Could you share your role at your company and its importance?
As an Attack Monitoring Analyst, it is my duty to ensure that we defend the organization against cyber-attacks. Threat actors are constantly trying to disrupt business operations for financial gain, and we must prevent this to the best of our abilities.
What challenges have you faced in building or upskilling your cybersecurity team?
As one of the more inexperienced members of my team, I initially struggled to fully apply what I had learned in school to real-life situations.
How has SEC504 helped you in your role? Would you recommend it to your colleagues?
The course gave me the confidence to apply what I learned directly to my day-to-day work. Studying for the certification felt very realistic, and the hands-on activities demonstrated how certain exploits could be used to target specific vulnerabilities in a server. As a blue team member, it is extremely important to understand how bad actors successfully dump and exfiltrate data.
Is there a course you are interested in taking next? Why?
I would like to take the GCFA in the future to deepen my understanding of malware incident triage.
Did the course meet your expectations? Did it exceed them?
The course certainly exceeded my expectations. Special mention goes to Professor Steve Anson, who taught the course exceptionally well. Despite a packed schedule, he provided us with valuable insights into applying the techniques learned during the course to real-world situations. The hands-on activities were extremely useful and tested my abilities in a meaningful way.
If you want to improve your skills in cybersecurity, choose SANS certifications. They're worth every penny.