SANS / GIAC Dumps Practical Requirement

All GIAC certification holders just received an email stating that practical assignments will no longer be required to attain SANS/GIAC certifications.

As someone who just went through the original (with paper) process, I am a bit upset about this. To me, the paper was the biggest thing that set this certifcation organization apart from all the others. Taking that away from the process takes away what made their certs stand out.

They claim it was because not enough people were able to spend the time necessary to do the practicals. My answer to that is that not many have the time to get PhD’s either — perhaps that’s what makes them valuable.

I can’t help but think this is driven by money and money alone. If people are too scared to attempt the certification because they fear the paper, SANS doesn’t make much money. If it’s “just an online test”, many more will pay the $800 fee to challenge for the cert.

It’s a sad day for infosec certifications.

Edit: One interesting note here: SANS itself, in the email that was sent out notifying current cert holders of the change, said that a different logo would be available for those who got the “more prestigious” credentials, i.e. those who acheived it when the paper was required. Here’s my question: if SANS itself calls the certifications that required the paper “more prestigious”, then why (other than money) would they drop the practical as a requirement?