The more you know the more you grow, which in the world of IT and cybersecurity will only give you a competitive edge. So that begs the question, are security certifications worth the money? What are the ones that will enable you to enter a career and advance?
Let us take a look at some of the certifications that will boost your professional journey in cybersecurity.
Organization: Offensive Security
Exam price: PEN-200 course, 30 days lab access, OSXP exam fee, $999 (fees go up with increased lab access)
Basics: Considered a coveted certification for pen testers, PEN-200 serves as Offensive Security’s foundational penetration testing course. Students learn the latest pen-testing tools and techniques and practice them in a virtual lab that includes recently retired OSCP exam machines.
Organization: (ISC)
Exam price: $599
Basics: This course will target developers who want to learn more about building security into their organizations’ products. A candidate will need at least four years of cumulative paid software development life cycle (SDLC) professional work experience in one of more of the CSSLP’s eight domain, or three years of cumulative paid SDLC professional work experience in one or more of the CSSLP’s eight domains with a four-year degree leading to a bachelor’s degree, or regional equivalent in computer science, information technology, or related fields. Part-time work and internships may also count toward experience.
Organization: (ISC)
Exam price: $599
Basics: Those looking to obtain this accreditation must have a minimum of five years cumulative paid work experience in information technology, including three years in information security and one year in one or more of the CCSP’s six domains. The associate will then have six years to earn the five years of required experience. Part-time work and internships may also count toward the student’s experience.
Organization: GIAC/SANS
Exam price: $2,499
Basics: This certification will cover least 31 critical areas of security, ranging from access control and password management to cryptography, endpoint security, incident response, and Linux security. We say this is geared to anyone new to information security who has some background in information systems and networking. Also good for security professionals, operations personnel, IT engineers and supervisors, forensic analysts, penetration testers, auditors.
Organization: CompTIA
Exam price: $349
Basics: Perhaps the most popular on this list and viewed as the entry-level certification for beginners, the Security+ exam certifies that the student has the knowledge and skills required to assess the security posture of an enterprise environment, recommend and implement appropriate security solutions, monitor and secure hybrid environments, operate with an awareness of applicable governance laws and policies, and identify, analyze, and respond to ongoing security events and incidents. The job opportunities one will have with this certification include security administrator, systems administrator, helpdesk manager, and security analyst.
Organization: ISACA
Exam price: $575, members, $760, non-members, $50 fee when applying for certification
Basics: The CISM certification indicates expertise in information security governance, program development and management, incident management, and risk management. Those who obtain this certification include IT architect, security analyst, data security manager, security and compliance director, vice president, information security, and CIO/CISO/CTO.
Organization: EC-Council
Exam price: $950
Basics: There are some in the industry who suggest those looking to become pen testers should start with the CEH certification. Students will learn the latest commercial-grade hacking tools, techniques, and methodologies used by hackers and information security professionals to lawfully hack an organization. For those interested in government contracting, CEH maps to NIST’s NICE 2.0 frameworks for specialty areas: protect and defend (PR), analyze (AN), and securely provision requirements (SP). Students can try 24 hacking challenges spread across four complexity levels.
Cybersecurity is a vastly growing space that is going nowhere but up from here and we feel if one is to truly suceed you must always stay current and above water in skills, certifications and knowledge.
Did we also mention that we are hiring, send all resumes to careers@def-logix.com!
“Security risk assessment practices control and checks any open vulnerable ports, anti-virus updates, password policies, patch management, encryption strength and so on and so forth.”
