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 Defensible Security Architect
The GIAC Defensible Security Architect (GDSA) certification validates your ability to architect comprehensive defenses that balance prevention, detection, and response. It is designed for security architects, network engineers, and senior security professionals who design and implement layered, network-centric and data-centric controls. Earning GDSA proves you can apply Zero Trust principles and build defense-in-depth that is maintainable and effective.
Exam formatMultiple choice
Duration120 minutes
DeliveryGIAC
Passing score63%
Free questions602
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What GIAC Defensible Security Architect 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
13objectives
108concepts
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 Defensible Security Architect (GDSA) certification validates a practitioner's ability to architect comprehensive defenses that balance prevention, detection, and response capabilities. GDSA certification holders are qualified to design and implement a strategic combination of network-centric and data-centric controls that create defense in depth.
The certification covers using network-centric and data-centric security strategies to architect a layered defense, assessing existing technology implementations to improve prevention, detection, and response, and understanding and applying Zero Trust principles. GDSA holders are versatile blue-teamers and cyber defenders with an arsenal of skills to protect an organization's critical data, from the endpoint to the cloud, across networks and applications.
Who it’s for
The GDSA certification is for security architects, network engineers, network architects, security analysts, senior security engineers, system administrators, technical security managers, CND analysts, security monitoring specialists, and cyber threat investigators. It is ideal for professionals who are responsible for designing and implementing enterprise defenses, and who need to balance prevention, detection, and response capabilities across network and data-centric controls.
Recommended experience
Practical work experience in security architecture, network defense, and implementing security controls is recommended to master the skills necessary for certification. Hands-on experience designing and implementing network-centric and data-centric security controls; Familiarity with Zero Trust principles and applying them to enterprise architectures; Understanding of network protocols, firewalls, proxies, and endpoint security; Experience with cloud security concepts and container security
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
Zero Trust Architecture
- Zero Trust Fundamentals
- Zero Trust Endpoints
- Zero Trust Networking
Network Security Fundamentals
- Fundamental Security Architecture Concepts
- Fundamental Layer 3 Defense
- Layer 1/Layer 2 Defense
- Network Defenses
Network Services and Encryption
- Network Proxies and Firewalls
- Network Encryption and Remote Access
- IPv6
Data Protection and Governance
- Data-Centric Security
- Data Discovery, Governance, and Mobility Management
Cloud Security Architecture
- Cloud-based Security Architecture
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 Defensible Security Architect
Exam formatMultiple choice
Duration120 minutes
Questions75 questions
Passing score63%
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 Defensible Security Architect
Credential earnedGIAC Defensible Security Architect 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 the GDSA exam relate to the retired version released before August 3, 2019?
The passing score for the GDSA exam is 63% for all candidates who receive the exam version released on or after August 3, 2019. To confirm the exam format and passing score that apply to your specific attempt, refer to the Certification Information section of your GIAC account.
Is there a hands-on or lab component in the GDSA exam?
The GDSA exam is a proctored, web-based exam with 75 questions. It does not include a hands-on lab component; it is a multiple-choice exam.
What are the proctoring options for the GDSA exam?
All GIAC Certification exams are web-based and required to be proctored. There are two proctoring options: remote proctoring through ProctorU, and onsite proctoring through PearsonVUE.
How long do I have to complete my GDSA certification attempt after activation?
You will have 120 days from the date of activation to complete your certification attempt.
What job roles does the GDSA certification map to?
The GDSA certification is designed for security architects, network engineers, network architects, security analysts, senior security engineers, system administrators, technical security managers, CND analysts, security monitoring specialists, and cyber threat investigators.
Can I renew my GDSA certification by passing a different GIAC exam?
GIAC certifications can be renewed by retaking the same exam or by earning 36 CPE credits over four years. Passing a different GIAC exam may count toward CPE credits, but it does not automatically renew the GDSA certification.
Are there any regional restrictions for taking the GDSA exam?
GIAC offers remote proctoring through ProctorU and onsite proctoring through PearsonVUE, which are available in many regions worldwide. Check with GIAC for specific regional availability.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 602 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
13objectives
108concepts
125free 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
1Zero Trust Architecture146 questions
2Network Security Fundamentals148 questions
3Network Services and Encryption140 questions
4Data Protection and Governance106 questions
5Cloud Security Architecture62 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.
Zero Trust Fundamentals10 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
46 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
602 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.
602questions
125pages
13objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Zero Trust Architecture146 questions
2Network Security Fundamentals148 questions
3Network Services and Encryption140 questions
4Data Protection and Governance106 questions
5Cloud Security Architecture62 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.
108concepts
602free 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
108concepts 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 — 13 objectives, 108 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When GIAC (SANS) changes the outline, this page changes with it.
13objectives on the outline→108concepts written→602free 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.