Conclusion

The CISSP certification is formal recognition that you are well aware of the market and certain evidence that you are a professional in the security industry. Remember that the CISSP is about lifelong learning, therefore passing the related exam is just the beginning. You have to be recertified every three years and get continuous professional education to retain your CISSP certification. You can attend activities such as webinars, write white papers, and more to receive the Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits you need to retain your CISSP validation. Perhaps more important, these events allow you to continuously develop your awareness of the information security industry and keep up to date with news and trends.

Reference: https://www.isc2.org/cissp/default.aspx

What to Explore: (ISC)2 CISSP Exam Topics

The CISSP exam evaluates the applicants’ knowledge and expertise in a wide range of areas. The skills measured in this certification test are typically combined in 8 objectives that are listed below:

• Security and Risk Management (15%)

  This is the first and largest domain in the (ISC)2 CISSP exam content, covering a comprehensive overview of everything one should know about information systems management. By answering the questions from this section, the students need to prove their knowledge of the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of information. They should also prove that they have a deep understanding of security governance principles, regulatory and legal issues related to information security, compliance requirements, risk-based management concepts, and IT policies and procedures.

• Software Development Security (10%)

  Before answering the questions from this topic, the professionals need to understand software security and know how to apply and enforce it. In this last area, the individuals need to demonstrate that they have the ability to secure coding standards and guidelines and provide security controls in development environments. They also need to show that they can ensure the effectiveness of software security and ensure security in the lifecycle of software development.

• Security Assessment and Testing (12%)

  In the framework of this subject, the focus is on the design, analysis, and performance of security testing. This includes test outputs, security control testing, and collecting security process data. Some questions from this area also require that the individuals demonstrate their expertise in the third-party and internal security audits as well as test and assessment strategies.

• Asset Security (10%)

  Answering the questions from the second topic area, the test takers need to be well versed with all the physical requirements of information security. This means that they need to show that they have knowledge of ownership and classification of information and assets, as well as data security controls. In addition, they should be able to explain privacy, handling requirements, and retention periods.

• Security Operations (13%)

  This section focuses on how plans are properly implemented. It specifically involves skills in incident management, business continuity, disaster recovery, and management of physical security. The candidates also need to demonstrate that they understand and can support investigations, as well as accomplish logging and monitoring activities. Besides that, they are required to prove that they have the ability to apply resource protection techniques and secure the provision of resources. The examinees also need to have a thorough understanding of the basic concepts of security operations and the requirements for investigation types.

• Security Architecture and Engineering (13%)

  This subject encompasses the individuals’ proficiency in implementing and designing physical security as well as mitigating and assessing vulnerabilities in systems. Also, the candidates need to know how to use secure design principles to accomplish engineering processes. Within this domain, they should be knowledgeable regarding the security capabilities of information systems and fundamental concepts of security models.

• Identity and Access Management (13%)

  Within this domain, the information security professionals demonstrate that they know how to control the process of user access to data. This topic generally covers authorization mechanisms and logical and physical access to assets. It also involves the skills associated with the access and identity provisioning lifecycle, identification and authentication, and Identity-as-a-Service integration.

• Communications and Network Security (14%)

  This objective encompasses the protection and design of the organization’s networks. This means that answering the questions in this area requires that the learners have knowledge of the processes that include securing communication channels, securing network components, and securing design principles for network infrastructure.