CCNP R&S or Security?

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?

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Comments

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!