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Congratulations to the latest GSE certified individuals! Jim Horwath, Mark Baggett, and Craig Wright earned the GSE on Sep. 15, 2009.

GSE pre-requisites have been updated to include many additional options! Click here to find out more.

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Information Security Certification for IT Security Professionals

The Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) was founded in 1999 to validate the real-world skills of IT security professionals. GIAC's purpose is to provide assurance that a certified individual has practical security awareness, knowledge and skills in key areas of computer security, network security and software security. GIAC offers certifications for over 20 job-specific responsibilities that reflect the current practice of information security.

GIAC certification is held in high regard among employers and the infosec community because it measures specific knowledge areas instead of general purpose infosec knowledge. Additionally, once certified, a certificant can strengthen his or her skills set at the higher levels of gold and expert status.

See why GIAC certification matters.

GIAC certifications cover four IT security job disciplines:

  1. Security Administration
  2. Security Management
  3. IT Audit
  4. Software Security

There is no particular order in which GIAC certifications must be earned. It is recommended, however, that certificants master lower-level concepts before moving on to more advanced topics. It is also suggested that certificants are familiar with the specific certification objectives and topic areas outlined for each exam. Each certification is designed to stand on its own and represents a certified individual's mastery of a particular set of security knowledge and skills. Once an individual earns a GIAC certification, he or she can build upon this knowledge by focusing efforts further through the Gold and Expert Level security certification programs.

GIAC Certification

Earning a GIAC certification requires passing one proctored certification exam. GIAC certifications assure that an individual possesses the practical real-world security skills covered by specific certification objectives. For example, if you want to hire someone who knows how to properly secure a firewall, a GCFW certification holder would be a good candidate for the job.

For a detailed description of the certification process, please review GIAC's Certification Program Candidate Handbook, which includes information on the general and specific certification process to help you prepare for the certification attempt of your choice.

GIAC Gold Security Certification

The GIAC Gold program allows certificants to demonstrate a deeper knowledge of a specific subject area, and requires individuals to research and write a detailed technical report or white paper. Candidates work closely with an advisor while developing their technical report. Once complete, the report is reviewed for acceptance into the Information Security Reading Room. Participating in the GIAC Gold program shows that not only has an individual mastered the subject area comprised by a specific certification, but that they are also qualified to research and share their knowledge with others.

GIAC Expert Level Security Certification

The GIAC Expert Level program yields the most well respected credentials in the infosec industry and is targeted for top performers. Expert Level certificants demonstrate their expertise in one of three security areas:

  1. General security (GSE)
  2. Malware (GSE-Malware)
  3. Compliance (GSE-Compliance)

Prerequisites include achieving multiple specific milestones within our Certification and Gold programs. The multi-day hands-on Expert Level testing is given only once a year. The Expert Level exams include individual and group hands-on computer security exercises, presentations, research, essay assignments and scenario-based exam sections. The test assesses specific real-world security skills to ensure that the individual is ready to confront various information security threats on multiple levels.

GIAC offer a complete suite of security certifications that follows every step of a security professional's career, from entry-level positions, through IT security administration, and even management and senior-level executive responsibilities. GIAC certifications related to software security are now available for software developers and programmers.

Ready to get started? Click here to enroll in one or more GIAC certification tests.

If you have questions about GIAC certifications please email info@giac.org.

Full Program Overview

I think that the GIAC is much more than the paper certification. The certification process is most important. It helped open my eyes to some new things and the studying helped to reinforce other areas that I didn't know as well. - Chris Schock, HCA Network Engineer
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