Study Lab setup for CISSP

gmccoy

Hello,

I am currently delving into the CISSP studies and have a couple questions.
I have a strong background in IT mainly Tier Tech II. Have some server, networking experience including certs in MCP, Network+. I know, nothing major Rolling Eyes

What labs or material if any would you recommended in aiding "hands on" study for the CISSP?

Will be using All in one By Shon Harris and watching a lot of CBT videos.

Any advice is much appreciated.

emerald_octane

Lab?

Understand that this is not a technical cert ala CCNA, Network+.

This is strictly managerial. The most technical topics you will get into are about network wiring (telecommunications domain), Crypto and maybe security architecture.

If you want the "Lab" experience then just go on NIST, CERT and other like forums and start reading up on infosec jargon and what not, but that's definitely in no way required for the exam.

See the thickness of the Shon book? That's what the issue is. There is alot of material to cover. But don't cover too much. Many people use multiple sources, but if you just study one well (or use the book + cbt) then you should be all right. You have heavy IT background, how about disaster recovery planning, or how confidentiality , integrity and availability affect our day to day operations.

cyberguypr

Welcome to TE.

I'm not sure how useful a lab would be for the CISSP given that most of the topics covered in the CBK are discussed at very high level. The cert is aimed at not so fancy stuff like business drivers behind security, policy development, etc. The technical parts just scratches the surface and doesn't go into specifics. Quoting from danielmiessler.com "The CISSP isn’t aimed at testing someone’s ability to program their Linksys router, it’s aimed at testing someone’s ability to think about the philosophy of security." I'm finding very difficult to come up with a scenario where a lab would be useful.

I think your time would be better spent going through the Harris/ISC2/Conrad books, videos and question engines such as studISCope or cccure.org.

gmccoy

Great...thanks for the advice. I think joining CISSP Meetup groups would be a benefit to as well.

Again thanks for your feedback.

captchaguy

gmccoy wrote: »

Hello,

I am currently delving into the CISSP studies and have a couple questions.
I have a strong background in IT mainly Tier Tech II. Have some server, networking experience including certs in MCP, Network+. I know, nothing major Rolling Eyes

What labs or material if any would you recommended in aiding "hands on" study for the CISSP?

Will be using All in one By Shon Harris and watching a lot of CBT videos.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Hi gmccoy,

Here are my two cents:

I have recently passed CISM and I have registered for CISSP (15-Dec-2012). I have decided to adhere to a plan for CISSP - the same plan that worked for CISM (considering that both the certs have a strong mgmt focus).

a) I booked the exam in July 2012 and kick started the prep for CISSP (More to get the clock ticking and induce seriousness).
b) Ordered the OIG v2 and decided to read it end-to-end at least once (Rationale behind this: Starting with the official exam content will be beneficial and the chance to miss pointers is minimum)
c) Ordered AIO v5 and planned to read it end-to-end at least once after I complete OIG (Rationale behind this: this book feels like a novel, fun way to learn things - and I feel that there wont be much left to comprehend after a complete OIG read. But I chose to read this because only one book cannot imbibe you with all the knowl for CISSP)
d) Practice the questions in the bundled disks.
e) cccure.org is referred by many as a very good source for practice. Will be a good way to practice more qns. (My budget doesn't allow me to go for istudy scope pack !, but it is discussed that the scoring algorithm in use is the same as that in the actual test, so please go grab the ISC2 practice tests if your budget permits)

One most imp thing that I noticed while talking CISM is that more than the content, the point of view in which the question is written and while solving the question the school of thought of the examination body are very important.

The solution? ---- Practice as much as possible.

Senior members, please correct me if I am mistaken in this thought process and the study plan.


Best Regards
CAPTCHAguy