Why The CISSP Exam Changes

If you’re looking to become a certified information systems security professional you need to get your CISSP Certification. In order to get your CISSP Certification, you need to take the CISSP exam. Before you take the exam, you need to get CISSP training, like the (ISC)² accredited CISSP exam prep course offered at TechnoEdge.

 If you’ve been looking into taking the exam you may have noticed a recent announcement that the exam will be updated and changed in 2021. The CISSP exam is actually updated on a fairly regular basis. Typically, each update happens 3 years after the last. The CISSP has seen updates in 2012, 2015, and 2018. This may seem unusual, but there’s good reason for keeping the exam updated regularly.

 A Rapidly Changing Profession

Certified information systems security professionals are based in the technology sector, and the tools and knowledge required to perform their job are constantly changing and evolving. By updating the exam on a regular basis, the CISSP Certification stays relevant and respected in the community. If the exam never saw any updates, then a CISSP Certification would not accurately represent a person’s ability to operate as a certified information systems security professional in the present day. Regular updates ensure that your CISSP training will be relevant no matter when your training starts.

What Changes on the Exam?

The CISSP Certification exam is divided into eight domains: Security and Risk Management, Asset Security, Security Architecture and Engineering, Communication and Network Security, Identity and Access Management (IAM), Security Assessment and Testing, Security Operations, and Software Development Security. Previous updates have changed some of the domain names, but they will remain the same for the 2021 update.

Each domain holds a different weight on the exam and two domains have had their weight changed. Communication and Network Security is decreasing in weight from 14% to 13%. Software Development Security is incre4asing in weight from 10% to 11%. The general structure of the exam remains unchanged, but you can expect new questions in each domain.

How Changes are Made

(ISC)² go through a rigorous process to update their exam and ensure it maintains its credibility in the tech industry. A Job Task Analysis (JTA) survey is sent out to existing certified information systems security professionals. The JTA survey asks for input on the certification’s current domains and subdomains, as well as for feedback on what might be missing from the current exam. The exam blueprint is then updated, and then new content areas are filled in with the assistance of subject matter experts, who are all part of the CISSP community. The community involvement ensures that industry professionals dictate what should be tested, which means that the exam always reflects the current best practices in the industry.

What You Need to Get CISSP Certification

In order to earn your CISSP Certification, you need to have five years of paid experience in two or more of the eight domains to qualify for certification. Candidates who lack the experience can still take the CISSP exam. If you pass the exam, but do not have the prerequisite experience, you will earn the Associate of (ISC)² designation. The Associate of (ISC)² program gives candidates who pass the exam six years to earn their five years of experience and acquire their CISSP Certification. TechnoEdge’s CISSP training course is an exam prep course designed to help you perform your best on the CISSP exam and it is designed for students who are already familiar with at least two of the eight domains that are tested.  The next CISSP exam prep course begins on December 7, 2020. Register now and take the next step towards your CISSP Certification.