SANS Institute

The SANS Institute is a private U.S. company that specializes in information security and cybersecurity training. Since its founding in 1989, the SANS Institute has trained over 120,000 information security professionals in topics ranging from cyber and network defenses, penetration testing, incident response, digital forensics, and audit. In 1999, the SANS Institute formed Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), an independent entity that has granted over 58,000 certifications to validate the skills and knowledge of information security professionals.^[1] The SANS Institute also sponsors the Internet Storm Center, an Internet monitoring system staffed by a global community of security practitioners, and the SANS Reading Room - a research archive of information security policy and research documents that delivers over one million downloads per year to professionals globally. The trade name SANS (deriving from SysAdmin, Audit, Networking, and Security) belongs to the for-profit Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies.^[2]

SANS training

When originally organized in 1989,^[3] live SANS training events functioned like traditional technical conferences showcasing technical presentations. By the mid-1990s, SANS evolved into a more commercial format offering events which combined training with tradeshows and vendor-oriented marketing. Beginning in 2006, SANS extended its offering to include asynchronous online training (SANS OnDemand) and a virtual, synchronous classroom format (SANS vLive). Free webcasts and email newsletters (@Risk, Newsbites, Ouch!) have been developed in conjunction with security vendors. The actual content behind SANS training courses and training events remain "vendor-agnostic." Vendors cannot pay to offer their own official SANS course, although they can teach a SANS "hosted" event via sponsorship.

Certifications related to SANS training courses are offered by SANS-operated GIAC.

SANS Technology Institute

As of 2006 SANS established the SANS Technology Institute, a graduate school based on SANS training and GIAC certifications. On November 21, 2013, SANS Technology Institute was granted regional accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.^[4]

SANS Technology Institute focuses exclusively on cybersecurity, offering two Master of Science degree programs (in Information Security Engineering (MSISE) and Information Security Management (MSISM)), and three post-baccalaureate certificate programs (Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking, Incident Response, and Cybersecurity Engineering (Core)).

SANS continues to offer free security content via the SANS Technology Institute Leadership Lab ^[5] and IT/Security related leadership information.^[6]

Publications

SANS instructors have contributed to many security-oriented books, such as:

• Geekonomics: The Real Cost of Insecure Software (ISBN 978-0321477897)
• Blogging for Business (ISBN 978-1419536458)
• Hackers Beware: The Ultimate Guide to Network Security (ISBN 0-7357-1009-0)
• Hiding in Plain Sight : Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication (ISBN 0-471-44449-9)
• Inside Network Perimeter Security: The Definitive Guide to Firewalls, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Routers, and Intrusion Detection Systems (ISBN 0-7357-1232-8)
• IT Ethics Handbook (ISBN 1931836140)
• Linksys WRT54G Ultimate Hacking (ISBN 978-1597491662)
• Malware: Fighting Malicious Code (ISBN 0-13-101405-6)
• Counter Hack Reloaded: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses (2nd Edition) (ISBN 0-13-148104-5)
• Know Your Enemy: Learning about Security Threats (2nd Edition) (ISBN 978-0321166463)
• Network Intrusion Detection (ISBN 0-7357-1265-4)
• Network Intrusion Detection: An Analyst's Handbook (ISBN 0-7357-1008-2)
• Snort Intrusion Detection and Prevention Toolkit (ISBN 978-1597490993)
• Demopoulos, Ted (2007). What no one ever tells you about-- blogging and podcasting : real-life advice from 101 people who successfully leverage the power of the blogosphere. Chicago, IL: Kaplan. ISBN 978-1-4195-8435-0. 

See also

• Computer security
• Information security
• Information Security Forum
• Internet Storm Center
• Information security management system (ISMS)
• IT risk
• Cybersecurity training

References

External links

• SANS Institute
• SANS Internet Storm Center
• SANS Technology Institute
• GIAC Security Certification
• SANS Digital Forensics and Incident Response Blog
• SANS Computer Forensics
• SANS Institute trade name information from Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation