Are you a security specialist looking to broaden your horizons? Or a tech aspirant wondering how you can kick start your journey into the security architecture or AWS domain? Which AWS certification will best suit your career milestone in the evolving cloud landscape?
The AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification is the one-stop answer for all. Read this blog to know the significance of the AWS security specialty exam, how it differs from other high-impact AWS certifications, and how it fits into your career needs.
Let’s dive in.
An overview of AWS Certified Security Specialty certification
The AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification (SCS-C02 exam) helps you gain skills for operating security roles for the AWS environment. It validates your ability to show expertise in securing AWS services and products and perform critical tasks like:
- Classify specialized data and implement AWS data protection mechanisms.
- Deploy data encryption methods and AWS mechanisms to put them into action.
- Handle AWS security services and features and ensure a robust production infrastructure.
- Make decisions to reduce cost and enhance security and deployment to meet app requirements.
- Identify security operation risks.
To be eligible for the AWS Certified Security Speciality exam, you must have at least 3-5 years of experience designing and deploying security solutions. Also, you must have at least two years of experience working with AWS workload security. Some of the AWS mandatory skills for the certification are:
- AWS shared responsibility model and how to apply it
- AWS services and deploying cloud solutions
- Security controls for AWS infrastructure and workloads
- Monitoring and logging strategies
- Security automation and vulnerability management
- Integrating AWS security services with third-party solutions
- Disaster recovery controls and backup strategies
- Key management and cryptography
- Identity access management
- Troubleshooting security issues
- Organizational compliance and multi-account governance
- Incident response strategies and threat detection
Regarding the certification details, the exam is 170 minutes long and contains 65 questions in multiple choice and multiple options. It will cost you 300 USD and is valid for three years. The exam covers six domains, each carrying a significant weightage in the exam
Is AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification Worth It?
The AWS Certified Security Specialty certification equips you with a wealth of practical skills and knowledge. You’ll delve into the intricacies of securing cloud environments, protecting organizations from data theft and breaches, and balancing costs and complexity.
You’ll also learn how to manage sensitive apps within a popular cloud environment, paving the way for you to tackle dynamic projects confidently.
Second, SCS-C02 is the easiest way to introduce and produce your products and services. You gain deep expertise in handling and scaling AWS solutions and how to make them robust by ensuring holistic protection. Top organizations rely on AWS services and products to carry out daily operations, so you will have innumerable scope to work with the leading players and elevate your career.
Additionally, SCS-C02 is one of the best milestones you can have for your career. This can be the perfect starting point if you are already an AWS professional and want to explore the domain more. Also, professionals with expertise in other cloud infrastructures who wish to enter AWS can consider this certification to enhance their knowledge and add an edge to their experience.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs other AWS certifications
What makes AWS Certified Specialty Certification different from other AWS certifications?
Basically, the former stands out mainly if you focus on advancing your career in cloud security. It will differ in terms of benefits, prior requirements to be eligible for the exam, the focus of the course’s curriculum, and more. Here’s a quick snapshot of how SCS-C02 differs from other AWS exams.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs Other AWS Certification: Focus
The AWS Certified Security Specialty certification focuses on the crucial aspects of security architecture, data protection, incident response, logging, and identity management within AWS environments.
On the other hand, the domains of other certifications like AWS Certified Developer Associate will highlight more about building and designing applications, ensuring continuous delivery automation, monitoring, security, and governance.
Similarly, if you are into solution architecture, the AWS certification will teach you how to design cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable systems. It will also differ from other specialty certifications like data analytics that outline data collection, storage, processing, analysis, visualization, and security. Each certification sheds light on unique expertise areas, helping you master the skills that align with your career aspirations and industry demands.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs Other AWS Certification: Roles and Responsibilities
The SCS-C02 exam equips you to take on responsibilities such as safeguarding security architecture, ensuring data protection, managing incident responses, overseeing logging activities, and handling identity management within AWS environments.
On the flip side, other certifications like the solutions architect exam are all about designing cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable systems. If you’re into automation and processing, the DevOps cert is your go-to for learning to deliver continuous delivery, automation, monitoring, security, and governance. Each certification has its unique flavor, catering to different interests within AWS environments.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs Other AWS Certification: Benefits
The AWS Certified Security Specialty offers numerous benefits, including AWS security best practices, making you highly valuable for security-focused roles. Meanwhile, the benefits AWS Certified Associate Developer Certification provides a broad understanding of AWS services and solutions, serving as a solid foundation for advanced certifications.
Likewise, if you want to upskill in integrations and deployment, the DevOps engineer course will help you dive into CI/CD, DevOps best practices, and system operations on AWS.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs Other AWS Certification: Salary Outlook
The SCS-C02 exam usually offers lucrative salaries, reflecting the high demand for experts in AWS security and the critical nature of their roles. Based on the level of experience, an
AWS Certified Security Specialists will earn the following:
Entry-level: $81,000 – $100,000
Intermediate: $110,000 – $150,000
Senior: over $150,000
Based on geographies, here’s what the salary would look like: 
On the other hand, an AWS Certified solutions architect considers critical technical tasks like solving scalability issues and integrations with third-party vendors, making it more challenging, meaning you will be promised a good salary. Here’s what their salary looks like:
Entry-level: $80,000 – $120,000
Mid-level: $120,000 – $180,000
Senior: $180,000+
(While exact figures can fluctuate, this is the general idea based on available data)
Similarly, other specialty certifications like Data Analytics give competitive salaries due to the increasing importance of data-driven decision-making and the specialized skills required for data analytics.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs Other AWS Certification: Job Outlook
The AWS certified security specialty certification establishes you as an expert with in-depth knowledge in securing AWS environments. The focused expertise combined with the ever-increasing significance of cloud security is leading to a robust job market in the days to come. According to Glassdoor, the salary for an AWS Certified Security engineer can go as high as $112,000 for professionals with one year of experience and can be as high as $182,000 for those with more than 15 years of experience.
Compared to other AWS certifications:
- The growing complexity of cloud infrastructure and increasing theft and breaches have amplified the need for security specialists. This will drive the demand for professionals with this cert.
- With the specialized nature of this role and the high demand, Security specialty certified candidates will command higher salaries than other AWS certs.
- The certification also serves as a stepping stone for further high-impact, senior roles like chief information officer (CIO), chief information security officer (CISO), and more.
AWS Certified Security Specialty Certification vs Other AWS Certification: Future Scope
While other AWS certifications offer valuable skills, they focus more on providing a broader cloud architecture or operations that may or may not address the increasing security challenges. However, those courses may complement the AWS certified security specialty certification by helping you get a holistic view of cloud infrastructure.
On the other hand, the future of cloud computing is inextricably linked to the expanding domain of security measures. As more companies adopt cloud technologies, the complexity of their IT environment is growing, making cloud protection a major concern. This trend will not only elevate the future scope of the certification but also allow you to excel in the career ladder.
Conclusion
Hope this blog helps you understand the nuances of AWS certified security specialty certification and explore how it differs from the rest of the certification. While all AWS certifications significantly enhance your career prospects, security specialty certification will complement your existing skill set while making you industry-ready to handle the real-world challenges relating to cloud security and data protection.
But before diving deeper into the future scope, it’s vital to remember that the certification would need a deep understanding of the AWS environment and learn to leverage AWS sources to build a robust fort for your applications. The best way to upskill yourself is to get the updated training material for the AWS certification, like Whizlabs. We bring you nuanced training material for the SCS-C02 exam, including practice papers with unique questions and exhaustive answers, video lectures by industry experts, hands-on labs, and a sandbox to sharpen your practical skills and experiment in the isolated cloud infrastructure.
Want to find out which AWS certification best fits your needs? Talk to our consultants today.
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