Just Passed My GCIH!!

[matt81]

I just passed my SANS GCIH exam and I'm very excited about it. It was a great certification and I learned quite a bit studying for it.

If you have any questions on my preparation for the exam, please let me know. I'll help you where I can, without giving away anything about the test itself.

[hayabusa]

Congrate, matt81!

So...  What's next?   

[matt81]

Honestly, it's been a few years since I've taken any exams and I need to catch up on a few. I'm most likely going to take the CEH exam and move onto the OWSP.

Any recomendations?

[ajohnson]

Congrats! The GCIH is a solid cert. Quality over quantity

What are your goals? Those are obviously going to affect recommendations.

The OSWP is fairly easy; the exam doesn't cover more than is included in the course materials. You should be able to knock that out quickly if you go through and understand the exercises.

[azmatt]

Congrats on the pass!

[matt81]

Honestly, I've been working now for the past couple years without taking any exams and I feel like I need to play catch up. I took the GCIH, was going to follow up with the OWSP and then on to the GWAPT to get the full gambit. We'll see though.

Do you have any recomenedations? I'm always open?

Congrats! The GCIH is a solid cert. Quality over quantity

What are your goals? Those are obviously going to affect recommendations.

The OSWP is fairly easy; the exam doesn't cover more than is included in the course materials. You should be able to knock that out quickly if you go through and understand the exercises.

[ajohnson]

Honestly, I've been working now for the past couple years without taking any exams and I feel like I need to play catch up. I took the GCIH, was going to follow up with the OWSP and then on to the GWAPT to get the full gambit. We'll see though.

Do you have any recomenedations? I'm always open?

What type of position do you currently hold? Where do you want to go? What are your goals?

Recommendations will be vary greatly depending on if you want to be a pen tester compared, or if you want to go into management, or if you want to do something else entirely.

[lorddicranius]

Gratz, matt81!  GCIH is one of the classes I have on my "want to do" list.

[matt81]

Recommendations will be vary greatly depending on if you want to be a pen tester compared, or if you want to go into management, or if you want to do something else entirely.


Currently I'm an engineer, but would like to work my ways towards more of a managment position. Does this help?

[UNIX]

If you are more interested in information security management, I'd recommend to take a look at CISM, CISA and CISSP.

[ajohnson]

If you are more interested in information security management, I'd recommend to take a look at CISM, CISA and CISSP.

+1 CISSP will get you the most bang for you buck, but IMHO, CISM had more relevant material. The CISSP is commonly referred to as being a mile wide and an inch deep, and covers everything from physical security to encryption. The CISM focuses on information security management and doesn't include all the ancillary topics.

The CISA is geared more towards auditing, but it will likely be useful knowledge to have in a management role since you will likely be dealing with SSAE16 audits, PCI audits, internal audits, etc.

[Dark_Knight]

Whatever path you choose, still do the CISSP. It is a necessary evil. So you might as well get it over and done with.

I will doing it sometime next year.

[matt81]

To be honesty with you I was going to attempt the following this year:

1. CEH
2. OWSP
3. CISM

If I'm able to I'm going to attempt the CISSP or a course to take it by the end of the year or earlier next year.

Regarding the CEH how difficult it is compared to the GCIH exam?

[hayabusa]

If you're good at memorization, you really shouldn't have trouble with CEH (although when I took the v7 refresher - full class -  a couple of years ago, I was surprised that only I and one other person passed the exam at the end...  Really didn't think it was THAT difficult)

[H1t M0nk3y]

Congratulations matt81 for your GCIH cert!!

I would go for CISSP next if you aim at being a manager. Like the others said, it is a necessary evil...