Right now I am in a masters program for digital forensics and was wondering if pursuing a general security certification such as the Comptia Security+ was worth getting to show competency in the field in general. I don't have any real world experience just academic so I would think the CISSP is a bit out of my ballpark. Are there others that might be good such as the GIAC? I will be pursuing forensic related certifications as I get closer to graduating but I was thinking this is something I could go after now. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Every bit counts and the price of the exam isn't very high. I'd go for it.
It is probably a good idea to get certified in those systems that you will be analysing. Win XP, Windows Server 2003 and maybe Windows Server 2008 are the systems you are likely to come across. I find my MCSE certification very relevant and often it provides additional clues -).