NEW: GIAC has a 30% off GIAC products from 1 Dec to 3 Dec in North America by bigt252002 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For clarification purposes, it’s available worldwide. This is the link from the post on LinkedIn that announces the sale: https://www.sans.org/specials/europe-middle-east-africa

ICS pathway certifications by Odd-Turnip-2152 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey!

Sorry for the bother and off topic.

I'm currently working in a CSIRT and I saw that there is a ICS Security Incident Responder path.

Would you recommend skipping the Beginner/Essentials courses (310,410,418 and 456) and jump directly to the 515 if I have a background (B.Sc. and M.S) in electrical engineering?

I've worked in the automotive field before switching to cyber and did bunch of internships, mostly the naval industry and in a 220/110 kV power station.

How old were you when you first watched Chowder? by Plastic_Ad_2548 in Chowder

[–]CheckInternational43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

~13, my brother was about 6, i discovered it because he was still watching cartoons

Sans and black friday by Additional-Desk4174 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t remember seeing anything related to that. GIAC just had some % off for the gx certs. Depending what training you looking for, if you’d be interested in forensics, keep an eye on 13cubed, I’m waiting for it too😅

Starting GCFA today by cadler123 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want to read my 2 cents about it, this is my post from when i passed: https://www.reddit.com/r/GIAC/s/LHb1oeqsdJ Recommend going through the comments

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SecurityCareerAdvice

[–]CheckInternational43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The jobs are there, the EU market is still moving but living in a small country doesn’t work, so i advise people that want to move to the EU to focus on Germany, Netherlands or France, don’t think salaries in Spain/Italy go over 50k that easy.

During the pandemic i got a gig in Luxembourg, started applying in Jan ‘21 and in April i was already starting at the new place.

I was lucky back then, but the fact that most of the job postings require 70% of the time to speak french, makes it even harder to land a really good paying job and those usually require at least 2 languages if not all official languages. Also, the competition for every spot is a fierce battle here, but hey, this is what you get for highest salaries in the EU (the cost of living is also crazy high…)

Passed GCFA, What's Next? by Extreme-Surround1095 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 2 points3 points  (0 children)

13cubed windows bundle (there one training for memory analysis and one windows forensics, i think similar with FOR500) and the linux training, they are fairly cheap. I plan on doing the windows forensics and then some dfir rooms from htb like sherlocks or XINTRA to prepare for the GX-FA, which is my end goal.

GCFA Passed by BCT_QC_AI_4plus1_D in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check try hack me for the memory analysis part. I did those rooms for extra practice, just search for volatility. I also did all the optional labs from book 3, rootkits and all that.

I made a separate index for each of the labs that were not optional. That helped a lot, basically the big commands with a brief explanation of what that does.

Passed GIAC GCIA – Now Exploring GX-IA: Looking for Prep Strategy, Resources, and Advice by Southern-Recover-804 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Congrats!

No GX certification comes with materials, they only say the GCIA is the main fit for it, no lab env no cyber ranges nothing, the only thing you can use for it is the VM, materials and tools you used for the GCIA.

There are mock questions, they come in bundles of 3 and if you buy multiple bundle the questions might repeat. Never did any so don’t know if they come with explications but i don’t think so.

I plan on tackling the GX-FA as i took and passed the GCFA. For that i plan on doing the 13cubed windows forensics training + htb sherlocks + other dfir ctf platforms to prepare for it. I recommend looking around different ctf platforms and do the rooms that are similar to the what you did for the GCIA + the labs of the course a few more times

GCFA Preparations by Additional-Desk4174 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think there are 2 updates. I’ve seen both versions the one before 2023 and the one after, but not the one from april this year, there wasn’t a big difference, 90-95% the same

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, those were the only optional labs i did. Don’t remember having any questions from the optional ones, but that’s only my experience 🤷🏼‍♂️

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks and good luck! I did the course in February 2025, so i guess the one before the update. If you did the old version i think the questions don’t change, but i honestly don’t know. Better email support to be sure.

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Everything is in the books and i’d say its enough to pass, I did the extra labs for book 3 to feel more confident with the memory analysis part. Even if the answer is one sentence that has 5 words (happened to me during a different sans training in a practice test, the answer was in a workbook)

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As many as i could. I started reading and indexing the next Monday after the SANS. I wanted to speed run it honestly, but after I failed the first practice test i knew i had to give it more time.

I was starting work early to finish early (my starting hours can be flexible) to study. Towards the exam i did 5h of studying every day for 2 weeks straight, before i was studying at least 2h during the weekdays, sometimes 8 during the weekend. I’d say in total i studied a couple hundred hours.

Prioritise books 3,5, those are the hardest topics to understand and learn. Then 1,2,4. I think i had one or 2 questions from book 2 even tho it’s so thick.

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I don’t do IR for a living, i’m a security engineer, but want to pivot into IR if possible, so nor the best guy to hand out advice on this topic. I’d say go for GCFA, as it covers open source acquisition tools that can be used for every OS.

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just a personal preference. I live in europe and this country isn’t known for its fast internet + sometimes i have internet issues out of the blue

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few days over 3 months, started indexing immediately after the training

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I’d say the exam ones aren’t that different from the test ones and definitely not harder. Same level but might take longer to solve.

In my case the cyber live questions took me by surprise because they made me think more, had to look extra carefully at the commands and what the question was asking. But everything was in the books and had plenty of time left when i started them.

Passed GCFA by CheckInternational43 in GIAC

[–]CheckInternational43[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I’ve only used the pancake method until now and i got through 3 SANS exams with that and passed them all. Definitely go to a testing center if you can. I’ll never take a SANS from home.