What Is the CCSP? Your Guide to Becoming Certified in Cloud Security

No Comments

By Hrishi

The Certified Cloud Security Professional is a well-known certificate course that is intended for IT professionals who are experienced in their field. This certification has to be done by an experienced person only because it may require at least five years of industry experience.

Certified Cloud Security Professional
Certified Cloud Security Professional

Among those five years, three years must be spent in information security. The information security domain itself is very vast. The whole industry works on three main domains: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While these three domains are interlinked and work together, known as CIA triads.

One year must be spent on one of the six CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) domains. While doing this certification course, you can build your credentials on CSA’s certificate (Cloud Security Alliance). Getting these credentials is very important. CSA is a non-profit organisation aiming to provide security assurance in cloud computing. While doing this certification credentials are built on CISSP (Certified Information Security Professional) (ISC)2 certifications also.

As mentioned earlier this certificate must be pursued by experienced IT professionals only to improve their careers in cloud-based cybersecurity. This certificate can also be earned with expertise in IT (Information Technology) and security. There is a hidden benefit which can be perceived by your employer that after doing this certification, you possess the technical and in-depth knowledge and know how to protect crucial cloud assets.

According to an analysis which was done in the year 2021 by Burning Glass Technologies (which is a top-rated analytical firm which is playing a very important role in analysing the global debt on education and the workforce). The analysis predicts that one of the top growing and emerging cybersecurity talent is cloud security, and according to it those security specialists with cloud understanding are going to be top liners and demand for those specialists will rise drastically as more of the world’s businesses drift over cloud computing platforms. 

Further in this blog, we have tried to cover every aspect that will cover the requirements for CCSP certification. You can better analyse and stay tuned.

What are the six domains of CCSP or The Certified Cloud Security Professional?

  1. Cloud data security: This is a domain which majorly deals with the loss, threat, and misuse of any form of data stored in a cloud. To do so there are various security measures and policies have been made.
  2. Architecture and design.
  3. Operations.
  4. Security related to the infrastructure.
  5. Security protecting applications.
  6. Compliances.

In all these domains, various topics are covered in CCSP certification which will eventually help to enhance the knowledge and knowledge in Clod security. The CISSP or Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Cloud Security Knowledge has been introduced by RSA by successfully predicting the need to address to enhance the knowledge and experience of cloud security professionals because the drift of organisations and businesses all over the world is moving towards cloud security.

To address this issue CCSP exam was created, after taking this certificate exam the credential, cloud security knowledge, and experience of any individual increases the certificate is a well-known vendor-neutral certification for cloud security.

How to get the Certified Cloud Security Professional certification

To get the Certified Cloud Security Professional certificate, you must give one examination at a testing center. There are different prerequisites to take this examination. Here in the States, a few requirements for CCSP certificate exams are,

  • The cost incurred for taking the CCSP exam and getting the certification is $599.
  • There are 125 questions in the examination, which are based on an MCQ (Multiple Choice Question). The total time allotted to give the examination is 3 hours.
  • The successful candidate needs to score about 700 to 1000 points, and you can take this test in VUE testing centers. The only criteria which need to be fulfilled to take this certificate examination are the candidate must have a minimum of 5 years of paid work experience in IT. Out of those five years, 3 must be in Information Security, one of the six domains of (ISC)2 CCP.
  • The exam includes 6 CCSP domains; all the domains here are given different weightage among the final 125 questions tally. According to the pattern of the examination, 20% of questions come from cloud data security, 19% weightage is given to architectural concepts and design requirements, another 19% of the questions come from cloud platform & infrastructure, 19% from cloud application security, 15% from the operations 12% from compliances.
  • Once you successfully obtain the CCSP certification, you need to maintain 90 credits of CPE (Continuing Professional Education) for the next three years.
  • For withholding the certificate, the applicant has to pay an Annual Maintenance Fee and must adhere to (ISC)2 code of ethics they can also be endorsed by another (ISC)2 certified professional. In case one fails to follow all these necessary steps to keep the certificate the applicant has to retake the exam and to test these measures must be followed within 9 months of the exam date.

Requirements for Certified Cloud Security Professional certification

As mentioned earlier in this blog, the CCSP certification is crafted for IT professionals. They must possess at least 5 years of experience working in IT and security domains. The experience must be cumulative, out of which three must be in the IT security domain and one year in any of the 6 CCSP domains, which was mentioned at the start of this blog. Internships that are done in order to gain the required experience for the CCSIP certificate can be done full-time, part-time, or even unpaid. That one year of experience in any of the six domains of CCSP can also be obtained by doing Cloud Security Alliance’s Certificate of CCSK (Cloud Security Knowledge).

There are various other options if you want to start your career in cybersecurity, you can start with doing some elementary certificates like IBM Cybersecurity Analyst. The average time to do this certificate is well under 3 months, and you will be able to gain expertise in the field of security analysis and cybersecurity.

Also Check-

Benefits of doing Certified Cloud Security Professional certification

(ISC) 2 has mentioned various benefits of doing a CCSP certification; it will increase your credibility and glorify your career by making you a leader in cloud security. As you decide to enter the field of cloud security, you will start gaining experience as you move on with your job, but as certificates can help your profile in any field, especially in the technology field, this particular certificate makes you look as if you are at the prime of knowledge in this field as the certificate holder stay updated to most recent cloud security practices and principles.

Additionally, this certificate has been recognised by the heavyweights ANSI (The American National Standards Institute), and the International Organisation for Standardisation and adherence to ISO/IEC 17024 Standards IEC). Cloud technology is booming, and global business houses are slowly shifting towards cloud computing. Due to this paradigm shift new challenges have also arisen the basic one is security and maintaining threats to neutralise all these rising demands cloud security specialists are in huge demand over the last couple of years. Besides this, there are various other benefits attached to this certificate course.

  • It will help in a good career with lots of opportunities. By becoming a cloud security consultant, you can even start your business that is need of the hour. This technology is evolving daily, and if you are well experienced and can deal with various arising problems, you can make a fortune in this career. 
  • It will give you an understanding of the regulatory framework. In order to maintain security in the cloud, you need to understand the basic framework, including its basic principles, getting the CCSP certification will help you to maintain your expertise within the protocols designed.
  • As mentioned earlier, new problems will eventually arise as cloud security will mature. This certificate will give you a chance to understand and solve any specific situations.
  • Once you are done with this certification you can expect tremendous growth in terms of money and position in an organisation. You will be amazed to know that after doing the CCSP certification the average earning of an individual can go up to $119,000 per year in the United States.
  • This certificate will greatly enhance your chances to become a leader in your organisation. You can eventually become a CSO, CISO or ISO you need not know these positions previously also. So, after getting a CCSP certificate you will face no problem getting into a leadership position as you will be treated as a security expert.

Leave a Comment