Re: GIAC Dilution

[Don Parker <dparker () bridonsecurity com>]

Hello Andy,

Well as my signature block shows I hold two GIAC certs. It took me a lot of my
personal time to get them both. The reason that it was undoable by some FBI Cyber
Expert due to his workload is laughable. Indeed the cert has been watered down.
For one I don't intend on renewing mine, as they are now just another of the many
exam based certs. 

To me this just seems like a money grab. Due to the difficulty of the practical
very few did it. If they dispense with it then the masses indeed will be
motivated to do it, and have the GIAC cert. It has lost all the prestige it used
to have. This is something I have commented on in other online venues. Also I
won't be recommending SANS training, which was mediocre at best. You guessed it
by the tone of this post that I am very pissed off, and that is due to the
reasoning given. What a farce.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Don Parker, GCIA GCIH
Intrusion Detection & Incident Handling Specialist
Bridon Security & Training Services
http://www.bridonsecurity.com
voice: 1-613-302-2910
--------------------------------------------------------------

On Thu Mar 17 11:24 , "Andy Cuff [Talisker]"  sent:

> Good Evening,
>
>
> Am I alone in thinking that SANS have greatly reduced the value of a GIAC
> certification?  For those that are not aware SANS no longer require the
> submission of a paper in order to pass but merely an exam.  They claim that
> too many people were unable to complete GIAC certification due to the hard
> work involved in doing so. As one of the many individuals that have attended
> a SANS track and was unable to find said time, I feel justified in my
> condemnation as I would actually benefit from this change.  I use GIAC as a
> metric to reduce the time it takes to gauge the effectiveness of holders to
> fill security positions. This latest move will make it as effective as
> CISSP, MCSE etc, Something for management to quote but attainable by the
> masses and not a true indicator.  GIAC as was, required the analyst to have
> passion for what we do, the time taken to achieve the certification kept
> those that were attracted by the potential of higher salaries at bay.
>
> Finally, how must those individuals (and their neglected families) that did
> commit so much effort to achieving said certification feel.
>
>
>
> That said, if you can't beat them join them, I'll be doing the exam as soon
> as I can and ride on the wave! 
>
>   Regards
> Andy Cuff
> Chief Technology Officer
> Computer Network Defence Ltd
> http://SecurityWizardry.com
> Phone (+44) (0) 7989 978538