Why you should consider the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) exam this year…
The Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) certification’s curriculum focuses on application vulnerabilities, risk and compliance issues that arise during the SDLC Lifecycle. Its a serious exam for those that are confident and competent in Secure design, software development and the SDLC lifecycle.
The CSSLP certification has been around since 2008 and is a niche certification. The CSSLP exam is a brother of the well known CISSP certification. The main difference is that the CISSP is a hodgepodge of everything security whereas the CSSLP exam is strictly focused on software development.
The SDLC Lifecycle as tested.
The exam focuses on many areas around SDLC, It Security best practices and general software development such as QA. The amount of material and the detail is clearly derived for a 30 plus hour course.
Clearly a bootcamp style.
Check out my FULL course on the CSSLP Exam on numerous outlets such as Udemy and Pearson Oreilly.
The exam is focused on eight domains:
Exam Objectives that you will need to review and prepare for before taking the exam.
Secure Software Concepts
Secure Software Requirements
Secure Software Design
Secure Software Implementation /Programming
Secure Software Testing
Secure Lifecycle Management
Software Deployment, Operations and Management
Supply Chain and Software Acquisition
Why take this Ninja exam of software development?
The CSSLP certification recognizes that you own it around industry leading application lifecycle security skills.
The CSSLP shows employers and peers you have the advanced technical skills and knowledge necessary for authentication, authorization and auditing throughout the SDLC using best practices, policies and procedures established by the cybersecurity experts at (ISC)².
For example the exam provides expert clarification that your an expert in the “Lifecycle” of software development around secure design. From Define to Deployment.
Diagram – MyBlockchainexperts
Roles that are targeted for the Exam!
Software architect, Engineers and Developers
Application security specialist •Software program manager
Quality assurance tester
Penetration tester
Software procurement analyst
Project manager
Security manager
IT director and IT managers
Reason Number 5
Provides your employer or prospective employer/customer that your a security professional.
The CSSLP Exam was developed by and is also managed by the same organization that wrote and oversees the CISSP exam. (ISC)² .
The CISSP exam is the premium security certification on the market around the SDLC secure design. Taking the exam and passing the exam gives you immediate credibility as a secure software design expert.
The software security professional is knowledgeable in software best practices, IT security best practices and SDLC foundations.
Becoming a CSSLP provides your prospective or current employer/customer confirmation that have made a proper decision around retaining a software focused security professional.
Reason Number 4
Salary is fairly high from an industry perspective.
The average salary of a CSSLP is $143,150 for professionals with 10 years of experience according to PhoenixTS. The link for the salary survey is here and they provide some interesting information on locales on where demand is seen.
https://phoenixts.com/blog/average-csslp-salary-2017/
Average CSSLP Salary for 2017
Reason Number 3
You are niche player.
There is not a lot of CSSLP’s out there and chances are you will be one of the folks on Linkedin that will pop up during a recruiting search.
As a niche player you will be a standout and will be able to have immediate credibility around secure design. You will have the experience to handle issues, risks, and application vulnerabilities that come up during the application development lifecycle (SDLC).
For example- you know the controls and how to implement the appropriate ones.
Diagram – MyBlockchainExperts
Reason Number 2.
Your a proven Project Manager more than likely.
As an experienced software developer you have the solid and quantifiable experience around software projects. Professional software firms will immediately recognize the value that you bring to the table. If the company your working with does not recognize the value you bring, then you need to move on.
After the numerous years of working in the software development field you know projects, especially software projects and can run with the best project managers out there. You get the project triad and will blow that liberal arts major out of the water when it comes to the following……..
Check out my Youtube Video Playlist for the CSSLP Exam
Project Requirements – Avoiding failure
Developers need to think like a project manager and are managing their projects well.
You know he Project Triad (Triple Constraint) and you design around Quality which is a myriad of puzzles on how Cost Time Scope fit in.
Check out my post on Cloud Native expertise demand..
https://myblockchainexperts.org/2019/08/13/importance-of-cloud-native/
Reason Number 1
Your great at what you do and your the ninja in your organization. Software development is your thing and ensuring Quality in your product is already a baseline for you.
Sometimes in IT certifications are needed to provide that baseline to your experience that can be referenced or understood by non technically driven hiring teams. Just because you worked at Google, Facebook, HP or any other large software organization does not mean you have a clue about software development.
A lot of software developers, engineers use a company name as their main credential and any one experienced knows this a mile away. You have the credential and they dont.. Just because they are a former Googler or whatever who cares.
Threat modeling is kids play for you. The kids at Google would have to “Google” it.
In reality security is a property of software or a system and from my experience is a subset of quality of the product.
With the CSSLP as a baseline your likely going to get pending any unforseen challenges…
Exam Experience
If you have taken the CISSP exam then the experience is essentially the same. Questions are more focused on software development as the only difference.
Exam is 175 questions
4 hours to complete
Exam is proctored at Pearson Vue Test Centers
Exam cost is $599 US
Exam Maintenance
Lastly, exam does have continuing education requirements that any solid good company that you work for would likely cover.
Valid for 3 years
90 CPEs required to recertify
Annual Maintenance Fee of $100 US
Check out my FULL course on the CSSLP Exam on numerous outlets such as Udemy and Pearson Oreilly.
Carry on my cloud friends and please do let me know any feedback or suggestions.
Joe Holbrook, the Cloud Tech Guy
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Joe Holbrook