I have always wanted to take a SANS course since my first job. However, it’s really expensive (I think 10k USD) for both the exam and the course. I wasn’t able to get my previous companies to support me in it until my current company. I’m very fortunate that my current company is sponsoring my course and exam this time round.

I took my first ever SANS course back in March 2023 and is pleased to announce that I passed the GCFA (GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst) exam today.

I’m also honoured to receive 2 SANS coins during the SANS course/event too.

This was a very difficult exam as I know several folks who failed on their first attempt. I worked extremely hard for it and very lucky to pass on my first try. My prep journey was tough and I have 5 revisions of my indexing for the materials. Open book exams are always very difficult. 🙁

As I am not a Windows user for many years, I had to take extra time and effort to get used to the Windows terms for the course. I basically started studying since the end of the course and went full steam in the last few weeks before the exam. Took some days off from work to study as well.

This certification also marks the first certification that I hope to attain in 2023. *Cough cough CISSP*

Onwards to the next one!

My life has been really tough recently. I don’t think I am at place to blog much about it, other than the publicly known information like how I got 2 confirmed exams to prepare for, 1 to 2 upcoming ones as well and maybe a violin exam at the end of this year or early next year. Oh, and the usual work stress but never ends since the geopolitical situation is not improving currently. When there are wars, there will be more cyber attacks. That’s just a fact of life for my industry. I heard from some of my ex-colleagues who are also facing immense amount of stress recently given the ever increasing cost of living in Singapore. It’s getting really tough not to layoff people even though we need the manpower to address the huge amount of workload. Oh well.

I may blog more about my personal life issues when things are more settled. In the meantime, I wish everyone is doing well now. 🙂