AWS Certified Security Specialty (SCS-C02) Practice Exam
AWS Security Specialty (SCS-C02) Practice Exam
About the AWS Security Specialty (SCS-C02) Exam
The AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) exam is designed for professionals working in security roles, tasked with safeguarding AWS environments. It evaluates the candidate’s ability to effectively demonstrate knowledge of security principles, best practices, and services offered by AWS.
Skills Evaluated
The AWS Security Specialty (SCS-C02) Exam has been designed to verify the candidate’s ability to:
- Understand specialized data classifications and AWS data protection mechanisms.
- Apply encryption techniques and AWS tools to secure data.
- Implement secure internet protocols using AWS services.
- Leverage AWS security services to maintain a secure production environment.
- Make informed decisions balancing cost, security, and complexity in AWS deployments.
- Comprehend security operations and risk management within AWS environments.
Who should take the exam?
The AWS Security Specialty (SCS-C02) Exam is suitable for candidates who have 3–5 years of experience designing and implementing security solutions, including at least 2 years of hands-on experience in securing AWS workloads.
Recommended Knowledge
Candidates should have expertise in:
- AWS shared responsibility model.
- AWS services and cloud deployment solutions.
- Implementing security controls and monitoring strategies.
- Managing vulnerability assessments and security automation.
- AWS integration with third-party security tools.
- Disaster recovery, cryptography, identity, and access management.
- Multi-account governance, data retention, and lifecycle management.
- Threat detection, incident response, and troubleshooting security issues.
Course Outline
The AWS Security Specialty (SCS-C02) Exam covers the latest and updated exam topics -
Domain 1: Understanding Threat Detection and Incident Response
1.1: Explain Develop and Execute an Incident Response Plan.
Knowledge Requirements:
- AWS best practices related to incident response.
- Understanding various types of cloud incidents.
- Roles and responsibilities outlined in the incident response plan.
- Familiarity with the AWS Security Finding Format (ASFF).
Skill Development:
- Implementing strategies for credential invalidation and rotation in response to breaches, utilizing AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and AWS Secrets Manager.
- Isolating AWS resources during incidents.
- Crafting and executing playbooks and runbooks for security incident responses.
- Deploying security services such as AWS Security Hub, Amazon Macie, Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon Inspector, AWS Config, and Amazon Detective.
- Configuring integrations with both native AWS services and third-party services, employing tools like Amazon EventBridge and ASFF.
1.2: Explain Identify Security Threats and Anomalies Utilizing AWS Services.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Understanding AWS managed security services aimed at threat detection.
- Familiarity with anomaly detection and correlation techniques across services.
- Visual tools for identifying anomalies and centralizing security findings.
Skill Development:
- Evaluating alerts and findings from security services including GuardDuty, Security Hub, Macie, and AWS Config.
- Conducting searches and correlating security threats across various AWS services with Detective.
- Performing queries to validate security events using Amazon Athena.
- Creating metric filters and dashboards for detecting anomalous activities with Amazon CloudWatch.
1.3: Explain Address Compromised Resources and Workloads.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Understanding the AWS Security Incident Response Guide.
- Familiarity with resource isolation techniques and root cause analysis methods.
- Data capture mechanisms and log analysis for event validation.
Skill Development:
- Automating remediation actions using AWS services, such as AWS Lambda and AWS Systems Manager runbooks.
- Responding to compromised resources, including isolating Amazon EC2 instances.
- Investigating incidents to perform root cause analysis using Detective.
- Capturing forensics data from compromised resources through EBS volume snapshots and memory dumps.
- Querying logs in Amazon S3 for contextual information related to security incidents with Athena.
- Protecting and preserving forensic evidence through techniques like S3 Object Lock and S3 replication.
- Preparing and recovering services after incidents.
Domain 2: Understand Security Logging and Monitoring
2.1: Explain Design and Implement Monitoring and Alerting for Security Events.
Knowledge Requirements:
- AWS services for monitoring events and generating alarms (e.g., CloudWatch, EventBridge).
- AWS services that automate alert notifications (e.g., Lambda, Amazon SNS, Security Hub).
- Tools for monitoring metrics and establishing baselines (e.g., GuardDuty, Systems Manager).
Skill Development:
- Analyzing architectures to determine monitoring needs and data sources for security monitoring.
- Assessing environments to establish monitoring requirements.
- Designing monitoring solutions based on business and security objectives.
- Setting up automated tools and scripts for routine audits, such as creating custom insights in Security Hub.
- Defining metrics and thresholds that trigger alerts.
2.2: Explain Diagnose Issues in Security Monitoring and Alerting.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Configuration of monitoring services like Security Hub.
- Identifying relevant data for security events.
Skill Development:
- Analyzing service functionality, permissions, and configurations following incidents that failed to provide visibility or alerts.
- Evaluating and rectifying configurations of custom applications that are not reporting metrics accurately.
- Assessing logging and monitoring services for alignment with security needs.
2.3: Explain Design and Implement a Logging Solution.
Knowledge Requirements:
- AWS services and features that enable logging capabilities (e.g., VPC Flow Logs, AWS CloudTrail).
- Characteristics of logging systems (e.g., log levels, types, and verbosity).
- Log destination management and lifecycle policies (e.g., retention periods).
Skill Development:
- Configuring logging for various AWS services and applications.
- Identifying logging needs and sources for log ingestion.
- Implementing log storage and lifecycle management based on AWS best practices and organizational needs.
2.4: Explain Troubleshoot Logging Solutions.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Capabilities and use cases of AWS services that provide data sources (e.g., log levels, timeliness).
- Logging capabilities across AWS services (e.g., VPC Flow Logs, CloudTrail).
- Required access permissions for logging functionalities.
Skill Development:
- Identifying misconfigurations and determining remediation for missing access permissions necessary for logging.
- Diagnosing causes of missing logs and performing necessary remediation actions.
2.5: Explain Design a Log Analysis Solution.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Services and tools for analyzing captured logs (e.g., Athena, CloudWatch Logs filter).
- Log analysis features of AWS services (e.g., CloudWatch Logs Insights, Security Hub insights).
Skill Development:
- Identifying patterns in logs that indicate anomalies or known threats.
- Normalizing, parsing, and correlating log data.
Domain 3: Understanding Infrastructure Security
3.1: Explain Develop and Implement Security Controls for Edge Services.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Security features associated with edge services (e.g., AWS WAF, CloudFront).
- Common threats and vulnerabilities (e.g., OWASP Top 10, DDoS).
- Understanding layered web application architecture.
Skill Development:
- Defining edge security strategies for common applications (e.g., public websites, mobile app backends).
- Selecting appropriate edge services based on anticipated threats.
- Applying multi-layered defenses by combining edge security services (e.g., CloudFront with AWS WAF).
- Implementing restrictions based on criteria such as geography and rate limits.
- Activating logs and monitoring metrics to detect attacks on edge services.
3.2: Explain Develop and Implement Network Security Controls.
Knowledge Requirements:
- VPC security mechanisms (e.g., security groups, network ACLs).
- Interconnectivity of VPCs (e.g., AWS Transit Gateway).
- Security telemetry sources (e.g., VPC Flow Logs).
Skill Development:
- Implementing network segmentation based on security requirements.
- Designing network controls to manage traffic flow effectively.
- Ensuring data remains off the public internet through proper network configurations.
- Selecting appropriate telemetry sources to monitor based on network design and threats.
- Managing network configurations dynamically as requirements evolve.
3.3: Explain Develop and Implement Security Controls for Compute Workloads.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Provisioning and maintaining EC2 instances (e.g., patching, AMI creation).
- Understanding IAM roles applicable to EC2 instances.
- Vulnerability scanning services for compute workloads (e.g., Amazon Inspector).
Skill Development:
- Creating hardened EC2 AMIs.
- Applying IAM roles correctly to secure compute workloads.
- Scanning for known vulnerabilities in EC2 instances and container images.
- Implementing patches across fleets of EC2 instances.
- Activating host-based security measures.
3.4: Explain Diagnose Network Security Issues.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Analyzing network reachability and connectivity issues.
- Understanding fundamental TCP/IP concepts.
- Reading and interpreting relevant log sources.
Skill Development:
- Identifying and resolving network connectivity issues.
- Determining effective solutions to achieve desired network behavior.
- Analyzing logs to pinpoint problems and capturing traffic samples for detailed analysis.
Domain 4: Understand Identity and Access Management
4.1: Explain Design, Implement, and Troubleshoot Authentication for AWS Resources.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Methods for creating and managing identities (e.g., AWS IAM Identity Center).
- Understanding credentialing methods.
- Troubleshooting authentication issues using AWS tools.
Skill Development:
- Establishing identities through suitable authentication systems.
- Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Determining appropriate use cases for AWS Security Token Service (AWS STS).
4.2: Explain Design, Implement, and Troubleshoot Authorization for AWS Resources.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Understanding different types of IAM policies (e.g., managed and inline policies).
- Components of policies and their impacts.
- Troubleshooting authorization issues using AWS tools.
Skill Development:
- Creating attribute-based and role-based access control strategies.
- Evaluating IAM policy types based on specific workloads.
- Applying the principle of least privilege across AWS environments.
- Investigating and resolving authorization errors.
Domain 5: Understand Data Protection
5.1: Explain Design and Implement Controls to Ensure Confidentiality and Integrity for Data in Transit.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Understanding TLS and VPN concepts.
- Secure remote access methods and their implications.
Skill Development:
- Designing secure connections between AWS and on-premises networks.
- Implementing encryption requirements for various AWS services.
- Ensuring TLS is used for AWS API interactions.
5.2: Explain Design and Implement Controls to Ensure Confidentiality and Integrity for Data at Rest.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Data storage and protection methods (e.g., AWS KMS, S3 Bucket Policies).
- Compliance requirements for sensitive data storage.
Skill Development:
- Implementing encryption for data stored in AWS services.
- Applying data retention and deletion policies.
- Identifying access control mechanisms to secure data stored in AWS.
5.3: Explain Develop and Implement Data Loss Prevention Solutions.
Knowledge Requirements:
- Understanding DLP concepts and their implementation on AWS.
- AWS services that facilitate DLP (e.g., Macie, GuardDuty).
Skill Development:
- Establishing policies and thresholds for data loss prevention.
- Automating responses to potential data loss incidents.
- Monitoring AWS services for data leakage risks.
Domain 6: Understand Security and Compliance Automation
6.1: Explain Automate Security Best Practices.
Knowledge Requirements:
- AWS services that enable security automation (e.g., AWS Lambda, CloudFormation).
- Understanding infrastructure as code (IaC) and its security implications.
Skill Development:
- Implementing automation scripts to manage security configurations.
- Establishing infrastructure as code practices to maintain security posture.
- Regularly testing security automations to ensure effectiveness.
6.2: Explain Develop and Implement Security and Compliance Reporting Solutions.
Knowledge Requirements:
- AWS services and tools that support compliance reporting (e.g., AWS Config, Security Hub).
- Industry standards and regulations that impact reporting needs.
Skill Development:
- Creating custom compliance reports tailored to specific requirements.
- Monitoring compliance status across AWS services.
- Leveraging AWS tools for maintaining compliance with industry standards.
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What are our Practice Exams?
- Practice exams have been designed by professionals and domain experts that simulate real-time exam scenario.
- Practice exam dumps have been created on the basis of content outlined in the official documentation.
- Each set in the practice exam contains unique questions built with the intent to provide real-time experience to the candidates as well as gain more confidence during exam preparation.
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