Course Information
Course Name
CCSP: Certified Cloud Security Professional
Exam code
CCSP
Duration
5 Days
Certification
Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
Overview
The Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification, offered by (ISC)², is designed for professionals aiming to demonstrate their expertise in cloud security. This globally recognized certification validates advanced technical skills and knowledge to design, manage, and secure data, applications, and infrastructure in the cloud.
Audience Profile
The CCSP is ideal for IT, cyber, information and software security leaders responsible for applying best practices to cloud security architecture, design, operations and service orchestration, including those in the following positions:
Cloud Architect
Cloud Engineer
Cloud Consultant
Cloud Administrator
Cloud Security Analyst
Cloud Specialist
Auditor of Cloud Computing Services
Professional Cloud Developer
Prerequisites
To qualify for this cybersecurity certification, you must pass the exam and have at least five years of cumulative work experience in information technology, of which three years must be in information security, and one year in one or more of the six domains of the ISC2 CCSP Exam Outline.
At Course Completion
After completing this course, you will be able to:
1. Understand legal frameworks and guidelines that affect cloud services.
2. Recognize the fundamentals of data privacy regulatory/legislative mandates.
3. Assess risks, vulnerability, threats, and attacks in the cloud environment.
4. Evaluate the design and plan for cloud infrastructure security controls.
5. Evaluate what is necessary to manage security operations.
6. Understand what operational controls and standards to implement.
7. Describe the types of cloud deployment models in the types of “as a service” cloud models currently available today.
8. Identify key terminology, and associated definitions related to cloud technology.
9. Establish a common terminology for use within your team or workgroup.
10. Build a business case for cloud adoption and determine business units that benefit from cloud migration strategies.
Course Outline
Module 1: Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design
1.1 – Understand cloud computing concepts
Cloud computing definitions
Cloud computing roles and responsibilities (e.g., cloud service customer, cloud service provider, cloud service partner, cloud service broker, regulator)
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)
1.2 – Describe cloud reference architecture
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, multi-cloud)
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, outsourcing)
Impact of related technologies (e.g., data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), containers, quantum computing, edge computing, confidential computing, DevSecOps)
1.3 – Understand security concepts relevant to cloud computing
Cryptography and key management
Identity and access control (e.g., user access, privilege access, service access)
Data and media sanitization (e.g., overwriting, cryptographic erase)
Network security (e.g., network security groups, traffic inspection, geofencing, zero trust network)
Virtualization security (e.g., hypervisor security, container security, ephemeral computing, serverless technology)
Common threats
Security hygiene (e.g., patching, baselining)
1.4 – Understand design principles of secure cloud computing
Cloud secure data lifecycle
Cloud-based business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) plan
Business impact analysis (BIA) (e.g., cost-benefit analysis, return on investment (ROI))
Functional security requirements (e.g., portability, interoperability, vendor lock-in)
Security considerations and responsibilities for different cloud categories (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS))
Cloud design patterns (e.g., SANS security principles, Well-Architected Framework, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Enterprise Architecture)
DevOps security
1.5 – 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)
Module 2: Cloud Data Security
2.1 – Describe cloud data concepts
Cloud data life cycle phases
Data dispersion
Data flows
2.2 – Design and implement cloud data storage architectures
Storage types (e.g., long-term, ephemeral, raw storage)
Threats to storage types
2.3 – Design and apply data security technologies and strategies
Encryption and key management
Hashing
Data obfuscation (e.g., masking, anonymization)
Tokenization
Data loss prevention (DLP)
Keys, secrets and certificates management
2.4 – Implement data discovery
Structured data
Unstructured data
Semi-structured data
Data location
2.5 – Plan and implement data classification
Data classification policies
Data mapping
Data labeling
2.6 – Design and implement Information Rights Management (IRM)
Objectives (e.g., data rights, provisioning, access models)
Appropriate tools (e.g., issuing and revocation of certificates)
2.7 – Plan and implement data retention, deletion, and archiving policies
Data retention policies
Data deletion procedures and mechanisms
Data archiving procedures and mechanisms
Legal hold
2.8 – Design and implement auditability, traceability, and accountability of data events
Definition of event sources and requirement of event attributes (e.g., identity, Internet Protocol (IP) address, geolocation)
Logging, storage and analysis of data events
Chain of custody and non-repudiation
Module 3: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure Security
3.1 – Comprehend cloud infrastructure and platform components
Physical environment
Network and communications
Compute
Virtualization
Storage
Management plane
3.2 – 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)
Design resilient
3.3 – Analyze risks associated with cloud infrastructure and platforms
Risk assessment (e.g., identification, analysis)
Cloud vulnerabilities, threats and attacks
Risk mitigation strategies
3.4 – Plan and implementation of security controls
Physical and environmental protection (e.g., on-premises)
System, storage and communication protection
Identification, authentication and authorization in cloud environments
Audit mechanisms (e.g., log collection, correlation, packet capture)
3.5 – Plan business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR)
Business continuity (BC) / disaster recovery (DR) strategy
Business requirements (e.g., Recovery Time Objective (RTO), Recovery Point Objective (RPO), recovery service level)
Creation, implementation and testing of plan
Module 4: Cloud Application Security
4.1 – Advocate training and awareness for application security
Cloud development basics
Common pitfalls
Common cloud vulnerabilities (e.g., Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top-10, SANS Top-25)
4.2 – Describe the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process
Business requirements
Phases and methodologies (e.g., design, code, test, maintain, waterfall vs. agile)
4.3 – Apply the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Cloud-specific risks
Threat modeling (e.g., Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, and Elevation of Privilege (STRIDE), Damage, Reproducibility, Exploitability, Affected Users, and Discoverability (DREAD), Architecture, Threats, Attack Surfaces, and Mitigations (ATASM), Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis (PASTA))
Avoid common vulnerabilities during development
Secure coding (e.g., Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Application Security
Verification Standard (ASVS), Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code (SAFECode))
Software configuration management and versioning
4.4 – Apply cloud software assurance and validation
Functional and non-functional testing
Security testing methodologies (e.g., blackbox, whitebox, static, dynamic, Software Composition Analysis (SCA), interactive application security testing (IAST))
Quality assurance (QA)
Abuse case testing
4.5 – Use verified secure software
Securing application programming interfaces (API)
Supply-chain management (e.g., vendor assessment)
Third-party software management (e.g., licensing)
Validated open-source software
4.6 – 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 (e.g., microservices, containers)
4.7 – Design appropriate Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions
Federated identity
Identity providers (IdP)
Single sign-on (SSO)
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Cloud access security broker (CASB)
Secrets management
Module 5: Cloud Security Operations
5.1 – Build and implement physical and logical infrastructure for cloud environment
Hardware specific security configuration requirements (e.g., hardware security module (HSM) and Trusted Platform Module (TPM))
Installation and configuration of management tools
Virtual hardware specific security configuration requirements (e.g., network, storage, memory, central processing unit (CPU), Hypervisor type 1 and 2)
Installation of guest operating system (OS) virtualization toolsets
5.2 – Operate and maintain physical and logical infrastructure for cloud environment
Access controls for local and remote access (e.g., Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), secure terminal access, Secure Shell (SSH), console-based access mechanisms, jumpboxes, virtual client)
Secure network configuration (e.g., virtual local area networks (VLAN), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), virtual private network (VPN))
Network security controls (e.g., firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), honeypots, vulnerability assessments, network security groups, bastion host)
Operating system (OS) hardening through the application of baselines, monitoring and remediation (e.g., Windows, Linux, VMware)
Patch management
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) strategy
Availability of clustered hosts (e.g., distributed resource scheduling, dynamic optimization, storage clusters, maintenance mode, high availability (HA))
Availability of guest operating system (OS)
Performance and capacity monitoring (e.g., network, compute, storage, response time)
Hardware monitoring (e.g., disk, central processing unit (CPU), fan speed, temperature)
Configuration of host and guest operating system (OS) backup and restore functions
Management plane (e.g., scheduling, orchestration, maintenance)
5.3 – Implement operational controls and standards (e.g., Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 20000-1)
Change management
Continuity management
Information security management
Continual service improvement management
Incident management
Problem management
Release management
Deployment management
Configuration management
Service level management
Availability management
Capacity management
5.4 – Support digital forensics
Forensic data collection methodologies
Evidence management
Collect, acquire, and preserve digital evidence
5.5 – Manage communication with relevant parties
Vendors
Customers
Partners
Regulators
Other stakeholders
5.6 – Manage security operations
Security operations center (SOC)
Intelligent monitoring of security controls (e.g., firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), honeypots, network security groups, artificial intelligence (AI))
Log capture and analysis (e.g., security information and event management (SIEM), log management)
Incident management
Vulnerability assessments
Module 6: Legal, Risk and Compliance
6.1 – Articulate legal requirements and unique risks within the cloud environment
Conflicting international legislation
Evaluation of legal risks specific to cloud computing
Legal framework and guidelines
eDiscovery (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27050, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Guidance)
Forensics requirements
6.2 – Understand privacy issues
Difference between contractual and regulated private data (e.g., protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII))
Country-specific legislation related to private data (e.g., protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII))
Jurisdictional differences in data privacy
Standard privacy requirements (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27018, Generally Accepted Privacy Principles (GAPP), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR))
Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA)
6.3 – Understand audit process, methodologies, and required adaptations for a cloud environment
Internal and external audit controls
Impact of audit requirements
Identify assurance challenges of virtualization and cloud
Types of audit reports (e.g., Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE), Service Organization Control (SOC), International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE))
Restrictions of audit scope statements (e.g., Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE), International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE))
Gap analysis (e.g., control analysis, baselines)
Audit planning
Internal information security management system
Internal information security controls system
Policies (e.g., organizational, functional, cloud computing)
Identification and involvement of relevant stakeholders
Specialized compliance requirements for highly-regulated industries (e.g., North American Electric Reliability Corporation / Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC / CIP), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Payment Card Industry (PCI))
Impact of distributed information technology (IT) model (e.g., diverse geographical locations and crossing over legal jurisdictions)
6.4 – Understand implications of cloud to enterprise risk management
Assess providers risk management programs (e.g., controls, methodologies, policies, risk profile, risk appetite)
Difference between data owner/controller vs. data custodian/processor
Regulatory transparency requirements (e.g., breach notification, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR))
Risk treatment (i.e., avoid, mitigate, transfer, share, acceptance)
Different risk frameworks
Metrics for risk management
Assessment of risk environment (e.g., service, vendor, infrastructure, business)
6.5 – Understand outsourcing and cloud contract design
Business requirements (e.g., service-level agreement (SLA), master service agreement (MSA), statement of work (SOW))
Vendor management (e.g., vendor assessments, vendor lock-in risks, vendor viability, escrow)
Contract management (e.g., right to audit, metrics, definitions, termination, litigation, assurance, compliance, access to cloud/data, cyber risk insurance)
Supply-chain management (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27036)
All ISC2 certification courses are conducted by certified trainers from Iverson.
Digital Methods acts as the official training partner and assists with program consultation, registration, coordination, scheduling, and administrative arrangements to ensure a seamless and professionally managed training experience.