Cyber Security Certification: GCFA

"...The enemy is getting better and bolder, and their success rate is impressive. "We can stop them, but to do so, we need to field more sophisticated incident responders and digital forensics investigators. We need lethal digital forensics experts who can detect and eradicate advanced threats immediately. A properly trained incident responder could be the only defense your organization has left during a compromise. Forensics 508: Advanced Digital Forensics, Incident Response, and Threat Hunting is crucial training for you to become the lethal forensicator who can step up to these advanced threats. The enemy is good. We are better. This course will help you become one of the best." - Rob Lee, Course Author

The GCFA certifies that candidates have the knowledge, skills, and ability to conduct formal incident investigations and handle advanced incident handling scenarios, including internal and external data breach intrusions, advanced persistent threats, anti-forensic techniques used by attackers, and complex digital forensic cases. The GCFA certification focuses on core skills required to collect and analyze data from Windows and Linux computer systems.

Areas Covered

• Advanced Incident Response and Digital Forensics
• Memory Forensics, Timeline Analysis, and Anti-Forensics Detection
• Threat Hunting and APT Intrusion Incident Response

Who is GCFA for?

• Incident Response Team Members
• Threat Hunters
• SOC Analysts
• Experienced Digital Forensic Analysts
• Information Security Professionals
• Federal Agents and Law Enforcement Professionals
• Red Team Members, Penetration Testers, and Exploit Developers
• GCFE and GCIH Cert Holders

GCFA with CyberLive

GIAC knows that cyber security professionals need:

• Discipline-specific certifications
• Practical testing that validates their knowledge and hands-on skills

In response to this industry-wide need, GIAC developed CyberLive - hands-on, real-world practical testing.

CyberLive testing creates a lab environment where cyber practitioners prove their knowledge, understanding, and skill using:

• Actual programs
• Actual code
• Virtual machines

Candidates are asked practical questions that require performance of real-world-like tasks that mimic specialized job roles.

Find out more about CyberLive here.

Requirements

• 1 proctored exam
• 82-115 questions
• Time limit of 3 hours
• Minimum Passing Score of 72%

Delivery

NOTE: All GIAC exams are delivered through proctored test centers and must be scheduled in advance.
GIAC certification attempts will be activated in your GIAC account after your application has been approved and according to the terms of your purchase. Details on delivery will be provided along with your registration confirmation upon payment. You will receive an email notification when your certification attempt has been activated in your account. You will have 120 days from the date of activation to complete your certification attempt. GIAC exams must be proctored through Pearson VUE. Please click the following link for instructions on How to Schedule Your GIAC Proctored Exam http://www.giac.org/information/schedule_proctored_exam.pdf. GIAC exams are delivered online through a standard web browser.

Exam Certification Objectives & Outcome Statements

The topic areas for each exam part follow:

Enterprise Environment Incident Response

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the steps of the incident response process, attack progression, and adversary fundamentals and how to rapidly assess and analyze systems in an enterprise environment scaling tools to meet the demands of large investigations.

File System Timeline Artifact Analysis

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the Windows filesystem time structure and how these artifacts are modified by system and user activity.

Identification of Malicious System and User Activity

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the techniques required to identify and document indicators of compromise on a system, detect malware and attacker tools, attribute activity to events and accounts, and identify and compensate for anti-forensic actions using memory and disk resident artifacts.

Identification of Normal System and User Activity

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the techniques required to identify, document, and differentiate normal and abnormal system and user activity using memory and disk resident artifacts.

Introduction to File System Timeline Forensics

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the methodology required to collect and process timeline data from a Windows system.

Introduction to Volatile Data Forensics

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of how and when to collect volatile data from a system and how to document and preserve the integrity of volatile evidence.

NTFS Artifact Analysis

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of core structures of the Windows filesystems, and the ability to identify, recover, and analyze evidence from any file system layer, including the data storage layer, metadata layer, and filename layer.

Volatile Data Artifact Analysis of Malicious Events

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of abnormal activity within the structure of Windows memory and be able to identify artifacts such as malicious processes, suspicious drivers and malware techniques such as code injection and rootkits.

Volatile Data Artifact Analysis of Windows Events

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of abnormal activity within the structure of Windows memory and be able to identify artifacts such as malicious processes, suspicious drivers and malware techniques such as code injection and rootkits.

Windows Artifact Analysis

The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of Windows system artifacts and how to collect and analyze data such as system back up and restore data and evidence of application execution.

*No Specific training is required for any GIAC certification. There are many sources of information available regarding the certification objectives' knowledge areas. Practical experience is an option; there are also numerous books on the market covering Computer Information Security. Another option is any relevant courses from training providers, including SANS.*

Other Resources

• Training is available in a variety of modalities including live conference training, online, and self study.
• Practical work experience can help ensure that you have mastered the skills necessary for certification
• College level courses or study through another program may meet the needs for mastery.
• The procedure to contest exam results can be found at https://www.giac.org/about/procedures/grievance.