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 Incident Handler
The GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) certification validates your ability to detect, respond to, and resolve computer security incidents using a wide range of essential security skills. It is designed for incident handlers, system administrators, and security practitioners who are first responders. Earning GCIH demonstrates you can manage security incidents by understanding common attack techniques, vectors, and tools.
Exam formatCyberLive hands-on testing with performance-based challenges in realistic lab environments
Duration240 minutes
DeliveryGIAC
Passing score69%
Free questions682
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What GIAC Certified Incident Handler 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.
6domains
15objectives
122concepts
US $499exam fee
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 Incident Handler (GCIH) certification validates a practitioner's ability to detect, respond to, and resolve computer security incidents using a wide range of essential security skills. GCIH certification holders are qualified to defend against attacks when they occur, managing security incidents by understanding common attack techniques, vectors, and tools.
The certification covers incident handling and computer crime investigation, computer and network hacker exploits, and hacker tools such as Nmap, Metasploit, and Netcat. It signals readiness to manage real threats from detection to remediation, demonstrating effective incident handling skills and applying insight into attackers' techniques.
Who it’s for
This certification is for incident handlers, incident handling team leads, system administrators, security practitioners, and security architects. It is also for any security personnel who are first responders to security incidents. Candidates should be comfortable with core security concepts and ready to apply hands-on skills in realistic lab environments to detect, respond to, and resolve incidents.
Recommended experience
Practical work experience can help ensure that you have mastered the skills necessary for certification. Training is available in a variety of modalities including live training and OnDemand. Practical work experience in incident handling or related security roles; College level courses or self-paced study through other programs or materials; Familiarity with common attack techniques, vectors, and tools
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
Incident Response and Investigation
- Incident Response and Cyber Investigation
- Network and Log Investigations
- Malware and AI Assisted Investigations
Attack Techniques and Detection
- Detecting Evasive and Post-Exploitation Techniques
- Detecting Exploitation and Covert Communications Tools
- Endpoint Attack and Pivoting
Web Application Security
- Exploiting Insecure Web Application References
- Web Application API Attacks
- Web Application Injection Attacks
Credential and Access Security
- Attacking Passwords
- Understanding Passwords
- Securing Credentials and Data in the Cloud
Network and Infrastructure Security
- Scanning and Mapping
- SMB Security
Emerging Technologies and Offensive Operations
- Integrating LLMs with Offensive Operations
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 Incident Handler
Exam formatCyberLive hands-on testing with performance-based challenges in realistic lab environments
Duration240 minutes
Questions106 questions
Passing score69%
DeliveryGIAC
PricingUS $499
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 Incident Handler
Credential earnedGIAC Certified Incident Handler Certification Renewal and maintenance
GIAC certifications must be renewed every four years by earning 36 CPE credits or 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
What is the CyberLive exam format?
CyberLive is a hands-on exam format that replaces traditional multiple-choice testing with performance-based challenges in realistic lab environments. It uses virtual machines, real security tools, and authentic code to validate real-world capability.
How does the GCIH exam relate to the GIAC Security Professional (GSP) portfolio certification?
GCIH is one of GIAC's Practitioner certifications that can be used toward earning the GIAC Security Professional (GSP) portfolio certification. GSP requires completing any three Practitioner certifications and any two Applied Knowledge certifications.
Can I take the GCIH exam remotely?
Yes. GIAC offers two proctoring options: remote proctoring through ProctorU and onsite proctoring through PearsonVUE.
What job roles does the GCIH certification map to?
The GCIH certification is for incident handlers, incident handling team leads, system administrators, security practitioners, security architects, and any security personnel who are first responders.
How do I prepare for the GCIH exam?
GIAC recommends training in a variety of modalities including live training and OnDemand. Practice tests are available to simulate the real exam and gauge your preparation. Practical work experience and college-level courses can also help ensure mastery.
What is the passing score for the GCIH exam?
The minimum passing score for the GCIH exam is 69%. This applies to all candidates who receive the exam version released on or after May 10th, 2025.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 682 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.
6domains
15objectives
122concepts
141free 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
1Incident Response and Investigation139 questions
2Attack Techniques and Detection123 questions
3Web Application Security172 questions
4Credential and Access Security122 questions
5Network and Infrastructure Security94 questions
6Emerging Technologies and Offensive Operations32 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.
Incident Response and Cyber Investigation10 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
50 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
682 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.
682questions
141pages
15objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Incident Response and Investigation139 questions
2Attack Techniques and Detection123 questions
3Web Application Security172 questions
4Credential and Access Security122 questions
5Network and Infrastructure Security94 questions
6Emerging Technologies and Offensive Operations32 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.
122concepts
682free 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.
1official link
122concepts 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 — 15 objectives, 122 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When GIAC (SANS) changes the outline, this page changes with it.
15objectives on the outline→122concepts written→682free 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.