What is CCNA Cyber Ops like?

Raymond Mason

I noticed it just the other day, what is it like? how new is it? Is it a completely different path from the other ones?

TechGuru80

"The CCNA Cyber Ops certification prepares candidates to begin a career working with associate-level cybersecurity analysts within security operations centers."

Security Operation Centers (SOCs) deal with incident response, forensics, threat hunting...unlike other Cisco tracks that focus on the engineering aspects of a network, which include actually configuring infrastructure.

So far they have only released a CCNA level certification but I assume if it goes well, they will build onto it.

The certification was released last year if I recall correctly, thus it is very new. Lucky for Cisco, they have the name to put behind the certification and loyal followers. I say this because the InfoSec certification space is much more crowded than regular IT because there are certifications on network monitoring, forensics, penetration testing, and many other aspects...not just a few vendors with pretty straight forward paths such as System vs Network.

Raymond Mason

Interesting, so for now it just compliments any other certifications you have? This seems like a pretty cool path to go down if they ever advanced it anymore.

volfkhat

TechGuru80 wrote: »

I say this because the InfoSec certification space is much more crowded than regular IT because there are certifications on network monitoring, forensics, penetration testing, and many other aspects...not just a few vendors with pretty straight forward paths such as System vs Network.

I'd say it's just another Cisco money-grab.

But i think your description is more palatable :]

spicy ahi

Am I reading the Cisco site correctly in that there are no pre-reqs for this cert?

9bits

spicy ahi wrote: »

Am I reading the Cisco site correctly in that there are no pre-reqs for this cert?

That's correct. It's completely self-contained.

RichAsskikr

Although its self-contained, would this still re-certify your/my existing CCNA certs?


Also, I noticed on the Cisco site, under the Recertification section for CCNA certs, it specifies "Pass any current Associate-level exam except for the ICND1 exam...".

Would passing one of the Cyber-Ops exams qualify for re-certification... or is this a typo, and they actually mean "Pass any current Associate-level CERT..."?

atippett

RichAsskikr wrote: »

Although its self-contained, would this still re-certify your/my existing CCNA certs?


Also, I noticed on the Cisco site, under the Recertification section for CCNA certs, it specifies "Pass any current Associate-level exam except for the ICND1 exam...".

Would passing one of the Cyber-Ops exams qualify for re-certification... or is this a typo, and they actually mean "Pass any current Associate-level CERT..."?

Although I haven't had my Cisco certs for 3 years so I haven't had to renew them yet, I would assume its EXAM. For example, if you wanted to renew your Security and Wireless, you would only need to pass one of the exams to the CCNA Cloud certification. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

p@r0tuXus

According to this link: Overview - Training & Certifications - Cisco


It looks like there are no requirements for the CCNA CyberOps, but it doesn't look like the first test would renew any other certs. I'm not sure about renewing the CCENT. I wouldn't think so. However, the CCNA CyberOps is an associate level cert, so I'd imagine that passing the exam would renew any other CCNA (probably even CCENT) certs.

RichAsskikr

It does specify "Pass any current Associate-level exam except for the ICND1 exam...", which implies to me that you can get away with just doing ICND2 (a single exam) to recertify your CCNA.

I would assume you could do the same by doing one of the Cyber Ops exams?!

I'm thinking about doing the Cyber Ops exams anyway to renew, as this is also inline with my current Security-based career path, so i'll let you know when I pass the first exam

orcwar

Could anyone confirm this - Can I just answer 210-250 SECFND and it will renew my CCNA R&S ?

OctalDump

Ask in a couple of months when I've passed SECFND.

adrenaline19

I'm new to the Cisco exam setup. The cyber-ops track says no prereq. Does that mean, I don't need the CCNET or CCNA R&S to take this path?

I thought you needed CCNA R&S to go after any other CCNA exam. I'm confused.

Will Cyber Ops also test things that are on the R&S CCNA or ask CCNET questions?

trojin

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Will Cyber Ops also test things that are on the R&S CCNA or ask CCNET questions?

No, but some network knowledge is required

OctalDump

adrenaline19 wrote: »

I thought you needed CCNA R&S to go after any other CCNA exam. I'm confused.

Absolutely not. There are some CCNA tracks which share the CCENT with CCNA R+S, but you can complete any track as a stand alone. I actually completed the CCNA Security before the CCNA Routing and Switching. But there is usually some overlap.

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Will Cyber Ops also test things that are on the R&S CCNA or ask CCNET questions?

The CCNA Cyber Ops will test what's on the CCNA Cyber Ops. There is some overlap, but it will not test anything outside of what is in CCNA Cyber Ops.

Priston

orcwar wrote: »

Could anyone confirm this - Can I just answer 210-250 SECFND and it will renew my CCNA R&S ?

Yes it will renew your CCNA.

Pass any current Associate-level exam except for ICND1 exam

Entry-level exams are 1XX-XXX (Which is why ICND1 won't recerify you)
Associate-level exams are 2XX-XXX
Professional-level exams are 3XX-XXX
Expert-level exams are 4XX-XXX

liz4rd

I'm currently studying this through scholarship. I passed the first exam SECFND last month and that alone renewed my CCNA R/S. I plan to take SECOPS later this month.

shawnx715

liz4rd wrote: »

I'm currently studying this through scholarship. I passed the first exam SECFND last month and that alone renewed my CCNA R/S. I plan to take SECOPS later this month.

What are your thoughts on the first exam?

adrenaline19

What books have you all been using for this exam? It looks really new, so what material is out there? I couldn't find much.

stryder144

They just published the first book, SECFND 210-250, last month. The next book, SECOPS 210-255, will be released later this month. They have released Omar Santos' videos for the exams. If you are part of the Cisco scholarship they give you access to web pages of text, videos, practice quizzes, and labs. Once you finish the everything, you can apply for the exam vouchers.

orcwar

Thanks Priston - I also got an official confirmation from Cisco:

"Thank you for contacting the Cisco Certification and Communities Support Team.

We received your case concerning CCNA Routing and Switching recertification.

Upon checking, 210-250 SECFND, which is a associate level exam, will renew your CCNA Routing and Switching certificate once your passed it. Please be advised that you must take and passed the exam on or before the expiration date of your certificate."

So that settles it - Time to check out Omar Santos's book and videos on Safari online.

adrenaline19

Are there sim questions related to the first exam? I saw that there is a lot of sim stuff in the second exam, but I can't tell if the first exam has any.

What's supposed to be more difficult; CCNA Security or the CCNA Cyber Ops?

RichAsskikr

As per my previous post (and other posts afterwards), I did the SECFND exam yesterday.... and can confirm it HAS renewed my CCENT, CCNA R&S/Security/Wireless certs til 2020 (as expected).

Tyb

I do have one question, is the Pearson practice test that is included with the book any good? It is pretty easy and I don't want to go into the test overconfident and under prepared.

stryder144

Tyb wrote: »

I do have one question, is the Pearson practice test that is included with the book any good? It is pretty easy and I don't want to go into the test overconfident and under prepared.

A few things:

1. I haven't taken the SECFND exam yet, I do have the Pearson/Cisco Press practice exams, books, and videos, and I had access to the Cisco Scholarship materials.
2. The CyberOps Facebook page had a post where someone mentioned that the practice exams were helpful. I don't recall which exam he was referring to.
3. Based on my previous access to the scholarship materials and my review of the SECFND book and practice tests, I would say that the practice tests ask questions that track well with the material provided by Cisco. As I've read in several locations that the SECFND training materials provided by Cisco were enough to pass the exam, and seeing as the practice exams track well with the materials, I would guess that at if you are scoring well with the SECFND practice exams then you should be good-to-go to attempt the SECFND exam.

I am taking my time to take the practice exams and cross-reference them with the book and the videos (only what I don't know or don't feel as comfortable with). I am planning to take the exam on 31 July, if all goes well, and the SECOPS exam by the end of August.

Good luck!

Ertaz

Tyb wrote: »

I do have one question, is the Pearson practice test that is included with the book any good? It is pretty easy and I don't want to go into the test overconfident and under prepared.

Well, I didn't read the appendixes of the SECOPS book before I took the exam. They are a worthwhile read. I got to request a second voucher from the scholarship folks. Know your REGEX, VERIS, and know the Diamond Model of Intrusion. I cleaned house the second try

trojin

Tyb wrote: »

I do have one question, is the Pearson practice test that is included with the book any good? It is pretty easy and I don't want to go into the test overconfident and under prepared.

SECFND - some questions with wrong answers, misspelling and used problematic wording or sentence construction. They update them quite often so current version is slightly beter
SECOPS - I found them close to useless. There is very high number of mistakes. Lot of screenshots from applications not covered in course

davidspirovalentine

Ertaz wrote: »

Well, I didn't read the appendixes of the SECOPS book before I took the exam. They are a worthwhile read. I got to request a second voucher from the scholarship folks. Know your REGEX, VERIS, and know the Diamond Model of Intrusion. I cleaned house the second try

Did they give you a second voucher? That's awesome if they did!

Just a quick question on the things that are missing. I'm sitting the SECOPS in two weeks (my cohort ends Oct 20th). I've read a lot of people are saying the material isn't enough to prepare well for the exam. In your opinion how true is this?

In addition to the official courseware I've got some solid REGEX references and copies of the 800-86 and 800-61r2 NIST documents. Is there anything else you recommend?

What are you studying now?

Ertaz

davidspirovalentine wrote: »

Did they give you a second voucher? That's awesome if they did!

Just a quick question on the things that are missing. I'm sitting the SECOPS in two weeks (my cohort ends Oct 20th). I've read a lot of people are saying the material isn't enough to prepare well for the exam. In your opinion how true is this?

In addition to the official courseware I've got some solid REGEX references and copies of the 800-86 and 800-61r2 NIST documents. Is there anything else you recommend?

What are you studying now?

They did give me a second voucher. I've heard that they've given up to 3. My suggestion to you would be to hit the Veris stuff and ask your self questions around it's practical implementation. I'm on a break and just now starting back up on the MCSE.