GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)

The GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) certification validates a practitioner's knowledge of information security beyond simple terminology and concepts. GSEC certification holders are demonstrating that they are qualified for hands-on IT systems roles with respect to security tasks.

Areas Covered

• Active defense, defense in depth, access control & password management
• Cryptography: basic concepts, algorithms and deployment, and application
• Defensible network architecture, networking & protocols, and network security
• Incident handling & response, vulnerability scanning and penetration testing
• Linux security: structure, permissions, & access; hardening & securing; monitoring & attack detection; & security utilities
• Security policy, contingency plans, critical controls and IT risk management
• Web communication security, virtualization and cloud security, and endpoint security
• Windows: access controls, automation, auditing, forensics, security infrastructure, & securing network services

Who is GSEC for?

• Anyone new to information security who has some background in information systems & networking
• Security professionals
• Security managers
• Operations personnel
• IT engineers and supervisors
• Security administrators
• Forensic analysts
• Penetration testers
• Auditors