CCNP R&S or Security?

Sweece

Hey everyone,
So my career goal is to be a Network Security Engineer. I want to work with firewalls, VPNs, IPS/IDS, etc and I want to do more blue team work defending and protecting the network. I'm currently scheduled for my CCNA R&S but after that I want to specialize in Security. Does it make more sense to go for the CCNA sec and and then CCNP sec after my CCNA R&S or should I got for the CCNP R&S? I really want to understand the basics of routing and switching but I really want to specialize in security. I currently hold the Sec+ and will eventually get the CISSP. I've seen fellow coworkers go straight for the Security on the CCNP level and it opened many opportunities for them. What do you think?

atippett

Blue team work and configuring firewalls, VPNs, etc are two totally different skillsets. It is highly unlikely you will get a position where you are performing both duties. If you do, it will be for a very small company (not saying that's bad, just a heads up). Blue team work you need to be able to detect intrusions, conduct incident response, able to read a variety of different logs, analyze pcap for malicious activity, etc.

But, if you want to get into a position with configuring firewalls, VPNs, then I would go with CCNP Security.

mbarrett

CCNP R/S would be a lot of time spent not focused on firewall, IDS/IPS, VPN, etc. If that's your primary goal, then you might even consider skipping CCNA R/S and doing CCENT -> CCNA Security, since the NA Security is required for the NP Security. NA R/S is a good skillset for any network engineer, but it's different than working with security gear.
Blue Team - the NP Sec is great technical skillset for this job, but any NP-level Cisco cert is probably going to be overkill for what any Blue team would require, or at least would only be useful in a narrow area of their entire scope of work. I'm not sure if CISSP will get you closer to Blue team work, but it can't hurt if you are making a career in cyber security.

E Double U

Sweece wrote: »

I've seen fellow coworkers go straight for the Security on the CCNP level and it opened many opportunities for them. What do you think?

I think it is obvious.

NetworkNewb

E Double U wrote: »

I think it is obvious.

Exactly! Good luck on your CCNP R&S studies!