Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) Foundation

Module 1: Introduction and Cloud Architectures

• Define cloud computing and its business benefits

• List the attributes that define cloud computing

• Identify pros and cons of cloud computing choices

• Discuss the different components of the cloud computing stack

• Differentiate service models and deployment models

• Describe individual service models and how they operate

• Describe individual deployment models and how they operate

• Discuss shared responsibility for security across models

• Identify cloud impact on related technologies that rely on cloud, or are commonly seen in cloud deployments

 

Module 2: Infrastructure Security for Cloud

• Discuss the security advantages and disadvantages of working with virtual infrastructure

• Discuss how to secure the cloud management plane

• Understand the components of cloud infrastructure

• Assess the security implications of virtual networks and workloads

• Discuss the security advantages and disadvantages of working with virtual infrastructure

• Describe how to secure virtual networking

• Describe how to secure virtual workloads during creation, use, movement, and destruction

 

Module 3: Managing Cloud Security and Risks

• List the key elements of information security governance related to cloud operations

• Review the implications of cloud on governance, with a focus on contracts and controls

• Identify strategies to manage provider governance

• Describe the steps in the risk management lifecycle specifically for moving to the cloud

• Differentiate risk treatment and implementation responsibility across service models

• Identify the tools of governance • Manage compliance and audits for cloud deployments.

• Discuss tools from the Cloud Security Alliance to help assess and manage risk

• Identify legal responsibilities based on business compliance, regulations, and geography

• Discuss contractual elements that support compliance and verification

• Identify jurisdiction and regulation requirements

• Describe legal ramifications and procedures for legal accountability

• Describe types of audit and how to plan for them

• List required artifacts for auditing

• Describe how to handle the results of an audit

• Discuss SLAs and setting expectations around what the customer does versus what the provider does (the most important aspect of incident response for cloud-based resources)

• Use functions, actors, and locations to identify cloud security issues, and specific controls to address security and governance

• Review the data security lifecycle in the cloud

 

Module 4: Data Security for Cloud

• Understand business continuity and disaster recovery in the cloud

• Define security issues for data in the cloud

• Assess the role and effectiveness of access controls

• Describe data security lifecycle for cloud use

• Discuss data encryption and key management

• Describe forms of data loss prevention

 

Module 5: Securing Cloud Applications and Users

• Discover how application security differs in cloud computing

• Review secure software development basics and how they change in the cloud

• Leverage cloud capabilities for more secure cloud applications

• Describe the importance of standard interfaces and the potential costs of vendor lock-in

• Define the application architecture, design, and operations lifecycle

• Discuss the impact of cloud operations on SDLC and identify threat modeling requirements

• Differentiate static and dynamic testing methods and give examples of each

• Examine application security tools and vulnerability management processes

• Define identity, entitlement, and access management terms

• Differentiate between identity and access management

• List best practices in provisioning identity and entitlement

• Describe how to build an entitlement matrix

• Differentiate between authentication, authorization, and access control

• Describe architectural models for provisioning and how to integrate them

• Describe the operation of federated identity management

• List key identity management standards and how they facilitate interoperation

 

Module 6: Cloud Security Operations

• Identify challenges in incident response when working with a cloud provider at various service levels

• Understand why cloud incidents need to be handled differently

• Explain the incident response lifecycle

• Define SECaaS

• List advantages and concerns for SECaaS

• Describe various forms of security offered as services

• Identify cloud impact on related technologies that rely on cloud or are commonly seen in cloud deployments

Prerequisites

• We recommend attendees have at least a basic understanding of security fundamentals, including firewalls, secure development, encryption, and identity management.

• For security foundations training, refer to HL945S: Information Security Essentials.