Detailed Guide for AWS Security Specialty Certification Exam

Introduction

Cloud expertise is in great demand. AWS certifications indicate AWS abilities and competence in a variety of domains and levels, and they give a fantastic ROI for IT professionals looking to further their careers.

The Practitioner, a nontechnical, entry-level certification, is intended to be the starting point for certification routes. Then you go to Associate-level certificates, which get more technical. The Professional level, which competes with the Specialty level in terms of difficulty, comes next.

The AWS Security Specialty certification combines two of today’s biggest technological trends: the cloud and security. If you work in security, bringing your security knowledge to the cloud is a reasonable next step in increasing your skills. As I do, understanding cloud security may help you create more secure systems if you work on the cloud architecture and development side of the equation. It is far easier to build security into a program from the start than to retrofit security after the application has been established.

Description Of AWS Security Specialty Exam

Before completing the AWS Certified Security-Specialty exam, Amazon recommends five years of IT security expertise and at least two years of hands-on experience working with AWS security. If you’ve taken any of the other AWS tests, you might be startled to find that the specialized exams cost $300 extra. The test has five domains: Incident Response, Logging and Monitoring, Infrastructure Security, Identity, and Access Management, and Data Protection. The domains are not evenly weighted, and some domains include more questions than others. The table below illustrates the proportion of questions on the AWS Security-Specialty test for each security domain.

Although having the same 65 questions as an associate test, you are allocated 170 minutes for these examinations as compared to 130 minutes for associate exams. The extra time is required since the questions are often more complicated and, in my opinion, more challenging than those on the associate tests.

Well, all AWS examinations are scenario-based. While other examinations may focus on the most cost-effective solution to a problem, the security exam will ask you questions about the most secure solution. You may be provided with more than one solution to a problem, but some of them may not be secure. It is critical to understand not just the many security services offered on AWS, but also how they operate and the security elements they address and, more critically, do not address.

Details on the AWS Certified Security - Specialty Exam

The AWS Security Specialty guide gives you an overview of each domain asked in the exam. Below is the overview of what falls into each domain:

1. Incident Report
   1. Given an AWS abuse notice, evaluate the suspected compromised instance or exposed access keys
   2. Verify that the Incident Response plan includes relevant AWS services
   3. Evaluate the configuration of automated alerting, and execute possible remediation of security-related incidents and emerging issues

2. Logging & Monitoring
   1. Design and implement security monitoring and alerting
   2. Troubleshoot security monitoring and alerting
   3. Design and implement a logging solution
   4. Troubleshoot logging solutions
3. Infrastructure & Security
   1. Design edge security on AWS
   2. Design and implement a secure network infrastructure
   3. Troubleshoot a secure network infrastructure
   4. Design and implement host-based security
4. Identity & Access Management
   1. Design and implement a scalable authorization and authentication system to access AWS resources
   2. Troubleshoot an authorization and authentication system to access AWS resources
5. Data Protection
   1. Design and implement key management and use
   2. Troubleshoot key management
   3. Design and implement a data encryption solution for data at rest and data in transit

Preparing for the AWS Certified Security - Specialty Exam

There is no right or wrong approach to preparing for the AWS Security-Specialty test. People learn in various ways, and what works for one person may not work for another. My approach to AWS certification examinations begins with online live training which I have taken from CloudThat, which is followed by reading the AWS FAQs and white papers on the services. Most online programs include laboratories where you may practice using the tools. The test can be passed with substantial study and little hands-on experience, although this is more of an exception than the rule. Hands-on experience, particularly on the job, is a far more natural manner of learning information. I recommend testing these features out on your AWS account. Because AWS services are billed based on consumption, you may set security measures, test them, and then stop them when finished without incurring little expenses.

Online Courses

There are several online certification training Courses available from a range of suppliers. The following Courses provided me with a great basis for the topic, although most Courses cover the essentials, so select your preferred provider. Because no class will cover every aspect of the test, I advise you not to attend a class and then sit for the exam. Using a range of materials in your test preparation can provide you with a more comprehensive grasp of the content than depending on a single strategy.

• A Cloud Guru: AWS Certified Security – Specialty
• Udemy: AWS Certified Security Specialty 2021

AWS Training Resource

There are tons of resources available on the internet to prepare for this exam, but if you want something solid then you can go for AWS Prerecorded training videos, which will give you the required knowledge for each topic or you can opt for live training like CloudThat is providing an end to end training where they will not only train you about all the required topics but also guide you to how to tackle the real-time questions in the exam

• Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Security – Specialty Certification Training

AWS White Papers

AWS Whitepapers are available on the internet, just go through them once after the completion of an online course or training session to get more depth knowledge of each domain

• AWS Security Specialty Whitepapers

Conclusion

I hope this article and my ideas help you prepare for your AWS Security-Specialty Exam. Security is everyone’s duty, regardless of job function, and the more you understand about how security works in the cloud, the safer your systems will be.

About CloudThat

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