CSA CZT
Certified Zero Trust (CCZT)
Vendor-neutral Zero Trust architecture and governance — NIST SP 800-207, ZTA pillars, and program implementation.
› 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 scoreConservative estimate — CSA publishes named-holder lists but no aggregate count.
› Built for these roles
› Exam format
60 multiple-choice questions, 120 minutes, English. Online proctored. Covers ZTA principles, NIST SP 800-207, CISA ZT Maturity Model, ZT planning, and pillar implementation (identity, devices, networks, applications, data).
› Recertification
Recertification by passing the current exam every 3 years. No CPE requirement.
› NICE Framework work roles
The NIST NICE work-role IDs this cert maps to. NICCS lookup.
› Core domains covered
The 2 domains this cert is centrally about. Passing the exam demonstrates working knowledge of each.
Zero trust principles, micro-segmentation, NIST SP 800-207, ZTNA, continuous verification, BeyondCorp.
AuthN/AuthZ, SSO, MFA, PAM, RBAC/ABAC, identity governance, FIDO2/passkeys, plus non-human identity: service accounts, workload identity, agent / plugin identities.
› Also touched
Present in the blueprint but not the primary focus — you’ll be introduced but shouldn’t expect depth.
Risk frameworks (NIST RMF, ISO 31000, FAIR), policy development, audit, regulatory compliance, third-party risk.
AWS/Azure/GCP security controls, IAM policies, CSPM, container security, shared responsibility model.
Firewalls, IDS/IPS, network segmentation, DNS security, SD-WAN, VPN, traffic analysis, wireless security.
› Prerequisites
Mid-career security or architecture background. Familiarity with at least one of identity, network, or cloud-security domains.
- NIST SP 800-207 ZTA principles
- Identity, device, network, application, and data pillars
- CISA ZT Maturity Model
› 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.
› 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.
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