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 Defending Advanced Threats
The GIAC Defending Advanced Threats (GDAT) certification validates a practitioner’s command of both offensive and defensive security domains in depth. It prepares blue, red, and purple team professionals to prevent, detect, and respond to traditional and APT-style attacks by understanding how advanced adversaries operate. Earning GDAT demonstrates you can improve your IT environment to better defend against sophisticated threats.
Exam formatMultiple choice
Duration120 minutes
DeliveryGIAC
Passing score70%
Free questions417
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What GIAC Defending Advanced Threats 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.
5domains
10objectives
60concepts
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 Defending Advanced Threats (GDAT) certification validates a practitioner’s command of both offensive and defensive security domains in depth. It conveys proficiency across the full picture of offensive and defensive security, with the ability to prevent, detect, and respond to traditional and APT-style attacks. GDAT certification holders are prepared to improve the IT environment to better prevent, detect, and respond to incidents, leveraging a thorough understanding of how advanced cyber adversaries operate.
The certification covers advanced persistent threat models and methods, detecting and preventing payload deliveries, exploitation, and post-exploitation activities, using cyber deception to gain intelligence for threat hunting and incident response, and conducting adversary emulation. It is designed for all blue, red, and purple team personnel, security architects, and IT administrators who need to understand both how adversaries attack and how to stop them.
Who it’s for
The GDAT certification is for all blue team personnel, all red team personnel, all purple team personnel, security architects, and IT administrators. It is ideal for professionals who need to understand both offensive and defensive security in depth to protect their organizations from advanced threats. Candidates should have a solid understanding of network security, common attack techniques, and defensive controls. The certification is particularly valuable for those involved in threat hunting, incident response, penetration testing, and security architecture.
Recommended experience
Practical work experience in cybersecurity, particularly in offensive or defensive roles, is recommended to ensure mastery of the skills necessary for certification. Hands-on experience with network security, attack techniques, and defensive controls; Familiarity with threat modeling, incident response, and adversary emulation; Understanding of common attack vectors such as phishing, exploitation, and lateral movement
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
Initial Access and Execution
- Payload Delivery
- Payload Execution
- Application Exploitation
Post-Exploitation and Movement
- Installation
- Lateral Movement
- Active Directory/Domains
Credential and Privilege Management
- Administrative Access
Exfiltration and Emulation
- Data Exfiltration
- Adversary Emulation
Defense and Response
- Reconnaissance, Threat Handling, and Incident Response
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 Defending Advanced Threats
Exam formatMultiple choice
Duration120 minutes
Questions75 questions
Passing score70%
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 Defending Advanced Threats
Credential earnedGIAC Defending Advanced Threats 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
How does GDAT relate to other GIAC certifications?
GDAT is a standalone Practitioner certification. It does not require any other GIAC certification as a prerequisite, and it is not a prerequisite for any other GIAC certification.
Is there a hands-on or lab component in the GDAT exam?
The GDAT exam is a proctored, multiple-choice exam. It does not include a hands-on lab component.
What is the retake policy for the GDAT exam?
GIAC allows candidates to retake the exam after a waiting period. Specific retake policies are detailed in the GIAC terms and conditions.
How soon will I receive my GDAT exam results?
GIAC typically provides score reports immediately after the exam for computer-based tests. Detailed score breakdowns may be available in your GIAC account.
What job roles does the GDAT certification map to?
GDAT is designed for blue team, red team, and purple team personnel, as well as security architects and IT administrators who need to understand both offensive and defensive security.
Can I recertify GDAT by passing a different GIAC exam?
Renewal can be achieved by earning 36 CPE credits or retaking the GDAT exam. Passing a different GIAC exam does not automatically renew GDAT.
Are there any regional restrictions for taking the GDAT exam?
GIAC exams are available globally through remote proctoring and onsite testing centers. Regional availability may vary.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 417 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.
5domains
10objectives
60concepts
86free 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
1Initial Access and Execution121 questions
2Post-Exploitation and Movement123 questions
3Credential and Privilege Management40 questions
4Exfiltration and Emulation80 questions
5Defense and Response53 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.
Payload Delivery7 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
33 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
417 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.
417questions
86pages
10objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Initial Access and Execution121 questions
2Post-Exploitation and Movement123 questions
3Credential and Privilege Management40 questions
4Exfiltration and Emulation80 questions
5Defense and Response53 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.
60concepts
417free 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
60concepts 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 — 10 objectives, 60 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When GIAC (SANS) changes the outline, this page changes with it.
10objectives on the outline→60concepts written→417free 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.