The GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies (GFACT) certification is designed for individuals eager to embark on a cybersecurity career. Whether you are new to the field, a career changer, or an IT professional seeking foundational cybersecurity knowledge, the GFACT certification provides a robust foundation in essential cybersecurity concepts and practical skills.
Who Should Consider GFACT?
- Newcomers to cybersecurity
- Career changers
- Self-driven learners
- College and university students
- Business professionals without a deep cybersecurity background
- New hires in IT/cybersecurity roles
- Participants in re-skilling programs
What Will You Learn?
The GFACT certification covers a wide range of topics crucial for a foundational understanding of cybersecurity:
- Core Computing Components
- Hardware and Virtualization
- Networking
- Operating Systems
- Web, Cloud, and Data Storage
- IT Fundamentals and Concepts
- Logic and Programming
- Windows and Linux Foundations
- Security Foundations and Threat Landscape
- Security Concepts
- Exploitation and Mitigation
- Forensics and Post-Exploitation
Exam Details
- Format: One proctored exam
- Number of Questions: 75
- Duration: 2 hours
- Passing Score: 71%
- Delivery Options: Remote proctoring through ProctorU or onsite proctoring through PearsonVUE
Exam Objectives
- Computer Hardware & Virtualization: Understand key hardware components, memory concepts, virtualization, and containers.
- Exploitation & Mitigation: Familiarity with exploit anatomy, attacker tools, and mitigation strategies.
- Forensics & Post-Exploitation: Knowledge of forensic tools, incident response stages, and post-exploitation methods.
- Linux Foundations: Proficiency in Linux commands, permissions, and architecture.
- Logic & Programming: Basic logical operations, programming syntax, and memory functions.
- Networking & Servers: Core networking concepts, protocols, and server uses.
- Operating Systems, The Web, & Data Storage: Operating system tasks, file systems, web technology, and cloud computing.
- Security Concepts: Cryptography, ethical hacking, attack stages, and defensive strategies.
- Windows Foundations: Key Windows CLI commands, permissions, and architecture.
Resources for Preparation
- Training Modalities: Live training, OnDemand courses, college-level courses, and self-paced study programs.
- Practical Work Experience: Gaining hands-on experience to master the necessary skills.
- Practice Tests: Simulations of the real exam to familiarize with the test engine and question styles.
Embrace the opportunity to enhance your cybersecurity skills and knowledge with the GFACT certification. It’s an ideal stepping stone for anyone looking to establish a solid foundation in the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity.
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Difficulty: 0 out of 5.
GFACT could be useful if someone had little to no background in the field. However, SANS courses aren't designed or thought of to be for those new to the field. Thus, most coming in already have foundational knowledge, SANS knows this and requires this course to be taken anyway for any undergrad path as a simple money grab. Learned nothing.
Don't waste time learning the programming languages that are in the books for the exam, it is not on the exam. Learn them later in life from better sources.
Difficulty: 2 out of 5.
The GFACT exam is a solid choice for anyone who has specialized in one area of tech, and is looking to understand other spots. It is entry level, and as such carries the "I already know this." feeling sometimes. With that said taking it I was appreciative of the context in some areas I already knew, and to gain understanding into other areas I was less familiar with. I'm a policy / GRC professional by career at this point, so the GFACT gave me exposure to more red team work, as well as a base understanding of C, and Assembly.
For someone transitioning careers or someone just starting out I do recommend this as a solid place to go.
Difficulty: 2 out of 5.
This is the first certificate you get from the SANS Bachelor's of Cybersecurity program and it's mandatory to move on to the rest of the coursework. It's a foundational course designed to give you a light familiarity with the cybersecurity field. I consider myself an average computer literate person and I definitely learned new material.
I didn't do much note taking for this exam, other can creating a copy of the course in OneNote to make the material easily searchable. The videos were value added, but not necessary to proceed through the material. The must important thing was to be familiar with where the material is in each of the books, to help you easily find it in the exam.
I knew about 10 questions on the exam and had to look it up the other 65 in the books to confirm my guesses, and still had 40 minutes left out of the 2 hours alotted by the time I finished the exam. So you have plenty of time to get the right answer even if you look through the books for every question.
All in all, an easy course for a prepared beginner. Packaged with the BACS program, it's an affordable way to take the course and get a degree. For an experienced cybersecurity professional, this course would be a definite skip and I would not recommend paying for it out-of-pocket.
