31 days to the GSE Exam
31 days to the GSE Exam and counting down.
The 18th of September is D-Day and I have to make it through to some point in the evening of the 19th, surviving what ever the fiendish SANS team have to throw at me at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
I still have a giant pile of books next to my bed read through and plenty of hands of exercises to drill tools, techniques and best practices in to what ever space I have left in my brain.
Just when the GSE exam ends, the main event of SANS Network Security 2010 kicks off on the 20th. 41 different SANS tracks are running, meaning a huge number of security professionals there to learn, understand and have a great time. Seems so unfair, so much to learn and so little time.
6 Comments
Aug 19, 2010 7:28 am |
Good luck nerdlinger!
Aug 23, 2010 1:42 pm |
Wow, I didn’t know you were taking a stab at this. I’m shooting for a 2011 attempt, so I would be curious to know how you’ve gone about studying and what you think about the experience after you pass
I’ll be looking forward to a future blog post. For the time being, happy studying and good luck!
Aug 27, 2010 5:56 am |
First, congrats on even getting to the point where you’re GSE-eligible. That in itself is quite the feat! Are there any specific non-SANS books which you’re studying / using to prepare for the lab? I should be attempting this towards the 2nd half of 2011.
Best of luck and keep updating!
Paul B.
Aug 27, 2010 7:50 am |
Thanks, I’ll take all the luck I can get
I will publish a list of the books – I’ve been meaning to but Real Life and study time have seriously sucked up other recreational pastimes.
Quick list is the Wireshark book from Laura Chappell, anything by Richard Bejtlich, A Practical Guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux – Fifth Edition by Mark G. Sobell, Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook – Forth Edition by Evi Nemeth, Attack Detection and Response with iptables, psad, and fwsnort
by Michael Rash, NMap Scanning by Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon and the Hacking Exposed series. I’ll post the other up – Promise! Plus there’s lots of excellent blog posts that take my in new directions for learning like http://www.packetstan.com, for example.
Linux isn’t something I do anything with at work officially, so I’m racking up as much time with excellent resources and hands on to get what I need in to my brain.
Aug 28, 2010 2:00 am |
It sounds like we’re on the same page (pardon the pun) regarding book selection. The Tao of Network Security never leaves my backpack. I’ve also got Chappell’s book but I don’t think it goes into enough detail some of the time. For the packet analysis I’ve gotten more success from the wireshark wiki’s packet trace archive. I read an overview in the book then go into greater detail with the decode pcaps.
Linux is definitely my weak spot as well so hopefully my prep will pay off. I’m reading through the LPIC track’s study guides now for a better over-all understanding of the system but I just have to get the CLI into my fingers. I don’t touch Linux as any function of my job so its tough.
Aug 28, 2010 4:34 am |
There’s no rush. I wasn’t expecting a detailed response until after the exam and the requisite alcohol-fueled recovery
If you’re looking for a good Linux resource, http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Commands-Editors-Programming/dp/0131367366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282933823&sr=8-1 is one of my favorites.
Don’t worry about responding to us; focus on your studies! Good luck!
Leave a Reply