He’s a big advocate for our blue team training, having used it extensively in his professional life. So much so, that he made it a mandatory certification for new hires!
We wanted to hear more about his experience and why he rates our training so highly, and he very kindly agreed to an interview.
So, Wouter, tell us a bit about your cybersecurity experience
I’ve previously worked for Axians for 13.5 years. 8 years as a security support and project engineer and the remaining 5.5 years setting up and running a new MSSP SOC, doing analysis, development and engineering, consulting and team lead tasks. After this, I worked for Europol for about 10 months.
What drew you to the SBT certifications initially?
While working for Axians my colleague was searching for good and affordable SOC certificates for our analysts to follow. Most certifications we found were too expensive for what we wanted.
We required a certificate path with a low initial investment, so we could see how well our juniors were doing and if they were up to the task of becoming proper SOC analysts.
What benefits did you and your team find from the certifications?
The BTL1 certification covers exactly what a modern SOC needs.
If you want to know how a SOC should operate, BTL1 is spot on.
BTL1 teaches not only how things work technically, but it teaches our new analysts the importance of writing proper analyst reports – something that is all too often overlooked. It’s a great basis to build their skillsets on.
Why did you choose to make the certification mandatory for your teams?
Pretty much for the reasons listed above! It is high-quality content served via a good environment, and it’s a great way to uniformly expand knowledge, track the progression, and capability of new and existing SOC employees.
I would advise anyone who would like to work in operational security to follow SBT’s certifications and labs.
What would you say to other managers thinking of investing in these certifications?
I would advise them to follow BTL1 themselves and compare what they learn through that to how their current SOC is operating. They’ll then see for themselves what the added value for their organisation can be, at a very competitive cost I might add.
What are your thoughts on the final exam?
In all honesty, I greatly underestimated the exam when I took it. I did the BTL1 course because I wanted to properly evaluate it and be able to answer questions from my junior team members. In the end it turned out that even after years of experience and my conviction that I would easily pass the exam, I still had to put quite some effort in passing it.
I thought I’d complete the exam within an hour, maybe two hours tops. Turns out, I actually needed most of the day to get through it! This gives me confidence that when my team members pass the exams, they have indeed learned a lot, and that if someone has the certification listed, I can attach value to that.
Interested in leveling up your security team?
If you’d like to find out more about offering our defensive training to your team, learn more about our certifications and explore our corporate rates.