How to Pass AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification

Hi, this week I became official certified as an AWS Security Specialty. It was not so easy as I do not have much hands-on AWS. On exam day I got anxious that I hadn’t prepared enough and was worried about result as getting 75% is little bit tough. Sometime thought why I chose it as being pen tester its course material aligns more to operational and security admin role. But I don’t regret the process at all — and I passed. I would like to share how I prepared for it and what resources I used.

Time to prepare: 2.5 months (2-3 hours per day approx.)

Resource refer: A Cloud guru, Linux academy,  Video lecture of author Bruno Amaro Almeida and Chad Smith available on learning.oreilly.com, AWS white papers and blogs.

Additional links: https://tutorialsdojo.com/aws-cheat-sheets-compute-services/, https://medium.com/@rzepsky/passing-the-aws-certified-security-speciality-exam-d5ac90b3cdbc , https://coggle.it/diagram/XCx0VU8yTIKcn9xF/t/aws-certified-security-specialty

Difficulty level: Intermediate

Is it worth ? and who should take it: Yes, even if you do not have hands on experience on AWS and from security background like penetration testing or compliance then you can easily pass by following course material (refer resource section).

Advice: Do not practice with-out knowledge on free aws account. As some service are not free and if by mistake you enable and forgot to disable / delete it then it cost to too much. Linux academy provide lab environment where you can practice various work flow.

If you do not have enough time then I recommend to take video lecture of author Bruno Amaro Almeida (5.5 hours) and Chad Smith (3.5 hours) available on learning.oreilly.com (superb ?? ) , Acloud guru (15 hour), AWS whitepaper on DDOS, FAQ of WAF,KMS & Policy evaluation and in last 4 hour practice test on Linux academy. After finishing once must revise again.

The satisfaction comes from accomplishing something so different so amazing, and hopefully my experiences can help you get there too!