Episode 2015:2 SANS ICS Security Training and Certification
SANS provided four individuals for our Unsolicited Response podcast on the 5-day ICS 410: ICS/SCADA Security Essentials training course and the related Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional (GICSP) certification.
- Scott Cassity, Managing Director of GIAC
- Mike Assante, SANS Lead for ICS/SCADA security training
- Justin Searle, SANS Instructor and major course content creator
- Graham Speake, SANS Instructor and participant in GICSP creation
In the hour long discussion we cover:
- Why SANS developed an ICS certification and training course
- The difficulties and benefits of having a mix of IT Security and OT students in the class
- How the course and certification were created and how they are structured
- Early feedback on the course and certification along with likely changes and possible future courses (2-day course) and certifications
- The number of students trained and the number of certified GICSP
- Why SANS courses are so expensive relative to other courses
- How should a potential employer view an individual who has the GICSP certification
I also gave the SANS team a chance to answer the criticism that this is an IT Security course from an IT security organization.
I appreciate SANS providing so much time and resources to the podcast. I think there is a fair argument on how the SANS course rates in comparison to the competition, and it might depend on the attendee profile and goal of taking the course. The one thing that SANS has going for it is they know how to scale up to train thousands of students, and this is needed in the ICS security space.
Related Links:
I’m committed to a minimum of 20 podcasts in 2015; this is episode 2. We will wait until five episodes are recorded before bringing on podcast sponsors, but let us know if you are interested in sponsoring Unsolicited Response.