to web pen testing. These days the Internet is filled with web applications, and now with more data and applications placed in the cloud. WebApp pen testing is a skill in demand and will be needed to test anything open to the public via the cloud.
My name is Harry Taheem
I am a Cyber Security Engineer.
My aim is to post things I learn or find interesting and allow others to hopefully gain some more insight. I also plan on posting general IT related issues, as I’d like StealthBay to be a place where IT users can find some form of knowledge and education. And, hopefully I can learn a few new things from other users as well who also wish to share their own experiences and knowledge.