How to pass the AWS Certified Security – Speciality

I recently took the AWS Certified Security – Speciality exam for the first time and I passed it with over 800 points! L Scale is from 100 to 1,000 and 750 is the passing mark. More about the exam here. et’s go over how to pass the AWS certified Security – Speciality certification.

Take these certifications first

Although AWS has lifted the requirements to have an associate level exam before taking a speciality exam; I on the other hand still believe having an associate level certification and understanding is very much needed to pass. In my personal experience I always advise taking the AWS SysOps Administrator over the Solutions Architect if you’re planning on taking this security speciality. Knowing the capabilities of many AWS services will help you cross out the wrong answers immediately. The AWS security training does not cover in depth capabilities.

  • Pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner
  • Pass the AWS SysOps Administrator

Experience

Nothing beats real experience. Or at least LinuxAcademy.com labs. I have been in the AWS world for more than 4 years now.

Security topics

I believe the same exam is always different for different editions and users. This is all based on my experience.

  • KMS: Know this inside and out!
    • All of its capabilities
    • Key policies/permissions/cross account
    • Usage with S3 in depth
    • Usage with all other top services like EBS, RDS, DynamoDB, etc.
    • Be able to troubleshoot issues related to permissions and missing keys, etc.
  • IAM: This is one obvious and must
    • Be able to read and write IAM policies, S3 bucket policies, KMS policies, etc.
    • Master roles for services, for role switching (how to secure it)
    • Cross account setup
  • S3
    • Replication
    • KMS integration
    • KMS cross account integration
    • Troubleshoot permission issues

This is just my top list, always use the guide and study based on that. So don’t ignore other topics.

Training tools / White papers

Exam guide

Click here

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