Security+ straight to CISSP

dhay13

So i will be taking my security+ test in the next week or two then plans to do the CISSP. how helpful is it to do them back-to-back, giving a little time in between to prepare? i would assume there would be some loss of retention if you waited 6 months.

or an i further ahead to set my sights on the CASP or something else before the CISSP?

TechGuru80

How much experience do you actually have? Security+ is routinely passed by newbies but CISSP requires experience to fall back on.

TechGromit

dhay13 wrote: »

how helpful is it to do them back-to-back, giving a little time in between to prepare?

Not sure what you mean taking them back to back. the CISSP is a good 6 to 9 month commitment of studying to ensure a pass. I've heard people with strong IT backgrounds passing it with less, but I don't think your going to get away with anything less then 3 months of committed preparation.

dhay13

yeah...i meant that i would start preparing right away and hope to take it by the end of this year. as far as experience, i have a A.A.S.-Computer Forensics & Security, as well as a B.S.-Information Technology. i also was a systems admin for 4 years and now a systems security engineer for the past year. i'm confident i could pass the security+ tomorrow but i want to finish my study materials first so likely next week or the week after.

i did the A+ and network+ in 2010 then kind of fell off the cert bandwagon. i just recently decided to get back at it to progress my career

Danielm7

As long as your sysadmin roles file into the qualifications I'd say go for it. There is a tiny bit of overlap in the technical areas but a large portion of the test is completely different than the Sec+. I went from sysadmin > security like you, did the sec+ a few years ago, passed the CISSP a few months ago. Check the CISSP forum here for tons of info from the passed threads on study methods and materials.

636-555-3226

It's been a few years since I did Sec+ & CISSP, but back then they weren't exactly complementary. Same general "security" topics, but it's not like Security+ would set you up to take the CISSP within a few weeks. I'd consider them totally separate tests and plan accordingly (but definitely take Sec+ first)

dhay13

Thanks. thats kind of what i was getting at....how much overlap. if there was quite a bit then i would probably be better off going straight into it. i still plan to do this fairly soon.

as far as the required experience for CISSP goes. i did armed security for 10 years and worked in law enforcement for 6. as part of my security details i had to physically secure buildings as well as grant physical access to buildings. i'm not sure that would count though. as far as my sys admin experience, i handled AD, creating/disabling user accounts, creating GPO's, file permissions, creating AD groups, and all of that fun stuff. i had about 3.5 years of doing that. my current role i scan servers for vulnerabilities using nessus and remediate any findings. i have been doing that for 1 year.

based on that i would think i have the required 4 years (i also have a B.S. in IT) for the CISSP