› Certifications · compare
Compare certifications Pick up to 3 certifications and compare them side-by-side on cost, exam format, recertification, salary signal, quality, and domain coverage.
ISC2 · professional
CCSP Certified Cloud Security Professional
Cloud security architecture: shared responsibility, identity, data protection, crypto, and cloud-native detection.
Official page 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 Important: Version SCS-C02 was superseded in December 2025; SCS-C03 is now current.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 Comparing
ISC2 CCSP
AWS AWS CSS
› Cost Annual maintenance fee
$135/yr
—
3-year cost of ownership
$1,004
$300
› Exam mechanics Pass mark
CCSP 700/1000 (scaled)
AWS CSS 750/1000 (scaled, ~75%)
Pass mark
700/1000 (scaled)
750/1000 (scaled, ~75%)
Retake policy
CCSP $599 fee · 30d wait · 4/yr cap
AWS CSS $300 fee · 14d wait
Retake policy
$599 fee · 30d wait · 4/yr cap
$300 fee · 14d wait
Study time
CCSP 100–180 hrs
AWS CSS 100–200 hrs
Study time
100–180 hrs
100–200 hrs
Delivery
CCSP test center
AWS CSS mixed
› Salary signal (US base) Range
CCSP $130K – $190K
AWS CSS $130K – $180K
Range
$130K – $190K
$130K – $180K
Median
CCSP $155,000
AWS CSS $150,000
Role context
CCSP Cloud security engineer / architect, US, 4+ years.
AWS CSS Cloud security engineer (AWS-focused), US, 3–5 years.
Role context
Cloud security engineer / architect, US, 4+ years.
Cloud security engineer (AWS-focused), US, 3–5 years.
› Quality (4-axis rubric · 0–10) › Recognition & lifecycle Recognition
CCSP Global · US · EU · UK · DACH
AWS CSS Global
Recognition
Global · US · EU · UK · DACH
Global
Current version
CCSP 2022 CBK refresh (2022-08)
AWS CSS SCS-C02 (2023-07)
Current version
2022 CBK refresh (2022-08)
SCS-C02 (2023-07)
› 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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