The Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies

The SANS Institute (officially the Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies) is a private U.S. for-profit company founded in 1989 that specializes in information security and cybersecurity training. Topics available for training include cyber and network defenses, penetration testing, incident response, digital forensics, and audit. The information security courses are developed through a consensus process involving administrators, security managers, and information security professionals. The courses cover security fundamentals and technical aspects of information security. The Institute has been recognized for its training programs and certification programs. SANS stands for SysAdmin, Audit, Network and Security.

The SANS Institute 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. SANS is one of the founding organizations of the Center for Internet Security.

SANS offers news and analysis through Twitter feeds and e-mail newsletters. Additionally, there is a weekly news and vulnerability digest available to subscribers.

When originally organized in 1989, SANS training events functioned like traditional technical conferences showcasing technical presentations. By the mid-1990s, SANS offered events which combined training with tradeshows. Beginning in 2006, SANS offered 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.

In 1999, the SANS Institute formed Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), an independent entity that grants certifications in information security topics.

It has developed and operates NetWars, a suite of interactive learning tools for simulating scenarios such as cyberattacks. NetWars is in use by the US Air Force and the US Army.

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