GIAC Certified Perimeter Protection Analyst

GIAC Certified Perimeter Protection Analyst (GPPA)

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Description

The GIAC Certified Firewall Analyst (GCFW) certification has been renamed to the GIAC Certified Perimeter Protection Analyst (GPPA) effective January 1, 2014. This change comes as the industry continues to incorporate Cloud, mobile and virtualization into their systems, presenting new challenges into the traditional perimeter defenses. The GPPA addresses these challenges as well as traditional perimeter protection and multilayered security.

Once upon a time, perimeter security included primarily firewalls. Today, perimeter security involves much more than just firewalls to protect our environments. The perimeter is not what it used to be! Therefore, the GCFW certification has been renamed to properly reflect that fact.

- Tanya Baccam

GIAC Certified Perimeter Protection Analysts (GPPAs) have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to design, configure, and monitor routers, firewalls, and perimeter defense systems.

Target

Individuals responsible for designing, implementing, configuring, and monitoring a secure perimeter for any organization; including routers, firewalls, VPNs/remote access, and overall network design.

Requirements

1 proctored exam
75 questions
Time limit of 2 hours
Minimum Passing Score of 69.3%

Renew

Certifications must be renewed every 4 years. Click here for details.

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.

Bulletin (Part 2 of Candidate Handbook)

Exam Certification Objectives & Outcome Statements

The topic areas for each exam part follow:

Advanced Perimeter Protection: The candidate will demonstrate understanding of perimeter protection technologies and techniques including proxies, application firewalls, virtual firewalls, deep packet inspection and UTM
Cloud Security: The candidate will demonstrate familiarity with cloud service, infrastructure and security issues
Creating and Auditing a Rulebase: The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of building and verifying firewall rulebases that serve the needs of the business and map to security policy.
Host-Based Detection and DLP: The candidate will demonstrate understanding of the capabilities of HIDS and HIPS, and be familiar with DLP techniques.
IPv6 and ICMPv6: The candidate will understand the basics of IP and ICMP version 6.
Log Collection and Analysis: The candidate will demonstrate understanding of techniques for centralizing log collection and analyzing firewall logs.
Network Based Intrusion Detection and Prevention (NIPS/NIDS): The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of network intrusion detection and prevention devices and techniques
Packet Fragmentation: The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of how fragmentation works and fragmentation-based attacks.
Perimeter Concepts and IP Fundamentals: The candidate will demonstrate a thorough understanding of the IP header, and basic perimeter concepts including services, firewalls, and layered security.
Routers Security and Network Access Control: The candidate will demonstrate understanding of the basics of router hardening and NAC through Cisco IOS security configuration and applying ACLs
Securing Hosts and Services: The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the principles, tools, and techniques for securing externally accessible hosts and common server services.
Static and Stateful Packet Filtering: The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of how static and stateful packet filters work and how to filter and analyze traffic using Netfilter and other open source tools
TCP/IP Protocols: The candidate will demonstrate a thorough understanding of TCP, UDP and ICMP.
VPN Basics and Implementation: The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of VPN authentication, encryption and implementation, including an understanding of remote access protocols and technologies
Vulnerabilty Assessment and Auditing: The candidate will demonstrate an understanding of network vulnerability assessments and auditing using common network and OS tools
Wireless Design and Security: The candidate will demonstrate familiarity with basic wireless network design and security issues

Where to Get Help

Training is available from a variety of resources including on line, course attendance at a live conference, and self study.

Practical experience is another way to ensure that you have mastered the skills necessary for certification. Many professionals have the experience to meet the certification objectives identified.

Finally, 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.

Security Certification: GPPA