ISC2 Certified Cloud Security Professional

Overview

(ISC)² developed the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) credential to ensure that cloud security professionals have the required knowledge, skills, and abilities in cloud security design, implementation, architecture, operations, controls, and compliance with regulatory frameworks. A CCSP applies information security expertise to a cloud computing environment and demonstrates competence in cloud security architecture, design, operations, and service orchestration. This professional competence is measured against a globally recognized body of knowledge.

The topics included in the CCSP Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) ensure its relevancy across all disciplines in the field of cloud security. Successful candidates are competent in the following 6 domains:

• Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design
• Cloud Data Security
• Cloud Platform & Infrastructure Security
• Cloud Application Security
• Cloud Security Operations
• Legal, Risk and Compliance

The (ISC)² CCSP exam is included in this course.

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Prerequisites

Candidates must have a minimum of 5 years cumulative paid work experience in information technology, of which 3 years must be in information security and 1 year in 1 or more of the 6 domains of the CCSP CBK. Earning CSA;s CCSK certificate can be substituted for 1 year of experience in 1 or more of the 6 domains of the CCSP CBK. Earning (ISC)²;s CISSP credential can be substituted for the entire CCSP experience
requirement.

A candidate that doesn;t have the required experience to become a CCSP may become an Associate of (ISC)² by successfully passing the CCSP examination. The Associate of (ISC)² will then have 6 years to earn the 5 years required experience. You can learn more about CCSP experience requirements and how to account for part-time work and internships at www.isc2.org/Certifications/CCSP/experience-requirements .

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Learning Outcomes

You will learn how to:

• Identify and explain the five characteristics required to satisfy the NIST definition of cloud computing
• Differentiate between various as-a-service delivery models and frameworks that are incorporated into the cloud computing reference architecture
• Explain strategies for protecting data at rest and data in motion
• Discuss strategies for safeguarding data, classifying data, ensuring privacy, assuring compliance with regulatory agencies, and working with authorities during legal investigations
• Contrast between forensic analysis in corporate data center and cloud computing environments

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Course Outline

On August 1, 2022, (ISC)² will refresh the CCSP credential exam. These updates are the result of the Job Task Analysis (JTA), which is an analysis of the current content of the credential evaluated by (ISC)² members on a triennial cycle. The domain weights for the CCSP have changed as noted inbelow:

CCSP Domains Weight:

• Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design 17%
• Cloud Data Security 20%
• Cloud Platform & Infrastructure Security 17%
• Cloud Application Security 17%
• Cloud Security Operations 16%
• Legal, Risk and Compliance 13%

Domain 1: Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design

• Understand Cloud Computing Concepts
  • Cloud Computing Definitions
  • Cloud Computing Roles (e.g., cloud service customer, cloud service provider, cloud service partner, cloud service broker)
  • Key Cloud Computing Characteristics (e.g., on-demand self-service, broad network access, multi-tenancy, rapid elasticity and scalability, resource pooling, measured service)
  • Building Block Technologies (e.g., virtualization, storage, networking, databases, orchestration)
• Describe Cloud Reference Architecture
• Understand Security Concepts Relevant to Cloud Computing
• Understand Design Principles of Secure Cloud Computing
  • Cloud Secure Data Lifecycle
  • Cloud based Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC) planning
  • Cost Benefit Analysis
  • Functional Security Requirements (e.g., portability, interoperability, vendor lock-in)
  • Security Considerations for Different Cloud Categories (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS))
• Evaluate Cloud Service Providers
  • Verification Against Criteria (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27017, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS))
  • System/subsystem Product Certifications (e.g., Common Criteria (CC), Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2)
  • Cloud Computing Activities
  • Cloud Service Capabilities (e.g., application capability types, platform capability types, infrastructure capability types)
  • Cloud Service Categories (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS),
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS))
  • Cloud Deployment Models (e.g., public, private, hybrid, community)
  • Cloud Shared Considerations (e.g., interoperability, portability, reversibility, availability, security, privacy, resiliency, performance, governance, maintenance and versioning, service levels and Service Level Agreements (SLA), auditability, regulatory)
  • Impact of Related Technologies (e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain,
  • Internet of Things (IoT), containers, quantum computing)
  • Cryptography and Key Management
  • Access Control
  • Data and Media Sanitization (e.g., overwriting, cryptographic erase)
  • Network Security (e.g., network security groups)
  • Virtualization Security (e.g., hypervisor security, container security)
  • Common Threats
• Describe Cloud Data Concepts
  • Cloud Data Life Cycle Phases
  • Data Dispersion
• Design and Implement Cloud Data Storage Architectures
  • Storage Types (e.g. long term, ephemeral, raw-disk)
  • Threats to Storage Types
• Design and Apply Data Security Technologies and Strategies
• Implement Data Discovery
  • Structured Data
  • Unstructured Data
• Implement Data Classification
• Design and Implement Information Rights Management (IRM)
  • Objectives (e.g., data rights, provisioning, access models)
  • Appropriate Tools (e.g., issuing and revocation of certificates)

Domain 2: Cloud Data Security

• Encryption and Key Management
• Hashing
• Masking
• Tokenization
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
• Data Obfuscation
• Data De-identification (e.g., anonymization)
• Mapping
• Labelling
• Sensitive data (e.g., Protected Health Information (PHI), Personally Identifiable Information (PII), card holder data)
• Plan and Implement Data Retention, Deletion and Archiving Policies
• Data Retention Policies
• Data Deletion Procedures and Mechanisms
• Data Archiving Procedures and Mechanisms
• Legal Hold
• Design and Implement Auditability, Traceability and Accountability of Data Events
  • Definition of Event Sources and Requirement of Identity Attribution
  • Logging, Storage and Analysis of Data Events
  • Chain of Custody and Non-repudiation
• Comprehend Cloud Infrastructure Components
• Design a Secure Data Center
  • Logical Design (e.g., tenant partitioning, access control)
  • Physical Design (e.g. location, buy or build)
  • Environmental Design (e.g., Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), multi-vendor pathway connectivity)
• Analyze Risks Associated with Cloud Infrastructure
• Design and Plan Security Controls
• Plan Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC)

Domain 3: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure Security

• Physical Environment
• Network and Communications
• Compute
• Virtualization
• Storage
• Management Plane
• Risk Assessment and Analysis
• Cloud Vulnerabilities, Threats and Attacks
• Virtualization Risks
• Counter-measure Strategies
• Physical and Environmental Protection (e.g., on-premise)
• System and Communication Protection
• Virtualization Systems Protection
• Identification, Authentication and Authorization in Cloud Infrastructure
• Audit Mechanisms (e.g., log collection, packet capture)
• Risks Related to the Cloud Environment
• Business Requirements (e.g., Recovery Time Objective (RTO), Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Recovery Service Level (RSL))
• Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Strategy
• Creation, Implementation and Testing of Plan

Domain 4:Cloud Application Security

• Advocate Training and Awareness for Application Security
  • Cloud Development Basics
  • Common Pitfalls
  • Common Cloud Vulnerabilities
• Describe the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Process
  • Business Requirements
  • Phases and Methodologies
• Apply the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Apply Cloud Software Assurance and Validation
  • Functional Testing
  • Security Testing Methodologies
• Use Verified Secure Software
  • Approved Application Programming Interfaces (API)
  • Supply-chain Management
  • Third Party Software Management
  • Validated Open Source Software
  • Avoid Common Vulnerabilities During Development
  • Cloud-specific Risks
  • Quality Assurance
  • Threat Modelling
  • Software Configuration Management and Versioning
• Comprehend the Specifics of Cloud Application Architecture
• Supplemental Security components (e.g., Web Application Firewall (WAF), Database Activity Monitoring
• (DAM), Extensible Markup Language (XML) firewalls, Application Programming Interface (API) gateway)
  • Cryptography
  • Sandboxing
  • Application Virtualization and Orchestration
• Design Appropriate Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solutions
  • Federated Identity
  • Identity Providers
  • Single Sign-On (SSO)
  • Multi-factor Authentication
  • Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
• Implement and Build Physical and Logical Infrastructure for Cloud Environment
  • Hardware Specific Security Configuration Requirements (e.g., Basic Input Output System (BIOS), settings for virtualization and Trusted Platform Module (TPM), storage controllers, network controllers)
  • Installation and Configuration of Virtualization Management Tools
  • Virtual Hardware Specific Security Configuration Requirements (e.g., network, storage, memory, Central Processing Unit (CPU)
  • Installation of Guest Operating System (OS) Virtualization Toolsets
• Operate Physical and Logical Infrastructure for Cloud Environment
• Manage Physical and Logical Infrastructure for Cloud Environment

Domain 5: Cloud Security Operations

• Access Controls for Remote Access (e.g., Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Secure Terminal Access, Secure Shell (SSH))
• Operating System (O