Top Cybersecurity Certifications for 2022

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The cybersecurity domain focuses on security data and user privacy. The Cybersecurity professionals working in this domain need to certify, to be able to secure company infrastructure. Take a look at these top Cybersecurity certifications for 2022 and get ahead of the competition.

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

The CEH exam is offered by EC-Council (International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants. This certification helps in building robust security analysis with offensive and defensive skills needed by Cybersecurity professionals. This cert helps one to acquire the latest hacking techniques and procedures.

The current version of the CEH exam focuses on nine different areas of competence like:

Information Security and Ethical Hacking
Cryptography
Wireless Network Hacking
Cloud Computing Security
Web application Hacking
System Hacking phases
Network and Perimeter Hacking
Operational Technology hacking
Internet of Things and Mobile Platforms hacking
Reconnaissance techniques

Like every certification, CEH needs to be recertified after some time. A CEH certification lasts for three years, for which Continuing Education Credits is mandatory for recertification. Currently, EC-Council requires you to have a minimum of two years of work experience in the Information Security domain. CEH exam consists of 125 questions that need to be attempted within four hours. A proper CEH certification training will help you prepare for the CEH exam.

CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)

This certification is offered by (ISC)2 or the International Information System Security Certification Consortium. It is one of the most recognized and accepted certifications in the Cybersecurity domain. CISSP is designed for experienced professionals looking to design and lead corporate Cybersecurity programs.

You must have five years of paid work experience to become eligible for this cert exam. Within those five years of paid work experience, you must at least focus on two or more of the eight domains mentioned in (ISC)2 Common Body of Knowledge (CBK).

If you do not possess the required work experience, you can take up the certification and become an Associate of (ISC)2 while earning the required work experience. They then have six years to gain the certification. The exam consists of 100-150 questions that need to be solved within 3 hours. The questions come from various domains like:

Security Architecture (13%)
Identity and Access Management (13%)
Network and Communication Security (13%)
Security Operations (13%)
Security Assessment and Testing (12%)
Software Development Security (11%)
Asset Security (10%)
Security and Risk Management (15%)

You must score 700 out of 1000 to pass this exam and qualify for certification. You must dedicate your time and efforts to learning the concepts and mastering tools that will help you acquire the CISSP certifications. You have to pay USD 749 as an exam fee during the registration process.

CISA (Certified Informations Systems Auditor)

This exam is offered by ISACA (Formerly, International Systems Audit and Control Association), an international professional association that is focused on IT Governance. This certification is designed to certify those professionals who work, control, audit, monitor, and assess an organization’s information technology and business systems.

To get CISA certified, you must be an expert in domains like:

Management and Governance of IT
Information Systems Auditing Process
Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
Information Systems Acquisition, Development, and Implementation
Protection of Information Assets

To become eligible for the CISA certification exam, a professional must possess at least five years of work experience if not more in the Information Security/Information Technology Audit, Assurance, Control, or Security job. The professionals must also adhere to a professional code of ethics. The primary duty of IS/IT auditors is to stop non-compliance, over-the-top expenditure, and fraud. They analyze findings and report them.

CISA certified professionals can take up jobs like IT Audit Manager, IS Analyst, IT Project Manager, IT Security Officer, Cybersecurity Analyst, Privacy Officer, etc.

CISM (Certified Informations Security Manager)

This certification is also offered by ISACA which is designed to validate your knowledge and expertise in managing information security teams. Having CISM certification in your profile means you have a very good technical competence with an understanding of business objectives around Data Security.

The CISM exam contains 200 MCQs from topics like:

Information Security Incident Management
Information Security Management
Information Security Program Development and Management
Information Risk Management and Compliance

To become eligible for the CISM certification, you must have worked in Information Security for at least 5 years within the 10 years before earning the CISM certification. And in those 5 years, 3 must be in the Management side. If you don’t meet these eligibility criteria, there are some other exceptions like acquiring CISSP certification count as 2 years of work experience.

Since this is a certification we are talking about, you need to re-certify to be able to maintain your certification. For that, you must earn 20 CPEs (credits), 120 CPEs over 3 years.

CompTIA Security+

CompTIA offers Security+ certification to professionals looking to move into intermediate-level positions. Security+ certification covers five stages:

Architecture and Design
Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Operations and Incident Response
Implementation
Governance, Compliance, Risk

Once you are certified with Security+ you remain certified for three years. After which, you must rely on Continuing Education Credits and Training for recertification. Speaking of requirements, CompTIA recommends professionals to have a Network+ cert along with two years of IT administration work experience that is security-focused before sitting for Security+ certification. The passing marks set for the exam at the time of writing are 750 out of 900. If you are interested in taking up this exam, it will cost USD 381 as the registration amount.

CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+)

This is a hands-on, advanced-level certification for Security professionals. This certification addresses four key skills:

Security Architecture
Compliance, Governance, and Risk
Security Engineering and Cryptography
Security Operations

Like Security+, CASP+ certification is valid for three years, like all the other certifications, it needs continuing education credits and training to help you recertify. For the exam, CompTIA recommends exam takers, who have at least 10 years of work experience in the field of operational IT experience, with a minimum of 5 years in the security domain. This exam doesn’t have a passing score like other exams listed here, rather it just has a pass/fail system. This exam features 90 questions that need to be solved within 165 minutes. The registration amount is set at USD 480.