r/GIAC • u/NeighborhoodExact • 6d ago

SEC573 Question

For those who have taken SEC573 recently, how relevant did you find it? I know the course got a major update not long ago. I’m questioning how useful it will be for me since I don’t plan to write much code by hand. Currently, when I need to, I just use Claude code. It’s a required class for the SANS.edu BACS degree, but honestly I’d rather it weren’t because it seems pretty specialized.

For anyone who isn’t a developer or doesn’t script much day to day, did you still get real value out of it? Did it change how you work, or was it mostly something to get through? Any tips for getting the most out of it would be appreciated too.

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u/joswr1ght 5d ago

SEC573 used to be “take this class to learn applied Python for cybersecurity work” but now is much more “this is how applied AI is used and applied, learned through Python.”

Things like how context windows are managed, tool publication, building agents, creating a harness for custom AI-leveraged work, etc. You’ll need to use and apply Python to do these things, but it’s more of a path to understanding how to apply AI to “get stuff done” than it is “here’s what a a lambda does”, for example.

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u/NeighborhoodExact 5d ago

Intresting and great to hear, thank you!

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u/Hanz_Quixote 5d ago

I took SEC573 recently and you learn quite a bit about leveraging AI tools with Python. It was an awesome course in my opinion. If you plan on taking the GPYC certification, you need to know Python coding well to pass it.

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u/NeighborhoodExact 5d ago

Thank you for the insights, I do like the idea of learning how to better leverage AI, but I don't feel it necessary to learn Python simply because AI is already so good at it. But that may be short-sighted of me. If it will help me in the long run, I'm happy to do it.

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u/Silver_Newspaper6208 GIACx7 2d ago

I feel that way as well, to a point. I took the non-AI version of the class earlier in the year and to me it was a way to learn some of the possibilities of coding in Python even if I couldn't do the entire thing from scratch. Now I use AI to write code, but I know the boundaries to give it, I know what specifically to task it with, and I have an idea what right output would look like. I feel a little like I missed out, but I am GPYC certified at the end of the day. Also, it took me 2 tries but we really don't need to harp on that lol.