You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
GIAC (SANS)GIAC Certified Detection Analyst
The GIAC Certified Detection Analyst (GCDA) certification validates your ability to collect, analyze, and tactically use modern network, endpoint, and cloud data sources to detect malicious or unauthorized activity. Built for security analysts, SOC professionals, and threat investigators, GCDA proves you can wield SIEM tools and techniques to turn attacker strengths into weaknesses and strengthen your organization's continuous security monitoring.
Exam formatMultiple choice
Duration120 minutes
DeliveryGIAC
Passing score76%
Free questions400
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What GIAC Certified Detection Analyst proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
4domains
9objectives
63concepts
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The GIAC Certified Detection Analyst (GCDA) certification validates a practitioner's aptitude in leveraging Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools and techniques. GCDA holders understand how to collect, analyze, and tactically use modern network, endpoint, and cloud data sources to detect malicious or unauthorized activity, turning raw telemetry into actionable intelligence.
Covering SIEM fundamentals, service profiling, advanced endpoint analytics, baselining, user behavior monitoring, and cloud logging solutions in AWS and Azure, GCDA equips you to build and refine detection capabilities. The certification also emphasizes tactical SIEM detection and post-mortem analysis, ensuring you can not only spot threats but also learn from incidents to improve your defenses.
Who it’s for
GCDA is designed for security professionals who are responsible for detecting and responding to threats across their organization's digital environment. This includes Security Analysts and Architects, Senior Security Engineers, Technical Security Managers, and Security Monitoring Specialists. It is also ideal for SOC Analysts, Engineers, and Managers, CND Analysts, System Administrators, and Cyber Threat Investigators. Whether you are implementing continuous security monitoring or working in a hunt team capacity, GCDA validates the skills needed to turn data into decisive action.
Recommended experience
Practical work experience in security operations, particularly with SIEM tools and log analysis, is recommended to ensure mastery of the skills necessary for certification. Hands-on experience with SIEM platforms and log management; Understanding of network, endpoint, and cloud data sources; Familiarity with security monitoring and incident detection; Knowledge of common attack techniques and detection strategies
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective GIAC (SANS) measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official GIAC (SANS) exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
SIEM Foundations
- SIEM Overview
- Log Collection and Enrichment
- Log Analysis and Alerting
Cloud and Microsoft Security Analytics
- Azure and AWS Logging Overview
- Defender and Sentinel Overview
Network and Asset Analytics
- Asset and Network Analytics
- Application Protocol Analytics
Endpoint and User Analytics
- Endpoint Analytics
- Application and User Monitoring Analytics
On the day
The exam itself
Everything GIAC (SANS) publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
No mandatory prerequisites — this certification has no required predecessor exam or credential.
CertificationGIAC Certified Detection Analyst
Exam formatMultiple choice
Duration120 minutes
Questions75 questions
Passing score76%
DeliveryGIAC
LanguagesEnglish
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path GIAC (SANS) lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to GIAC Certified Detection Analyst
Credential earnedGIAC Certified Detection Analyst Certification Renewal and maintenance
GIAC certifications must be renewed every four years by earning 36 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits or by retaking the exam. Stay current with the latest technologies and maintain your certification.
Learn more about renewal requirements Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. GIAC (SANS) maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by GIAC (SANS)
Exam registration
Register for the exam through GIAC, GIAC (SANS)’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official GIAC (SANS) certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
How does GCDA relate to other GIAC certifications?
GCDA is a Practitioner-level certification that can be combined with other GIAC certifications to earn stackable credentials like the GIAC Security Professional (GSP) or GIAC Security Expert (GSE).
Is there a hands-on or lab component in the GCDA exam?
No, the GCDA exam is a multiple-choice exam. However, GIAC offers CyberLive hands-on testing for some certifications, but GCDA does not include a lab component.
What is the retake policy for the GCDA exam?
GIAC allows candidates to retake a failed exam after a waiting period. Specific retake policies are detailed in the GIAC terms and conditions on their website.
Can I earn CPE credits for other certifications toward my GCDA renewal?
Yes, GIAC accepts CPE credits from a variety of activities, including earning other certifications, attending training, and participating in community events.
What job roles does the GCDA certification align with?
GCDA is designed for security analysts, SOC analysts, security engineers, threat investigators, and other professionals responsible for detecting and responding to security incidents.
Is GCDA available in languages other than English?
The official GIAC exam page does not list additional languages, so the exam is currently offered in English only.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 400 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept GIAC (SANS) measures — each one written out.
4domains
9objectives
63concepts
84free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official GIAC (SANS) exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
1SIEM Foundations135 questions
2Cloud and Microsoft Security Analytics67 questions
3Network and Asset Analytics97 questions
4Endpoint and User Analytics101 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
SIEM Overview10 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
47 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
400 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
400questions
84pages
9objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1SIEM Foundations135 questions
2Cloud and Microsoft Security Analytics67 questions
3Network and Asset Analytics97 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
63concepts
400free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from GIAC (SANS)
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
2official links
63concepts mapped
The source
GIAC (SANS)’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official GIAC (SANS) outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 9 objectives, 63 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When GIAC (SANS) changes the outline, this page changes with it.
9objectives on the outline→63concepts written→400free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.