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Compare certifications Pick up to 3 certifications and compare them side-by-side on cost, exam format, recertification, salary signal, quality, and domain coverage.
AWS · professional
AWS CSS Amazon Web Services Certified Security - Specialty
The AWS Security Specialty is AWS's most demanding security certification and requires solid practical experience with AWS workloads. It covers a broad spectrum: from IAM and data encryption to incident response, logging, and compliance. The practical relevance is high; pure textbook candidates typically fail. The certification has high market value potential, as it is regarded as proof of quality for security architects in cloud environments. Important: Version SCS-C02 was superseded in December 2025; SCS-C03 is now current.
Official page ISC2 · professional
CCSP Certified Cloud Security Professional
Cloud security architecture: shared responsibility, identity, data protection, crypto, and cloud-native detection.
Official page Comparing
AWS AWS CSS
ISC2 CCSP
› Cost Annual maintenance fee
—
$135/yr
3-year cost of ownership
$300
$1,004
› Exam mechanics Pass mark
AWS CSS 750/1000 (scaled, ~75%)
CCSP 700/1000 (scaled)
Pass mark
750/1000 (scaled, ~75%)
700/1000 (scaled)
Retake policy
AWS CSS $300 fee · 14d wait
CCSP $599 fee · 30d wait · 4/yr cap
Retake policy
$300 fee · 14d wait
$599 fee · 30d wait · 4/yr cap
Study time
AWS CSS 100–200 hrs
CCSP 100–180 hrs
Study time
100–200 hrs
100–180 hrs
Delivery
AWS CSS mixed
CCSP test center
› Salary signal (US base) Range
AWS CSS $130K – $180K
CCSP $130K – $190K
Range
$130K – $180K
$130K – $190K
Median
AWS CSS $150,000
CCSP $155,000
Role context
AWS CSS Cloud security engineer (AWS-focused), US, 3–5 years.
CCSP Cloud security engineer / architect, US, 4+ years.
Role context
Cloud security engineer (AWS-focused), US, 3–5 years.
Cloud security engineer / architect, US, 4+ years.
› Quality (4-axis rubric · 0–10) › Recognition & lifecycle Recognition
AWS CSS Global
CCSP Global · US · EU · UK · DACH
Recognition
Global
Global · US · EU · UK · DACH
Current version
AWS CSS SCS-C02 (2023-07)
CCSP 2022 CBK refresh (2022-08)
Current version
SCS-C02 (2023-07)
2022 CBK refresh (2022-08)
› Domain coverage A10 Security Operations
·
○ touched
A11 Detection Engineering & Threat Hunting
A11 Detection Engineering & Threat Hunting
·
○ touched
A12 Data Security, Privacy & Protection
A12 Data Security, Privacy & Protection
·
● core
A13 Supply Chain Security
·
○ touched
A23 Recovery, Resilience & Cyber Recovery
A23 Recovery, Resilience & Cyber Recovery
·
● core
A25 Security Architecture & Engineering
A25 Security Architecture & Engineering
● core
● core
A3 Zero Trust Architecture
A3 Zero Trust Architecture
·
○ touched
A5 Cloud Security
● core
● core
A6 Identity & Access Management
A6 Identity & Access Management
·
● core
A9 Penetration Testing & Red Teaming
A9 Penetration Testing & Red Teaming
·
⚠ gap
C1 Adversarial Machine Learning
C1 Adversarial Machine Learning
·
⚠ gap
C6 AI Infrastructure Security
C6 AI Infrastructure Security
·
⚠ gap
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