AWS Security Specialty
AWS Certified Security — Specialty (SCS-C02)
Deep AWS security: IAM, data protection, detection, incident response within AWS primitives.
› Quality score
Four-axis SecProve rubric, each 0–10. SecProve editorial assessment — each axis carries a written justification so you can push back on any single call without dismissing the whole score.
› Market signals
public, citable inputs to the recognition scoreAWS doesn't publish per-cert counts; widely cited on AWS-heavy security listings.
› Built for these roles
› Exam format
65 questions (multiple-choice + multiple-response) over 170 minutes, English plus several other languages. Pearson VUE in person or online proctored.
› Recertification
Recertify by passing the current version of the exam (or any higher-tier AWS cert) within three years. No CPE program, no maintenance fee.
› NICE Framework work roles
The NIST NICE work-role IDs this cert maps to. NICCS lookup.
› Core domains covered
The 5 domains this cert is centrally about. Passing the exam demonstrates working knowledge of each.
AWS/Azure/GCP security controls, IAM policies, CSPM, container security, shared responsibility model.
AuthN/AuthZ, SSO, MFA, PAM, RBAC/ABAC, identity governance, FIDO2/passkeys, plus non-human identity: service accounts, workload identity, agent / plugin identities.
Symmetric/asymmetric, PKI, TLS/SSL, hashing, post-quantum cryptography, key management.
SOC operations, SIEM tuning, SOAR playbooks, alert triage, log analysis, runbook development.
SIGMA/YARA/Suricata rule writing, hypothesis-driven hunting, log deep-dives, detection gap analysis.
› Also touched
Present in the blueprint but not the primary focus — you’ll be introduced but shouldn’t expect depth.
Data classification, encryption-at-rest/in-transit, DLP, tokenization, privacy-by-design, plus the regulatory stack (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA) that sets the bar.
Risk frameworks (NIST RMF, ISO 31000, FAIR), policy development, audit, regulatory compliance, third-party risk.
Backup integrity, immutable snapshots, cyber-recovery vaults, restore orchestration, BCM/DR, tabletop exercises, ransom-scenario restoration drills.
› Known coverage gaps
Domains this cert does not meaningfully address. Plan follow-up learning here if your role touches any of them.
› Prerequisites
Five years of IT security experience with two years in AWS security. AWS Solutions Architect Associate / SysOps experience strongly recommended.
- AWS core services (IAM, VPC, KMS, CloudTrail, GuardDuty)
- Cloud security primitives
- Network and data encryption patterns
› Progression
requiredrecommendedWhere this cert fits in the typical learning path. Required edges are vendor-gated; recommended edges reflect de facto industry progression.
No vendor-gated prereqs.
No certs require this one.
No follow-on certs reference this one yet.
› Careers that commonly pursue this cert
Secure cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP. Specialize in the shared responsibility model and cloud-native controls.
A hybrid role growing out of the realisation that SOCs need engineers who understand cloud-native telemetry, IAM-first threat models, and how to instrument AWS/Azure/GCP for detection.
› Common exam traps to study
Cybersecurity cert exams reuse the same 25 distractor patterns over and over — category confusion, RTO vs RPO, IDS vs IPS, MD5 vs SHA-256, and more. Once you can name the trap, you stop falling for it. Each archetype page covers what it is, the specific pairs candidates confuse, and how to avoid it.
See this cert’s domains highlighted on the interactive map, or compare it against the rest of the catalog.