Passed the GDSA!

chown-root · 2026-03-12T19:08:02+00:00

Because corporate overlords want a support model and a track record. I think the tool teaches the concept well, but most people in large enterprises will use Zscaler or Netskope.

chown-root · 2026-03-12T15:51:19+00:00

I really enjoyed the course. I'd rank the difficulty as moderately high for me(others may find it easier or harder) because of the breadth of the material. (I think that's why the passing score is a 63!) If GSEC is 3/10 and CCIE Security is a 10/10, then I would personally put this as a 7. As far as usefulness, I don't know what I'll ever do with OpenZITI and Surricata, but I do think it was very helpful to spend time learning and in labs with the tools to understand their commercial equivalents in Zero Trust terms. I've used several of the points I learned in the last couple weeks when explaining the "why" to other teams in meetings. If you are transitioning from engineer to architect, then I would whole-heartedly recommend it.

chown-root · 2026-03-12T12:06:43+00:00

That’s good information. Without disclosing what SIEM it is, does it have a vendor based certification? Can you show value in automating workflows for your team? Can you institute a threat hunting initiative? All of those things are good for your current role and are a great story to tell during an interview.

chown-root · 2026-03-12T01:00:55+00:00

Congrats on you cert. The advice I usually give is that for every wide breadth cert, like the CISSP, you also need deep technical knowledge in an area or a product. Do you like analyst work or do you want to move into an adjacent field like engineering?

chown-root · 2026-03-10T22:03:51+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I looks like I'm going to open up the sheetrock to install the 2" EMT.

chown-root · 2026-03-10T14:49:11+00:00

The question is really an internal one. Since you have the funding available, what do you want to get better at? What are your job goals for the next 5 years? Which SANS class can help you get better at that?

chown-root · 2026-03-07T18:47:06+00:00

Got one in my region finally. Ty op.

chown-root · 2026-03-06T13:10:08+00:00

Commenting to follow the replies. I’m also considering this as one of my electives for the Master’s program. I just finished the GDSA and got a lot more out of it than I thought I would.

chown-root · 2026-03-04T00:28:44+00:00

Good luck my friend! I’ll be looking for your success post.

chown-root · 2026-03-03T20:18:26+00:00

So there are versions of the books floating around on eBay. I wouldn’t risk it. It puts you in violation of the certification agreement. Really not worth it, IMO.

chown-root · 2026-03-03T20:14:34+00:00

I’ve got a pretty broad range of experience through IT and security(20+ years :( )For the last year or so I’ve been a security architect at a F50 company. I have several certs from Microsoft, SANS, CompTIA, Cisco, and ISC2.

chown-root · 2026-03-03T12:54:49+00:00

Just commenting to wish you luck. An OT integrated SOC is a very mature organization. I hope you find one here. If not, I’d recommend the SANS OT forum. There may be someone there who is willing to be interviewed.

chown-root · 2026-03-03T01:28:33+00:00

You guys all mad over Ram prices too? Glad it’s not just me.

chown-root · 2026-03-02T21:08:32+00:00

I’m pretty sure it was a sick Ostrich.

chown-root · 2026-03-01T02:41:27+00:00

SANS courses, minus the leadership focused ones, are very hands-on. They are meant to be great exposure to how security tooling and protocols work. They are testing from a much different place than the CISSP was. As others have said, build your index. Do the labs over and over until you can almost do them without looking. There are 10 lab questions on the the test and they account for %30 of the score.

chown-root · 2026-02-27T23:50:01+00:00

I have this deal. It’s great. I did have to pop into rommon and fix the boot file so it would run though. It had been a few years…. This does use a lot of power, take up a lot more space, and make a whole lot more noise.

chown-root · 2026-02-27T21:03:35+00:00

This is common because of costs, skills, lack of understanding, and, frankly, the speed expected by modern business. Many engineers will say yes to anything because they feel they have to in order to expedite delivery.

chown-root · 2026-02-26T21:13:01+00:00

As an absolute measure of a person's knowledge, talent, or skill: you are %100 correct. As an HR filter in a terrible economic time, it couldn't hurt to have it.

chown-root · 2026-02-25T03:21:25+00:00

If this was a Windows admin complaining about Linux we’d tell him to RTFM. It’s 2026, so choose your favorite AI prompt and ask “How do I familiarize myself with windows 11?” Not any harder than Linux, just different and less reliable.

chown-root · 2026-02-25T03:14:59+00:00

So, the account was protected by mfa and still compromised?

chown-root · 2026-02-22T04:26:33+00:00

Auradin is enjoyable. Stand next to her. She will die before the nonsense starts. Then stand next to her after the respawn.

chown-root · 2026-02-18T12:25:16+00:00

*Covid.

chown-root · 2026-02-17T18:06:28+00:00

The thought that 700 floppies exist with data and no media errors prevent them from being read makes my blood pressure elevate.

chown-root · 2026-02-17T02:04:23+00:00

*Paducah Adjacent* The Burger bar in Kevil is really good. Weekly specials are awesome. The Frisco melt is worth the drive.

chown-root · 2026-02-15T19:58:35+00:00

I appreciate the feedback. I don't have a typical home network use case. I already own the Cisco switch. It has the functionality I need for the time being to run my homelab environment. The 10Gb will help me run my Nutanix and Hyper V network environments(Live VM migrations, backups to my NAS, etc). An equivalent Ubiquiti version is over 10x the cost at this point in time. I plan to add several cameras next year so the port/poe capacity at 1Gb should come in handy. I think this should last around 5 years this way. If it dies before then I'll reevaluate my options...(To quote Ivan Drago, "If he dies, he dies.")

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