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GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies

Tests the computing basics security work assumes, from hardware and networking to Linux, Windows and reading code, in GIAC's cheapest exam

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The exam

Exam cost
$399
Study time
2-3 months
Passing score
71%
Valid for
4 years

Before you book

  • None required by GIAC
  • SANS SEC275 has no prerequisites

What it covers

Security domains

Skills

  • Cybersecurity Fundamentals
  • Networking Basics
  • Operating Systems
  • Security Concepts
  • Cryptography Basics

Career

US pay and outlook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the closest BLS occupation to each role this certification fits. BLS doesn't report pay by certification, and counts most of these roles only within a wider occupation, so the figures describe that occupation, not the role or the credential.

Where people with it work

  1. Entry level

  2. Mid level

  3. Senior level

Where it leads

  1. GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies

    You are here

  2. GIAC Security Essentials

    Intermediate

    Next step. SANS names SEC275 as the starting point for newcomers before SEC401 and GSEC

Study guide

Last updated

GFACT Study Guide: GIAC's $399 Foundations Exam and SEC275

GFACT, GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies, tests the computing knowledge that security work assumes you already have: hardware, operating systems, networking, the Linux and Windows command lines, and enough programming to read code. Security concepts make up only part of it. At $399 it's the cheapest attempt on GIAC's price list, and the exam is 75 questions in two hours; unlike GSEC's page, GIAC's GFACT page mentions no CyberLive lab tasks.

Who GFACT is for

GIAC's list is broad: anyone new to cybersecurity, career changers, self-taught online learners, college students, business staff building technical skills, new IT and security hires, and people in reskilling programs. What they have in common is that no one has yet tested whether they know how a computer works, which is the job GFACT does.

It suits a help desk technician who wants to move toward security, a graduate from a non-technical degree, or an employer onboarding a cohort through a reskilling program. SANS describes the matching course, SEC275, as having no prerequisites.

Skip it if you already work as a system or network administrator. You'd be paying to prove what your job shows, and GSEC is the better first GIAC exam. If a job posting asks for Security+, take that instead. If networking is the gap and security can wait, Network+ goes deeper on that one subject.

GFACT facts

GFACT
Questions and time75 questions in 2 hours
Passing score71%, for exam versions released on or after July 24, 2021
Hands-on itemsNo CyberLive section mentioned on GIAC's GFACT page
Price$399 attempt; $199 retake; $199 extension; $189 per extra practice test
DeliveryProctored, online through ProctorU or at a Pearson VUE test center
MaterialsOpen book: printed books, notes and your own index; nothing electronic
PrerequisitesNone listed by GIAC
Time to sit it120 days from activation
Validity4 years; renew with 36 CPEs and a $199 fee, or by passing the current exam

The nine objectives

GIAC publishes the objectives without weights, and its own summary sorts them into three groups:

  • Computing basics: computer hardware and virtualization, including memory and containers; operating systems, the web and data storage, including file systems and cloud models; and networking and servers.
  • IT fundamentals: Linux foundations, Windows foundations, and logic and programming.
  • Security: security concepts such as cryptography terms, the legal and ethical limits on hacking, and the stages of an attack; exploitation and mitigation; and forensics and post-exploitation, including persistence, lateral movement and exfiltration.

Six of the nine objectives aren't about security at all, and if you come from outside IT they'll take most of your study time. The logic and programming objective asks you to work out the result of logical operations, recognize syntax and errors in common languages, and understand how programs use memory. SEC275 teaches this through Python and C, and it includes an assembly module. Expect to read short code and predict what it does.

The two operating system objectives ask for "working knowledge" of common commands, permissions and file systems. That's a higher bar than the "familiar with" wording on the security objectives, so put your command-line practice there.

How to prepare

SEC275, Foundations: Computers, Technology and Security, by James Lyne and Rich Greene, is self-paced only: 38 hours of material, 13 modules and 90 labs, with four months of access, for $999. A GFACT attempt added at checkout costs $399, the same as buying it from GIAC, and SANS includes two practice tests with it. SANS also offers a free 14-day preview of selected modules, labs and quizzes, which is worth doing before you spend $1,398 on both.

SANS maps the 13 modules onto the objectives. Programming and Logic covers Practical Programming and Assembly, for instance, while the Offense, Forensics and Incident Response modules cover exploitation and post-exploitation. A final review module comes before the exam.

If you study without SEC275, use the nine objectives as your checklist and cover each one with free or low-cost material you trust. A plan for someone starting from little:

  • Weeks 1 to 3: hardware, memory, virtualization and containers, then networking. Set up a home lab with one Linux and one Windows virtual machine.
  • Weeks 4 to 6: Linux and Windows command lines every day. Change permissions, read logs, list processes and check network connections on both systems.
  • Weeks 7 to 8: Python basics, then reading a short C program and saying what it prints.
  • Weeks 9 to 10: security concepts, common exploits and the incident response stages, building your index as you go.

The exam is open book, and GIAC allows printed books, notes and an index you've made. GIAC says building the index helps you learn the material, which counts for more when most of it is new to you. Index command names, port numbers and terms, each with the page that explains it. You can't go back to answered questions, so use your 10 to 15 skips for anything you need to look up at length.

Renewal and what comes next

GFACT renews every four years like other GIAC certifications: 36 CPEs or a pass on the current exam, plus a $199 fee, lower than the $499 for most GIAC renewals. Fail, and the $199 retake has to wait 30 days.

Next steps:

  • GSEC, the defensive baseline that SANS's SEC401 course builds toward. SANS names SEC275 as a starting point for people new to the field before SEC401.
  • Security+, if a job posting or contract names it.

Our view

GFACT is good at what it claims. It confirms that a newcomer understands hardware, operating systems, networks and basic code, including reading a short program. As a hiring signal we'd rate it below GSEC and Security+, since it tells an employer you're ready to learn security work rather than ready to do it. We'd recommend it to career changers whose employer or program pays for SEC275, and to anyone who needs structure while learning the basics. If you're paying yourself and already comfortable on a command line, put the $1,398 toward Security+ or GSEC.

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