What happens if I fail the exam?

You can retake it after a 24-hour cooldown, as many times as you need. Retakes are free, and each attempt draws a fresh random set of questions.

How long is a certificate valid?

The Safeguard Certified Practitioner credential is valid for 24 months from issue. The expiry date is printed on the certificate and shown live on its public verification page. Renewing means passing the current exam again.

Courses

Zero-Day Discovery & Threat Intelligence

AdvancedFree6 modules · 21 lessons

About this course

How Safeguard finds vulnerabilities before they reach public CVE feeds, the SGZ advisory format that carries those findings, and why a research pipeline changes what 'being protected' actually means.

What you'll learn

From Reactive Feeds to Proactive Research

Reactive vs. Proactive: The CVE Feed Problem
The SGZ Advisory Format

Disclosure and Prioritization

Coordinated Disclosure: Responsible Handling of a New Finding
What Changes When You Have a Zero-Day Feed

How Zero-Day Discovery Actually Works

The TAOR Agentic Loop, Step by Step
Agentic Mode and Scanner Mode
Ecosystem Coverage, and Scoping It Honestly
Verification, Deduplication, and Why False Positives Are Fatal Here

Reading and Acting on an SGZ Advisory

Anatomy of an SGZ Advisory
From Advisory to Fix
SGZ Alongside CVE, EPSS, and KEV
Triage Under Pressure: A Worked Example

Disclosure, Ethics, and Programme Design

Coordinated Disclosure in Practice
Running an Internal Zero-Day Response Process
Measuring a Proactive Programme
Legal and Ethical Boundaries of Vulnerability Research

Operationalising Vulnerability Intelligence

From SGZ to CVE: the Advisory Lifecycle
Building the Intelligence-to-Decision Workflow
Pointing Proactive Research at the Right Code
Communicating a Novel Finding Outward
The Economics of Proactive Research

01From Reactive Feeds to Proactive Research2 lessons

Reactive vs. Proactive: The CVE Feed Problem
The SGZ Advisory Format

02Disclosure and Prioritization2 lessons

Coordinated Disclosure: Responsible Handling of a New Finding

Common questions

How much does Safeguard Academy cost?

Nothing. Every course, exam, and certificate on the catalog is free — including retakes. All you need is a free Safeguard account.

What are the prerequisites?

None. The flagship course, Safeguard Certified Practitioner, is a beginner-level course — basic familiarity with how software is built helps, but every exam question is answerable from the lessons themselves.