The AWS Certified Security-Specialty Exam is for experts who want to show they are skilled in safeguarding AWS systems. This exam covers various subjects like controlling access, securing networks, safeguarding data, and handling security incidents.
Preparing for the AWS Certified Security-Specialty Exam can be a challenging task, as the exam requires a deep understanding of AWS security services and best practices. That’s why I have created this cheat sheet to help you prepare for the exam in a more efficient and effective way. This cheat sheet includes key concepts, important tips, and sample questions that will help you master the exam material and pass the exam with confidence.
Whether you are a security professional looking to advance your career or an IT professional seeking to enhance your AWS skills, this cheat sheet will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to pass the AWS Certified Security-Specialty Exam. So, let’s dive in and start preparing for the exam!
AWS Certified Security-Specialty: Overview
The AWS Certified Security Specialty certification encompasses topics in which security professionals and staff need to be skilled in. not to mention, they must have an understanding of security fundamentals, follow best practices, and build expertise in key services that are unique to the AWS platform.
Moreover, this certification is designed to certify the candidate’s AWS knowledge across security topics that include data protection and encryption, infrastructure security, incident response, identity, and access management, monitoring, and logging.
AWS Certified Security-Specialty Glossary
- Access Key – An access key is an alphanumeric code that AWS provides to a user to authenticate their access to AWS services.
- Authentication – Authentication means confirming who you are before using AWS resources.
- Authorization – Authorization is deciding if you’re allowed to use AWS stuff based on who you are and what you’re allowed to do.
- CloudTrail – CloudTrail is an AWS service that provides visibility into user activity by recording AWS API calls and delivering the resulting log files to an S3 bucket.
- Compliance – Compliance refers to adhering to security standards and regulations, such as the GDPR or HIPAA, to ensure the security and privacy of data.
- Data Encryption – Data encryption means turning regular information into secret code so bad guys can’t read it without permission.
- IAM – IAM, short for Identity and Access Management, is like a security guard for AWS. It controls who can do what with AWS stuff.
- KMS – KMS, or Key Management Service, is an AWS service that allows users to create, manage, and use encryption keys to protect their data.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – MFA is a security feature that requires users to provide more than one form of authentication, such as a password and a security token, to access AWS resources.
- Network Security – Network security is like locking the doors and windows of a house to keep intruders out. It’s about protecting a company’s computer network and data from unauthorized access or attacks.
- PCI DSS – PCI DSS, which stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, are rules to make sure that credit card information is handled safely and securely. It’s like having strict guidelines for how to protect sensitive financial data.
- Security Group – A security group is a virtual firewall that controls inbound and outbound traffic to an AWS resource, such as an EC2 instance.
- Security Token Service (STS) – STS is an AWS service that provides temporary security credentials to allow users to access AWS resources.
- Server-Side Encryption (SSE) – SSE is a feature that allows users to encrypt data at rest within AWS services, such as S3 or RDS.
- SSL/TLS – SSL/TLS, known as Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security, is like a special code that makes sure that when you send information over the internet, it stays private and safe from others who might want to see it. It’s like having a secret language for your online conversations.
Exam preparation resources for AWS Certified Security-Specialty Exam
Here are some official resources for preparing for the AWS Certified Security-Specialty Exam:
- AWS Certification website: The AWS Certification website has a dedicated page for the Security-Specialty Exam, which provides an overview of the exam, its objectives, and recommended preparation resources.
Link: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-security-specialty/
- Exam guide: The AWS Certified Security-Specialty Exam Guide is like a user manual that tells you everything you need to know about the exam. It explains how the exam is set up, what kind of questions you’ll face, and even some helpful hints for doing well on the test.
- Exam readiness training: AWS offers a range of exam readiness training courses, including instructor-led courses, self-paced digital courses, and virtual classroom training. These courses cover the key concepts and skills required for the exam.
Link: https://aws.amazon.com/training/course-descriptions/aws-certified-security-specialty-exam-readiness/
- Whitepapers: AWS offers a range of whitepapers that cover various security-related topics, such as securing data in transit and at rest, securing AWS environments, and incident response. These whitepapers can help you prepare for the exam by providing a deeper understanding of the security concepts covered in the exam.
- Sample questions: AWS offers practice questions that you can try to check what you know and get ready for the exam. These questions are meant to show you the kind of questions you’ll see on the real test.
Course Outline
Course Outline refers to the blueprint of the exam guide which defines the course aims and learning outcomes. The main objective of the course outline is to provide candidates with an overall plan for the course, enabling them to plan their own schedules and learn effectively.
The AWS Certified Security Specialty course outline includes weightings, test domains, and objectives only. Let’s take a look at the table below.
Domain 1: Threat Detection and Incident Response
Task Statement 1.1: Design and implement an incident response plan.
Knowledge of:
- AWS best practices for incident response
- Cloud incidents
- Roles and responsibilities in the incident response plan
- AWS Security Finding Format (ASFF)
Skills in:
- Implementing credential invalidation and rotation strategies in response to compromises (for example, by using AWS Identity and Access Management [IAM] and AWS Secrets Manager)
- Isolating AWS resources
- Designing and implementing playbooks and runbooks for responses to security incidents
- Deploying security services (for example, AWS Security Hub, Amazon Macie, Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon Inspector, AWS Config, Amazon Detective, AWS Identity and Access Management Access Analyzer)
- Configuring integrations with native AWS services and third-party services (for example, by using Amazon EventBridge and the ASFF)
Task Statement 1.2: Detect security threats and anomalies by using AWS services.
Knowledge of:
- AWS managed security services that detect threats
- Anomaly and correlation techniques to join data across services
- Visualizations to identify anomalies
- Strategies to centralize security findings
Skills in:
- Evaluating findings from security services (for example, GuardDuty, Security Hub, Macie, AWS Config, IAM Access Analyzer)
- Searching and correlating security threats across AWS services (for example, by using Detective)
- Performing queries to validate security events (for example, by using Amazon Athena)
- Creating metric filters and dashboards to detect anomalous activity (for example, by using Amazon CloudWatch)
Task Statement 1.3: Respond to compromised resources and workloads.
Knowledge of:
- AWS Security Incident Response Guide
- Resource isolation mechanisms
- Techniques for root cause analysis
- Data capture mechanisms
- Log analysis for event validation
Skills in:
- Automating remediation by using AWS services (for example, AWS Lambda, AWS Step Functions, EventBridge, AWS Systems Manager runbooks, Security Hub, AWS Config)
- Responding to compromised resources (for example, by isolating Amazon EC2 instances)
- Investigating and analyzing to conduct root cause analysis (for example, by using Detective)
- Capturing relevant forensics data from a compromised resource (for example, Amazon Elastic Block Store [Amazon EBS] volume snapshots, memory dump)
- Querying logs in Amazon S3 for contextual information related to security events (for example, by using Athena)
- Protecting and preserving forensic artifacts (for example, by using S3 Object Lock, isolated forensic accounts, S3 Lifecycle, and S3 replication)
- Preparing services for incidents and recovering services after incidents
Domain 2: Security Logging and Monitoring
Task Statement 2.1: Design and implement monitoring and alerting to address security events.
Knowledge of:
- AWS services that monitor events and provide alarms (for example, CloudWatch, EventBridge)
- AWS services that automate alerting (for example, Lambda, Amazon Simple Notification Service [Amazon SNS], Security Hub)
- Tools that monitor metrics and baselines (for example, GuardDuty, Systems Manager)
Skills in:
- Analyzing architectures to identify monitoring requirements and sources of data for security monitoring
- Analyzing environments and workloads to determine monitoring requirements
- Designing environment monitoring and workload monitoring based on business and security requirements
- Setting up automated tools and scripts to perform regular audits (for example, by creating custom insights in Security Hub)
- Defining the metrics and thresholds that generate alerts
Task Statement 2.2: Troubleshoot security monitoring and alerting.
Knowledge of:
- Configuration of monitoring services (for example, Security Hub)
- Relevant data that indicates security events
Skills in:
- Analyzing the service functionality, permissions, and configuration of resources after an event that did not provide visibility or alerting
- Analyzing and remediating the configuration of a custom application that is not reporting its statistics
- Evaluating logging and monitoring services for alignment with security requirements
Task Statement 2.3: Design and implement a logging solution.
Knowledge of:
- AWS services and features that provide logging capabilities (for example, VPC Flow Logs, DNS logs, AWS CloudTrail, Amazon CloudWatch Logs)
- Attributes of logging capabilities (for example, log levels, type, verbosity)
- Log destinations and lifecycle management (for example, retention period)
Skills in:
- Configuring logging for services and applications
- Identifying logging requirements and sources for log ingestion
- Implementing log storage and lifecycle management according to AWS best practices and organizational requirements
Task Statement 2.4: Troubleshoot logging solutions.
Knowledge of:
- Capabilities and use cases of AWS services that provide data sources (for example, log level, type, verbosity, cadence, timeliness, immutability)
- AWS services and features that provide logging capabilities (for example, VPC Flow Logs, DNS logs, CloudTrail, CloudWatch Logs)
- Access permissions that are necessary for logging
Skills in:
- Identifying misconfiguration and determining remediation steps for absent access permissions that are necessary for logging (for example, by managing read/write permissions, S3 bucket permissions, public access, and integrity)
- Determining the cause of missing logs and performing remediation steps
Task Statement 2.5: Design a log analysis solution.
Knowledge of:
- Services and tools to analyze captured logs (for example, Athena, CloudWatch Logs filter)
- Log analysis features of AWS services (for example, CloudWatch Logs Insights, CloudTrail Insights, Security Hub insights)
- Log format and components (for example, CloudTrail logs)
Skills in:
- Identifying patterns in logs to indicate anomalies and known threats
- Normalizing, parsing, and correlating logs
Domain 3: Infrastructure Security
Task Statement 3.1: Design and implement security controls for edge services.
Knowledge of:
- Security features on edge services (for example, AWS WAF, load balancers,
Amazon Route 53, Amazon CloudFront, AWS Shield) - Common attacks, threats, and exploits (for example, Open Web Application
Security Project [OWASP] Top 10, DDoS) - Layered web application architecture
Skills in:
- Defining edge security strategies for common use cases (for example, public website, serverless app, mobile app backend)
- Selecting appropriate edge services based on anticipated threats and attacks (for example, OWASP Top 10, DDoS)
- Selecting appropriate protections based on anticipated vulnerabilities and risks (for example, vulnerable software, applications, libraries)
- Defining layers of defense by combining edge security services (for example, CloudFront with AWS WAF and load balancers)
- Applying restrictions at the edge based on various criteria (for example, geography, geolocation, rate limit)
- Activating logs, metrics, and monitoring around edge services to indicate attacks
Task Statement 3.2: Design and implement network security controls.
Knowledge of:
- VPC security mechanisms (for example, security groups, network ACLs, AWS Network Firewall)
- Inter-VPC connectivity (for example, AWS Transit Gateway, VPC endpoints)
- Security telemetry sources (for example, Traffic Mirroring, VPC Flow Logs)
- VPN technology, terminology, and usage
- On-premises connectivity options (for example, AWS VPN, AWS Direct Connect)
Skills in:
- Implementing network segmentation based on security requirements (for example, public subnets, private subnets, sensitive VPCs, on-premises connectivity)
- Designing network controls to permit or prevent network traffic as required (for example, by using security groups, network ACLs, and Network Firewall)
- Designing network flows to keep data off the public internet (for example, by using Transit Gateway, VPC endpoints, and Lambda in VPCs)
- Determining which telemetry sources to monitor based on network design, threats, and attacks (for example, load balancer logs, VPC Flow Logs, Traffic Mirroring)
- Determining redundancy and security workload requirements for communication between on-premises environments and the AWS Cloud (for example, by using AWS VPN, AWS VPN over Direct Connect, and MACsec)
- Identifying and removing unnecessary network access
- Managing network configurations as requirements change (for example, by using AWS Firewall Manager)
Task Statement 3.3: Design and implement security controls for compute workloads.
Knowledge of:
- Provisioning and maintenance of EC2 instances (for example, patching, inspecting, creation of snapshots and AMIs, use of EC2 Image Builder)
- IAM instance roles and IAM service roles
- Services that scan for vulnerabilities in compute workloads (for example, Amazon Inspector, Amazon Elastic Container Registry [Amazon ECR])
- Host-based security (for example, firewalls, hardening)
Skills in:
- Creating hardened EC2 AMIs
- Applying instance roles and service roles as appropriate to authorize compute workloads
- Scanning EC2 instances and container images for known vulnerabilities
- Applying patches across a fleet of EC2 instances or container images
- Activating host-based security mechanisms (for example, host-based firewalls)
- Analyzing Amazon Inspector findings and determining appropriate mitigation techniques
- Passing secrets and credentials securely to compute workloads
Task Statement 3.4: Troubleshoot network security.
Knowledge of:
- How to analyze reachability (for example, by using VPC Reachability Analyzer and Amazon Inspector)
- Fundamental TCP/IP networking concepts (for example, UDP compared with TCP, ports, Open Systems Interconnection [OSI] model, network operating system utilities)
- How to read relevant log sources (for example, Route 53 logs, AWS WAF logs, VPC Flow Logs)
Skills in:
- Identifying, interpreting, and prioritizing problems in network connectivity (for example, by using Amazon Inspector Network Reachability)
- Determining solutions to produce desired network behavior
- Analyzing log sources to identify problems
- Capturing traffic samples for problem analysis (for example, by using Traffic Mirroring)
Domain 4: Identity and Access Management
Task Statement 4.1: Design, implement, and troubleshoot authentication for AWS resources.
Knowledge of:
- Methods and services for creating and managing identities (for example, federation, identity providers, AWS IAM Identity Center [AWS Single Sign-On], Amazon Cognito)
- Long-term and temporary credentialing mechanisms
- How to troubleshoot authentication issues (for example, by using CloudTrail, IAM Access Advisor, and IAM policy simulator)
Skills in:
- Establishing identity through an authentication system, based on requirements
- Setting up multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Determining when to use AWS Security Token Service (AWS STS) to issue temporary credentials
Task Statement 4.2: Design, implement, and troubleshoot authorization for AWS resources.
Knowledge of:
- Different IAM policies (for example, managed policies, inline policies, identity-based policies, resource-based policies, session control policies)
- Components and impact of a policy (for example, Principal, Action, Resource, Condition)
- How to troubleshoot authorization issues (for example, by using CloudTrail, IAM Access Advisor, and IAM policy simulator)
Skills in:
- Constructing attribute-based access control (ABAC) and role-based access control (RBAC) strategies
- Evaluating IAM policy types for given requirements and workloads
- Interpreting an IAM policy’s effect on environments and workloads
- Applying the principle of least privilege across an environment
- Enforcing proper separation of duties
- Analyzing access or authorization errors to determine cause or effect
- Investigating unintended permissions, authorization, or privileges granted to a resource, service, or entity
Domain 5: Data Protection
Task Statement 5.1: Design and implement controls that provide confidentiality and integrity for data in transit.
Knowledge of:
- TLS concepts
- VPN concepts (for example, IPsec)
- Secure remote access methods (for example, SSH, RDP over Systems Manager Session Manager)
- Systems Manager Session Manager concepts
- How TLS certificates work with various network services and resources (for example, CloudFront, load balancers)
Skills in:
- Designing secure connectivity between AWS and on-premises networks (for example, by using Direct Connect and VPN gateways)
- Designing mechanisms to require encryption when connecting to resources (for example, Amazon RDS, Amazon Redshift, CloudFront, Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, load balancers, Amazon Elastic File System [Amazon EFS], Amazon API Gateway)
- Requiring TLS for AWS API calls (for example, with Amazon S3)
- Designing mechanisms to forward traffic over secure connections (for example, by using Systems Manager and EC2 Instance Connect)
- Designing cross-Region networking by using private VIFs and public VIFs
Task Statement 5.2: Design and implement controls that provide confidentiality and integrity for data at rest.
Knowledge of:
- Encryption technique selection (for example, client-side, server-side, symmetric, asymmetric)
- Integrity-checking techniques (for example, hashing algorithms, digital signatures)
- Resource policies (for example, for DynamoDB, Amazon S3, and AWS Key Management Service [AWS KMS])
- IAM roles and policies
Skills in:
- Designing resource policies to restrict access to authorized users (for example, S3 bucket policies, DynamoDB policies)
- Designing mechanisms to prevent unauthorized public access (for example, S3 Block Public Access, prevention of public snapshots and public AMIs)
- Configuring services to activate encryption of data at rest (for example, Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, DynamoDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service [Amazon SQS], Amazon EBS, Amazon EFS)
- Designing mechanisms to protect data integrity by preventing modifications (for example, by using S3 Object Lock, KMS key policies, S3 Glacier Vault Lock, and AWS Backup Vault Lock)
- Designing encryption at rest by using AWS CloudHSM for relationaldatabases (for example, Amazon RDS, RDS Custom, databases on EC2 instances)
- Choosing encryption techniques based on business requirements
Task Statement 5.3: Design and implement controls to manage the lifecycle of data at rest.
Knowledge of:
- Lifecycle policies
- Data retention standards
Skills in:
- Designing S3 Lifecycle mechanisms to retain data for required retention periods (for example, S3 Object Lock, S3 Glacier Vault Lock, S3 Lifecycle policy)
- Designing automatic lifecycle management for AWS services and resources (for example, Amazon S3, EBS volume snapshots, RDS volume snapshots, AMIs, container images, CloudWatch log groups, Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager)
- Establishing schedules and retention for AWS Backup across AWS services
Task Statement 5.4: Design and implement controls to protect credentials, secrets, and cryptographic key materials.
Knowledge of:
- Secrets Manager
- Systems Manager Parameter Store
- Usage and management of symmetric keys and asymmetric keys (for example, AWS KMS)
Skills in:
- Designing management and rotation of secrets for workloads (for example, database access credentials, API keys, IAM access keys, AWS KMS customer managed keys)
- Designing KMS key policies to limit key usage to authorized users
- Establishing mechanisms to import and remove customer-provided key material
Domain 6: Management and Security Governance
Task Statement 6.1: Develop a strategy to centrally deploy and manage AWS accounts.
Knowledge of:
- Multi-account strategies
- Managed services that allow delegated administration
- Policy-defined guardrails
- Root account best practices
- Cross-account roles
Skills in:
- Deploying and configuring AWS Organizations
- Determining when and how to deploy AWS Control Tower (for example,
which services must be deactivated for successful deployment) - Implementing SCPs as a technical solution to enforce a policy (for example,
limitations on the use of a root account, implementation of controls in AWS
Control Tower) - Centrally managing security services and aggregating findings (for example,
by using delegated administration and AWS Config aggregators) - Securing AWS account root user credentials
Task Statement 6.2: Implement a secure and consistent deployment strategy for cloud resources.
Knowledge of:
- Deployment best practices with infrastructure as code (IaC) (for example,
AWS CloudFormation template hardening and drift detection) - Best practices for tagging
- Centralized management, deployment, and versioning of AWS services
- Visibility and control over AWS infrastructure
Skills in:
- Using CloudFormation to deploy cloud resources consistently and securely
- Implementing and enforcing multi-account tagging strategies
- Configuring and deploying portfolios of approved AWS services (for example, by using AWS Service Catalog)
- Organizing AWS resources into different groups for management
- Deploying Firewall Manager to enforce policies
- Securely sharing resources across AWS accounts (for example, by using AWS Resource Access Manager [AWS RAM])
Task Statement 6.3: Evaluate the compliance of AWS resources.
Knowledge of:
- Data classification by using AWS services
- How to assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of AWS resources (for example, by using AWS Config)
Skills in:
- Identifying sensitive data by using Macie
- Creating AWS Config rules for detection of noncompliant AWS resources
- Collecting and organizing evidence by using Security Hub and AWS Audit Manager
Task Statement 6.4: Identify security gaps through architectural reviews and cost analysis.
Knowledge of:
- AWS cost and usage for anomaly identification
- Strategies to reduce attack surfaces
- AWS Well-Architected Framework
Skills in:
- Identifying anomalies based on resource utilization and trends
- Identifying unused resources by using AWS services and tools (for example, AWS Trusted Advisor, AWS Cost Explorer)
- Using the AWS Well-Architected Tool to identify security gaps
AWS Cheat Sheet
The AWS cheat sheet incorporates the list of basic terms in the AWS landscape. The basic terms include AWS services and information about AWS and cloud computing. Any AWS terminology cheat sheet would include details about AWS (Amazon Web Services) and cloud computing.
Cloud Computing and Services
The AWS cheat sheet provides details about cloud computing and its different forms. Cloud computing is like using the internet for computing, with many remote servers. It’s helpful for storing data centrally and accessing computer services. Cloud computing mainly comes in three types: public, private, and hybrid cloud.
- First things first, the public cloud comprises a third-party service distributor giving resources and services to customers through the internet.
- After this, the private cloud involves the provision and management of resources and services specifically for a particular company.
- Subsequently, a hybrid cloud is an amalgamation of both public and private cloud traits.
AWS Influence
AWS influence plays an essential role in the formation of the AWS Cloud Practitioner cheat sheet. This helps to achieve a clear and better insight into the upshot of AWS and its potential trends in the near future. Nowadays, almost every association with a computer could have a use case relevant to AWS services. This is a clear indication that AWS is a trustworthy alternative for conventional solutions such as with S3 Glacier.
Initially started as a cloud-based solution for storage and computing services, AWS is now applicable to almost every area such as databases, business productivity, virtual desktops, IoT development, machine learning, and analytics. Furthermore, AWS offers better adaptability for the growth of startups with limited resources for funding traditional datacenter deployments.
AWS Region, AZs, Edge locations
One of the essential phrases in the AWS glossary is the AWS regions. These entries in the AWS cheat sheet notify about all crucial aspects of the AWS landscape.
- First thing first, every region is a separate geographic area, completely independent, isolated from the other regions. Also, helps in achieving the greatest possible fault tolerance and stability.
- Secondly, the interaction between regions is across the public Internet.
- Subsequently, all-regions have multiple Availability Zones.
- After this, each and every AZ is actually isolated, geographically separated from each other and outlined as an independent failure zone
- Moreover, AZs are united with low-latency private links (not public internet)
AWS Services
- Compute
- Storage
- Database
- Developer Tools
- Security, Identity, & Compliance
- Cryptography & PKI
- Machine Learning
- Management & Governance
- Migration & Transfer
- Mobile
- Networking & Content Delivery
- Media Services
- End-User Computing
- Analytics
- Application Integration
- Business Applications
- Satellite
- Robotics
- Blockchain
- Game Development
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Customer Enablement Services
- Customer Engagement
- AR & VR
- SDKs & Toolkits
- General Reference
- AWS Management Console
- Additional Resources
Expert’s Corner
To conclude, AWS is a strong pillar that can help you produce a stable career in the field of Information Technology. There is nothing wrong to say that AWS certification is a great opportunity to enhance your skills and experience. It not only provides you a reputed position in your company but also offers you higher pay in comparison to your other peers.
The above article featuring AWS Certified Security-Specialty is an initiative taken in consideration of the increasing demand for the exam. The article addresses every important detail which is of supreme importance. Although, the exam is not tough as it mainly covers features and services which you would have used in your day to day working on AWS or services which have a clear demarcation of their purpose. All you need is a focussed mindset and proper preparation to sweep through the exam easily.
Still got questions? Feel free to ask. We would love to hear from you.
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