The SANS Institute Honored by SC Magazine for Winning a Best Professional Program for the Third Consecutive Year

BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), a SANS Institute affiliate, announces that the GIAC Security Expert (GSE) has been chosen as Best Professional Certification Program within the Professional Awards of the 2011 SC Awards U.S. on February 15, 2011 at the SC Awards Gala, held in conjunction with the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco. This is the third consecutive year SANS has been honored with SC Magazine's Professional Award. The SANS Institute received the Best Professional Training Program Award in both 2009 and 2010.

Since it was introduced in 2003, the GIAC Security Expert (GSE) credential has been the most elite, and prestigious certification in information security.  Practitioners aspiring to obtain the GSE often work for years to master the Certification Objectives listed at http://www.giac.org/certifications/gse.php. The GSE's performance-based, hands-on nature is truly unique.  No other certification in the information security industry covers this breadth or depth of real-world IT security job responsibilities. Those who earn the GSE can go head-to-head with the most advanced, current attacks and come out on top, they are truly experts.  The battery of exercises candidates go through during the hands-on GSE Exam are as real as it gets. The GSE exam process determines if a candidate has truly mastered the wide variety of skills required by top security consultants and thought leaders.  They analyze real traffic, respond to real incidents, probe, attack, and defend real systems on real networks.

GIAC recently hit a milestone by certifying over 35,000 information security professionals. With more than 20 specialized information security certifications that correspond to specific job duties within the IT security industry, the family of GIAC certifications target actual job-based skill sets and the certification process validates the specific skills of security professionals and developers with standards that were developed using the highest benchmarks in the industry. Five GIAC certifications have been accredited under the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 Personnel. Multiple GIAC certifications are on the Department of Defense (DoD) Directive 8570 list of approved certifications for Tech II & III, CND Analyst, CND Incident Responder and CND Auditor.

GIAC is committed to the integrity and improvement of the information security industry.  This industry is ever-changing, so please check the GIAC Website, www.giac.org, for new information and to see a list of updated certifications and certification holders.

About GIAC. Founded in 1999, the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) (www.giac.org) provides IT security professionals with certification in the areas of security administration, management, operations, legal, audit, forensics, and software security. GIAC has certified over 35,000 IT Security professionals and assures and validates that certified individuals have practical awareness, knowledge, and skills in key areas of computer, network, and software security. Its certifications and are trusted by thousands of companies and government agencies.

About SANS. (www.sans.org) Established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. Its programs reach more than 400,000 security professionals, auditors, system administrators, and network administrators who share the lessons they are learning and jointly find solutions to the challenges they face. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners in government agencies, corporations, and universities around the world who invest hundreds of hours each year in research and teaching to help the entire information security community.

SOURCE SANS Institute