How to Prepare for AWS certified Security Specialty Exam

Hello guys, if you are preparing for AWS Certified Security Specialty exam then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared best AWS Security specialist courses and my thoughts and courses on cracking AWS Solution architect exam and today, I will share how you can prepare for AWS Security certification in depth. The AWS Certified Security Specialty" certification is one of the most esteemed credentials in the industry. There is now an official designation for data analysts on their resumes and applications. Two of today's most hotly debated topics, cloud computing, and security, come together with the AWS Security Specialty certification. If you're in the security field, bringing your skills to the cloud is a natural next step in your career development. 

 

How to prepare for AWS certified Security-Specialty

Applicants must pass an Amazon AWS Certified Security-Specialty test to get certified as an Amazon AWS Certified Security-Specialty. The capacity to utilize AWS for Data input, storage, security,  and processing is verified by earning an AWS credential.

1. Why AWS Certified Security- Specialty?

It's a good idea to consider the benefits of becoming AWS certified before taking the time and effort to do so. Reasons for this.

• Job prospects and pay: AWS certified engineers are in great demand and have the potential to earn very good incomes indeed. Consultants with AWS credentials, such as those at The Scale Factory, may move up to the next consulting tier and continue recruiting AWS-certified engineers at a high rate.
• The goal of your professional development is to expand your understanding of AWS, gain new skills, and advance your career.
• Become an AWS specialist in your organization, train your staff, and encourage your coworkers to do the same.

2. Information About Question Papers

• Number of questions: 65
• Duration: 3 Hours
• Format: Multiple-Choice questions with one correct option or more than one correct option.
• Language: English
• Eligibility: Anyone can appear in the exam who has the knowledge and wants a career in this industry
• Exam Delivery methods: Can be an online-proctored exam from a remote location or an onsite-proctored exam at the testing center
• Validity of Certificate: 2 years
• Result : No percentage just pass or fail

3.Who should take this exam?

• The AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty certification exam is a pass or fails examination. You have 170 minutes to complete the exam. The exam consists of around 65 questions.
• Multiple-choice and multiple-choice questions appear on the test.
• Unanswered questions will lead to a failing mark, however, guesses are allowed.
• Statistical data may be gathered by including ungraded assignments in your test. These components aren't mentioned anywhere on the application form.
• To pass the exam, you must earn at least 750 out of a potential 1,000 points. Each portion of this exam is not a separate test, but rather a part of the overall exam.
• To be eligible for this certification, you must have at least five years of experience using typical data analytics tools in addition to two years of hands-on experience with AWS.

4. Helpful Hints and Advice

• During the test, we have a comment section where we may jot down any pertinent information. Consider using this strategy to narrow down your options when you're not sure what to do. It is forbidden to use any written material.
• Specifics of the query are crucial to narrowing down the viable solutions. It's possible to find a solution that is inexpensive, requires little maintenance and is near real time.
• Serverless or fully-managed services are often the best options.
• Answer each question in a test in no more than two and a half minutes. Go with what's best and put it on your list of things to do in the future. You'll have another opportunity to review after the exam.
• Sleep well the night before your exam, and don't cram too much into the day of the test.

5. Attending a certification exam offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

If you want to keep yourself motivated to study, some individuals recommend that you register for a test date. It is strongly advised against doing this at this point in time. It's a bad idea to schedule a test before you've even started studying. 

There is a great deal that you don't know about yourself.
If you've worked in AWS security for a long time and are reviewing the content, you may find that it's all quite familiar. However, if you analyze the information, you may discover that you need to devote more attention to some areas. 

The only way to find out is to research the exam's subject and possibly take a few practice tests. When you know where you are in terms of exam comprehension, you'll know how long in advance to schedule the test.

Additionally, candidates need a well-thought-out approach and a required degree of expertise to succeed in this exam. It is essential for each candidate to follow these steps in order to pass on this exam.

6. Gathering of data

Learn about the test's fundamentals at the certification's official website. There is a detailed study guide provided by AWS that offers a summary of the exam's topics. It may be found here. Examples of AWS questions may be found here if you're interested. You'll feel more prepared for the real exam after you've gone through the preparation resources and practice questions.

7.  Making Use of AWS's Educational Resources

Hundreds of courses on AWS services and use cases are available to help you learn or brush up on what you already know. The instructions may be found by clicking on this link. If you're looking for educational resources, try one of the above-mentioned categories. In addition, you should familiarize yourself with the definitions and use cases for all of the major AWS cloud products.

8. Studying for the AWS Certified Security - Specialty Exam

To prepare for the AWS Security-Specialty test, there is no one method that is best. A person's learning style may vary from another person's.

8.1 Courses

If you're looking for online education, you may find a wide range of options. To get a good basis for the topic, I took the following courses. However, you may choose whatever vendor you want. Because no curriculum can possibly prepare you for everything that will be on the exam, I strongly advise against taking a class and then taking the test right afterward. When preparing for a test, it is better to use a range of methods rather than depending just on one.


#1- A Cloud Guru: AWS Certified Security - Specialty

If you've associate-level certificates and also if you want to do further great things in the AWS field, this course is a heaven-given opportunity for you. 

Actually, from every multinational companies point of view, security is their main concern. Right? Whatever the company it is, either IIT or banking sector, security is their primary most wanted concern. 

And, this course here teaches you how to add extra potential vaults to the security systems. 

Well! Let's see what you'll learn here

• What security is and it's Basics of security. 
• Security in and with AWS
• AWS security tools and how to use them.
• Security management and survey
• Compliance and implementing troubleshooting. 

#2- Udemy: AWS Certified Security Specialty

This an on-demand video course that runs for the duration of 30 hours, with 40+ study material articles, practice tests and downloadable resources. 

What'll you learn

• You'll be a prepared warrior to face the exam
• You will master all the aspects in terms of security related to AWS.
• You'll get a deep idea on how enterprises work by implementing security in their businesses.
• You will also learn to protect your company's data from malware attacks, hackers and data destroying viruses. 

On the journey of this course, you'll get to know why data gets hacked, what to do as a security specialist if data is attached by malware software, What all you can do to protect your data, etc ...

Your instructor in this course will take you to wide scenarios with practical demonstrations. 

Make sure you enroll in it.

8.2 Training Resources

This and other AWS certification examinations may be studied with the help of Amazon's YouTube channel. Videos from the annual AWS re:Invent conference are a great way to learn about new AWS capabilities before they become public. 

The re:Inforce conference is also dedicated to cybersecurity, and the recordings from that conference are worth viewing when preparing for the AWS Security-Specialty test. While researching, I found this list to be really useful.

AWS re:Invent : Leadership session: AWS security (SEC201-L)

In this free video, Stephen Schmidt, explains the current features of security in AWS and it's updates. And, he also depicts what would come further in the domain of development in terms of compliance, security, and Identity tooling. 

AWS re:Inforce 2019: Best Practices for Choosing Identity Solutions for Applications (FND215)

You'll learn to choose the right resources required for the identity of the consumers which are different from the workspace applications and cloud resources. 

Link: https://youtu.be/-xTs4MmQOo4

8.3 Mock Tests

To see whether you're ready for the actual AWS Security-Specialty test and to discover any areas of weakness, you may take sample examinations once you've studied the subject. Taking a mock test is an option in many online schools, but not all do.

#1- Amazon AWS Security Specialty Practice Exams 

It includes 150 questions categorized into 6 practice exams. 

Now let's look at what these domains consist of...

Practice test 1: incident response

• An abuse AWS noticed had been given to you, check out whatever there is exposed keys or suspect. 

• Verification 3 incident response

• Execute all possible remedies to the issues. 

Practice test 2: Logging and monitoring

• Security designing, monitoring, and altering

• Troubleshooting

• logging solutions

Practice test 3: Security for infrastructure

• Design Infrastructure AWS security

• Implement a secured network

Practice test 4: identification of access management

• Designing authentication and AWS resources

• Authorization in troubleshooting and authentication.

Practice test 5: protection of data

• key management

• troubleshoot key management

Link: https://www.udemy.com/course/amazon-aws-security-specialty-practice-exams-2021/

#2- AWS Certified Security Specialty Exam Questions

This practice tests series consists of totally 325 questions categorized into 4 exams. These 4 exams are just akin to the real AWS Certified Security Specialty Exam. 

The duration of these 4 exams is 200 minutes for 90 questions. The passing score is set as more than 70. 

This practice test course also gives a sample question for review. I've mentioned it below ↓ 

»“You have just recently set up a web and database tier in a VPC and hosted the application. When testing the application, you are not able to reach the home page of the app. You have verified the security groups. What can help you diagnose the issue?

A) Use VPC Flow logs to diagnose the traffic

B) Use the AWS(Amazon Web Service) Trusted Advisor to see what can be done.

C) Use AWS(Amazon Web Service) WAF to analyze the traffic

D)Use AWS(Amazon Web Service) Guard Duty to analyze the traffic”«

The correct answer is said to be Option A. “Use VPC Flow logs to diagnose the traffic” is the best remedy to check your security issues. Whereas, option C is used to protect your data from application layer cyber attacks. While option D is invalid because it's used to safeguard your instance from attacks. 

This course also guarantees for a refund of money from 30 days of enrollment if you're not satisfied with this course.

Link: https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-security-specialty-practice-questions-2022/

8.4 Books to clear AWS Certified Security - Specialty Exam

#1- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Official Study Guide: Associate Exam

A complete position paper book with all you need to know. It bridges the gap between your theoretical knowledge and your Practice experiences. Access invaluable content including assessment parts with aid. Use this book to review and master your material. It explains data flow, deploys management in a well-versed way. 

link: https://www.amazon.in/Certified-SysOps-Administrator-Official-Study/dp/8126571195/r

#2- AWS Certified Security - Specialty: Study Guide

Since AWS Certified Security - Specialty Exam is a newly launched one, it has gained popularity in the industry. It covers important topics such as ranging from Incident response, security logging and monitoring, infrastructure security, identity, and access management, and data protection. You'll learn the Incident Response process, inspect EC2 Systems, understand stateful and stateless firewalls, etc..

Link: https://www.amazon.in/AWS-Certified-Security-objectives-preparation/dp/1645469182/

9. Wrapping Up

For your AWS Security-Specialty Exam preparation, we hope this post and the views I gave will be useful. Even while cloud computing and cyber security are fascinating topics on their own, they come together to provide a new set of possibilities and problems. 

One of the tips you must remember is to be Paranoid, i.e, face the question with more alert, know encryption and its key management. The more you understand how cloud security works, the safer your systems will be, regardless of your individual job responsibilities. As you follow these tips, you will get to know the insights throughout your learning path.