Murugan Neeranjan's Experience Training with SANS

Nee has been enrolled in the Bachelor’s Degrees in Applied Cybersecurity (BACS) at SANS Technology Institute since May 2024. He has completed 6 SANS courses and earned four GIAC certifications. As a Senior Cyber Security Engineer at Circles, he collaborates with both engineering and business teams to embed security and compliance into modern technologies. His responsibilities span incident response, threat intelligence, vulnerability assessments, and cloud security across various entities. He also contributes to secure architecture design, red and blue teaming efforts, and drives security automation and DevSecOps integration.

How has your experience been with the SANS Technology Institute so far?

It's been really enriching. The content is directly applicable to my day-to-day work, and the depth of each course has pushed me technically. The instructors are top-notch, and I’ve appreciated how practical and hands-on the labs and exercises are. It’s not just theory—you walk away with real-world skills.

What motivated you to enroll in the BACS program at SANS Technology Institute?

I wanted a degree that was closely aligned with the real-world needs of a cybersecurity professional. Traditional degrees often focus on broader theory, but I was looking for something that could make an immediate impact in my role. SANS stood out because of its reputation in the industry and its strong GIAC certifications, which I knew would carry weight.

Has completing SANS courses or obtaining GIAC certifications helped you advance in your current role? If so, how?

Absolutely. SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling significantly sharpened my skills in threat detection and incident response. The course helped me understand attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in depth, which I’ve applied directly to threat hunting and building high-fidelity detection logic. It’s made me more effective at identifying anomalies, mapping them to frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, and responding quickly. Since taking the course, I’ve become more involved in threat detection engineering and have taken ownership of several proactive hunting initiatives within the team.

Have your achievements with SANS been recognized by your organization in any formal way (promotion, new projects, etc.)?

Not directly in terms of a promotion, but the knowledge I’ve gained through the program has definitely allowed me to contribute more effectively to ongoing projects. I’m more confident in areas like threat detection, incident handling, and secure architecture, and that’s helped me take on more technical responsibility within the team and deliver better outcomes.

Which course(s) have stood out to you the most so far, and why?

SEC504 was a good one. It tied together so many areas—attack simulation, response, forensics—and gave me a structured way to approach incidents. I also took this course in person, which made it highly interactive and a great experience overall.

Can you describe a real-world challenge at work where your SANS training helped you resolve it?

We had an incident involving suspicious behaviour on a cloud workload. My training from SEC504 helped me quickly triage the event, pull volatile memory, and map TTPs to MITRE ATT&CK. That allowed us to rule out a false positive and fine-tune detection rules in our security information and event management (SIEM) tool. The structured approach I learned in class made a big difference.

What do you think sets SANS apart from other cybersecurity training or degree programs you’ve seen or experienced?

The quality of instruction and the immediate applicability of the content. There’s no filler—everything taught has a direct use case. The instructors are industry practitioners, not just academics, which helps bridge that gap between theory and practice. Also, the GIAC certifications really ensure you internalize the material deeply.

Would you recommend the SANS BACS program to your peers or colleagues? Why?

Yes, without hesitation. If you're already working in cybersecurity and want a degree that enhances your impact at work, this is the program. It’s not just about getting a degree—it’s about levelling up in areas that matter, like digital forensics and incident response (DFIR), offensive security, cloud, and automation.

Which courses are you interested in taking next, and what do you hope to gain from them?

I’m looking forward to SEC588: Cloud Penetration Testing. Cloud environments are a big part of our infrastructure, so diving deeper into cloud-native attacks and forensic techniques will help me better defend and respond to real-world threats in those environments.

Completed Courses

• SEC275: Foundations: Computers, Technology, & Security
• SEC301: Introduction to Cyber Security
• SEC401: Security Essentials - Network, Endpoint, and Cloud
• SEC402: Cybersecurity Writing: Hack the Reader
• SEC403: Secrets to Successful Cybersecurity Presentation
• SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling

GIAC Certifications

• GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies (GFACT)
• GIAC Information Security Fundamentals (GISF)
• GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC)
• GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)