- Nov 13, 2022

Cybersecurity Certifications

Cybersecurity Education

There are many different Cybersecurity focused certifications available today. They vary by experience level and cover different areas of expertise. Some focus on different technical areas (Cloud, Penetration Testing, Application Security, etc.) and others have more of a management focus.

Cybersecurity Certifications

There are primarily two main paths of certification, technical and managerial. Depending on the role you have or seek, will dictate which certifications you should target. It is never a bad idea to have certifications that cover both areas. Typically technical certifications are a good foundation, and management certifications can be obtained further along in your career, especially if you are seeking roles such as a SOC Manager, Security Manager or Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Common Technical Certification Categories

Core/Foundational Security
Penetration Testing, Ethical Hacking
Red Team (Attack), Blue Team (Defense), Purple Team (Assisted Attack)
Cloud Security
Network Security
SIEM/SOC/Analyst
Incident Response
Digital Forensics
Application Security

Common Management Certification Categories

Management Core/Foundation
Strategy, Architecture
Regulatory/Compliance
Audit, Assessment
Recovery, Continuity Planning

Here is a list of certifications grouped by the Organization/Vendor that oversees and administers the certifications, including the official requirements, content covered and testing. For detailed information about the certification and how to pursue getting certified, it's best to go directly to the organizations site to ensure it is accurate and up-to-date. There are some good, qualified, third-party organizations that offer training for these certifications, but make sure they are recognized by the official organization before proceeding. There is a lot of misinformation out there and illegitimate sites out there offering training. We have a list of the direct websites at the end for reference.

Please keep in mind, this is not a complete list of every organization and certification. We have selected most of the popular certifications and will continue to update this list over time. The experience level listed is also opinion-based and discretionary.

CompTIA Certifications

(ISC)2 Certifications

GIAC Certifications

ISACA Certifications

Offensive Security (OffSec)

Additional Certifications

This is a good list of certifications showing the number of times they are mentioned within job postings on the following three sites. This certainly isn't going to be an exact representation, but it gives us a great idea on the popularity/familiarity this is with particular certifications. Again, this will depend on the role you are looking for, but a valuable point of reference. This was last updated in October 2022 and the CISSP, offered by (ISC)2, is significantly ahead of other certifications, showing the recognition, flexibility/applicability, and value of the certification to Cybersecurity roles today.