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Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) — Requirements & Free Practice

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Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)

ISC2 certification of cloud security knowledge, skills and abilities, requiring examination passage and the applicable experience and certification application conditions.

Licensing authority: ISC2 · Application information

Initial by examination
CCSP Exam
Background
Acknowledge ISC2 candidate background standards concerning criminal convictions or pending charges, criminal computer activity and professional discipline or revocation. The criminal-history question excludes misdemeanors, minor traffic violations and juvenile cases; a sealed or removed conviction does not affect eligibility. A yes answer may affect eligibility rather than automatically disqualifying a candidate; obtain ISC2 legal clearance for the particular situation, preferably before scheduling. This is an eligibility condition, not an additional examination.
Certification Application
After receiving successful-exam notification, complete the certification application process within nine months of the exam date. Experience must be endorsed by an ISC2 certified professional in good standing; ISC2 may endorse when the applicant does not know one, with proof of employment required for ISC2 endorsement. ISC2 may audit applications and require further verification.
Date Applicability
The exam page explicitly adopts the August 1, 2026 outline and presents it as current. No separate effective beginning or closing date is published for this credential or initial route; those boundaries remain null rather than using the investigation date.
Ethics
Commit to and fully support the ISC2 Code of Ethics as part of the certification process.
Exam Before Experience
A person lacking the required experience can pass the same CCSP examination and become an Associate of ISC2, with six years to earn the required five years. This does not confer the CCSP credential upon exam passage and is not a second exam requirement.
Experience
At least five years cumulative full-time IT experience, including three years in cybersecurity and one year in one or more of the six current CCSP outline domains.
Experience Accounting
Full-time experience accrues monthly with at least 35 hours per week for four weeks per month. Part-time work of 20–34 hours per week counts, with 1040 hours equivalent to six full-time months and 2080 hours to twelve months. Paid or unpaid internships count with documentation on organization letterhead or, for a school internship, registrar stationery.
Experience Substitutions
A post-secondary bachelors or masters degree in computer science, IT or related fields may satisfy up to one year; CSA CCSK can substitute for one year. Only one year can be waived by education or that certificate. Separately, an active CISSP credential may substitute for the entire CCSP experience requirement. These are experience substitutions, not CCSP examination waivers; no other credential or examination entity is created.
Initial Fee
After application approval pay the first Annual Maintenance Fee; existing ISC2 certification holders do not pay an additional AMF for the latest certification. Only the initial certification condition is recorded; renewals are excluded.

CCSP Exam

Provider
Pearson VUE Testing Center
Format
Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT); multiple choice and advanced item types; English
Exam questions
Total questions: 100–150; Scored questions: 75–125; Unscored questions: 25; The total includes the scored and unscored questions.
Time limit
3 hours
Passing score
700 out of 1000 points
Examination outline
  • Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design (17%)
    • Understand cloud computing concepts
    • Describe cloud reference architecture
    • Understand security concepts relevant to cloud computing
    • Understand design principles of secure cloud computing
    • Evaluate Cloud Service Providers (CSP)
    • Comprehend Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML)
  • Cloud Data Security (20%)
    • Describe cloud data concepts
    • Design and implement cloud data storage architectures
    • Design and apply data security technologies and strategies
    • Implement data discovery
    • Plan and implement data classification
    • Design and implement Information Rights Management (IRM)
    • Plan and implement data retention, deletion and archiving policies
    • Design and implement auditability, traceability and accountability of data events
    • Comprehend data protection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) data
  • Cloud Platform and Infrastructure Security (17%)
    • Comprehend cloud infrastructure components
    • Design a secure data center
    • Analyze risks associated with cloud infrastructure and platforms
    • Plan and implementation of security controls
    • Plan Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR)
  • Cloud Application Security (16%)
    • Advocate training and awareness for application security
    • Describe the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process
    • Apply the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
    • Apply cloud software assurance and validation
    • Use verified secure software
    • Comprehend and apply the specifics of cloud application architecture
    • Design appropriate Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions
  • Cloud Security Operations (17%)
    • Build and implement physical and logical infrastructure for cloud environment
    • Operate and maintain physical and logical infrastructure for cloud environment
    • Implement operational controls and standards
    • Support digital forensics
    • Manage communication with relevant parties
    • Manage security operations
  • Legal, Risk and Compliance (13%)
    • Articulate legal requirements and unique risks within the cloud environment
    • Understand privacy requirements
    • Understand audit processes, methodologies, and required adaptations for a cloud environment
    • Understand implications of cloud to enterprise risk management
    • Understand outsourcing and cloud contract design
Examination sources