SANS CyberTalent Assessments Revolutionize the Information Security Recruitment Process

Web-based Assessment to Help Streamline Candidate Selection and Skills Validation

BETHESDA, Md., April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The SANS Institute today announced SANS CyberTalent Assessments, a new recruiting and talent management tool that helps to validate the skills of information security professionals. As part of a recruitment process, CyberTalent Assessments helps recruiters, human resource (HR) professionals, and recruiting agencies save time, reduce administrative efforts and increase the pool of qualified candidates. SANS CyberTalent Assessments is also a powerful tool to assess existing information security staff as part of a training needs analysis or career development planning.

Powered by Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), SANS CyberTalent Assessments provide benchmarks across many information security domains including communications security, Internet security, networking concepts and operating systems security.

"A typical recruitment process for a skilled information security professional is a complex and time consuming task, even if the recruiter is a subject matter expert," explains Tom Carver, Director – SANS CyberTalent. "CyberTalent Assessments help recruiters address many of today's challenges including the global shortage of skilled professionals and the exponential growth demand for information security skills. It also helps reduce the administrative burden of curriculum vitae (CV) or resume review, short listing, and first interviewing. Most importantly, CyberTalent Assessments offer the best way to accurately verify a job applicant's technical knowledge while providing information in an easy-to-read format that allows an applicant's skill levels to be easily compared against other applicants."

SANS CyberTalent Assessments tool is very user-friendly. Because it is Web-based, organizations can send the assessment link to candidates regardless of location. Upon completion of the timed assessments, results are immediately available to the recruiting manager and can be used to compare and contrast the participant's results in a variety of formats including online, in PDF, or Excel.

"Typically recruiters look for key words on a resume or CV, or if not a particular certification or training qualification," explains Carver. "However with this tool you can widen the criteria as the assessment will drill down to actual practical InfoSec knowledge and cut straight to those suitable for the job whether they have the words or qualification on their CV or not."

Over 48,000 students have gained GIAC certifications worldwide and CyberTalent is able to draw on thousands of reference questions from an assessment framework that is continually evolving in line with the security and regulatory landscape. Leading up to launch, CyberTalent has been piloted by a large multinational energy company, a major EU institution, and large organization within the defence sector.

For additional information on SANS CyberTalent including pricing and to contact us for purchase, please visit: http://www.sans.org/info/128495

About SANS Institute
The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted, and by far the largest, source for world-class information security training and security certification in the world offering over 50 training courses. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, is a certification body featuring over 20 hands-on, technical certifications in information security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; and it operates the Internet's early warning system - the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners in varied global organizations from corporations to universities working together to help the entire information security community. (www.SANS.org)

About GIAC
Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) is a certification body featuring over 20 hands-on, technical certifications in information security. GIAC has certified over 48,000 IT security professionals since it was founded in 1999. The GIAC program is accredited under the IEC/ISO/ANSI 17024 quality standard for certifying bodies. GIAC is an affiliate of the SANS Institute. (www.GIAC.org)

SOURCE SANS Institute