Cloud Computing is a hot topic among developers and computer science enthusiasts, with annual salaries going higher day by day and more job openings as the industry has seen in the past.
When most organizations, even non-IT industries, are moving to the cloud, it is the responsibility of the Cloud Service Providers (CSP) to ensure that the data, applications, processes, etc., are intact and secure while assuring that their services are reliable.
CSPs are on the constant lookout for the most talented tech enthusiasts out there who have a good command of the cloud as well as security. In India, the number of cybersecurity jobs rose by 113% in the past year. The competition to get the best cloud security jobs has been soaring as well, with people upskilling themselves and going for advanced cloud security certifications
These Cloud Security Certifications not only guarantee that the person has a good command over the subject but also has wide practical knowledge that can be applied and therefore is more likely to be hired. We now look at the topmost Cloud Security Certifications that you can take in 2024 to get yourself hired by the top organizations looking for a highly skilled workforce.
What is Cloud Security?
Cloud Security is a compilation of technology and procedures for addressing internal and external issues to business security. When companies move toward Digital Transformation, they require Cloud Computing Security as they keep on implementing new strategies along with the incorporation of cloud-based tools. Here, companies need Cloud Security for protecting their virtual infrastructure from any outsider.
List of Best Cloud Security Certifications (2024)
These are some of the high-valued certifications that will drastically improve your chances of getting hired by Top companies.
| S.No | Certification Name | Fees (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | (ISC)² Certified Cloud Security Professional – CCSP | $599 |
| 2 | Professional Cloud Security Engineer by Google | $200 |
| 3 | GIAC Cloud Security Automation – GCSA | $2,499 |
| 4 | CompTIA Cloud+ | $348 |
| 5 | Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge – CCSK | $395 |
| 6 | Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate | $165 |
| 7 | AWS Certified Security — Specialty | $300 |
| 8 | Google Professional Cloud Architect | $200 |
| 9 | Google Associate Cloud Engineer | $125 |
| 10 | AWS Solutions Architect Professional | $300 |
Here is the list of best cloud certifications and if you are someone who wants to pursue any of them, then this article is for you. Read through the same and take a look at some of the best certifications including Professional Cloud Security Engineer by Google, GIAC Cloud Security Automation – GCSA, CompTIA Cloud+, etc.
1. (ISC)² Certified Cloud Security Professional – CCSP
CCSP is one of the best cloud security certifications due to the value it holds in the industry. This certification validates that you have technically up-to-date knowledge and you manage, design, and secure data as well as applications and infrastructure in the cloud by taking up the best practices as required by cybersecurity professionals that further include policies and strategies.
CCSP is ideal for computer science professionals who are security consultants, enterprise architects, systems engineers, security administrators, security managers, and security engineers. This is one of the most challenging and state-of-the-art exams which checks your in-depth understanding of cloud security and holds a high value in the market.
The exam is multiple-choice based and has a total of 125 questions. The allocated time is 3 hours for the exam and you must get a passing score of 700 out of 1000 to get certified. Although there are no prerequisites as the certification requires an experience of close to 5 years in industry and cloud.
- Test Format: 125 Multiple-choice and advanced innovative questions
- Cost of Examination: 599 USD (around 49839 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 154,424 USD (around 12848825 INR)
2. Professional Cloud Security Engineer by Google
This certification assesses the ability to ensure compliance, data protection, the configuration of network security, configure access within a cloud solution environment, and management of operations within the cloud.
The certified professional is proficient in all areas of cloud security, including managing identity and access management (IAM), using technologies to provide data protection, managing incident responses, configuring network security, collecting logs, and defining policies. The certification requires experience of 3 or more years in the industry and 1 or more years in designing and managing solutions with GCP.
The length of the exam is of 2 hours and the language in which you can attempt is English. The format of the exam is multiple choice and multiple select. The exam has no prerequisites and there are two methods by which you can take the exam. Either you can take an online proctored exam from a remote location or you can take the onsite proctored exam at a testing location provided to you.
- Test Format: Multiple-choice and multiple-select questions
- Cost of Examination: 200 USD (around 16640 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 136,485 USD around (11356213 INR)
3. GIAC Cloud Security Automation – GCSA
GCSA covers modern DevSecOps practices that are utilized to build, design, and deploy systems and applications reliably. It validates that not only your theory in cloud security automation is strong but you can as well put into practice the DevSecOps principles in an automated manner.
This certification is specially designed for anyone who works in a public cloud, DevOps, systems administrators, security analysts, and engineers. There are various areas that are covered and expect you to be thorough in them including continuous integration, continuous delivery, automated configuration management, continuous monitoring, or someone who works using the open-source tools, AWS toolchain, and Azure services.
It is a web-based proctored exam and has a total of 75 questions to access your knowledge in cloud security. The time limit is 120 minutes (2 hours) and you must get at least 61% in the exam to earn the certificate. You have two options to take this exam, either in a remote location proctored through ProctorU or onsite proctoring by PearsonVUE.
- Test Format: 75 multiple-choice questions.
- Cost of Examination: 1999 USD (around 166326 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 91,000 USD (around 7571641 INR)
4. CompTIA Cloud+
CompTIA Cloud+ validates the skills and knowledge you need to acquire to maintain, design, and optimize cloud infrastructure services. It emphasizes managing cloud systems and technologies and expects a minimum of 2-3 years of experience in system administration.
A variety of jobs require Cloud+ certification, including cloud specialists, network engineers, network administrators, system administrators, cloud engineers, cloud developers, product managers in the cloud, etc. Skills needed for this certification are troubleshooting, security, configuration, deployment, management, and maintenance.
There is a maximum of 90 questions that you can attempt either in English or in Japanese. The types of questions are performance-based and multiple-choice. The time limit for the test is 90 minutes and the passing score is 750. There is an onsite proctoring system with PearsonVUE and the certification validity is 3 years.
- Test Format: 125 multiple-choice questions
- Cost of Examination: 338 USD (around 28123 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 80,092 USD (around 6664042 INR)
5. Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge – CCSK
CSA’s CCSK is for cloud-savvy professionals and is highly recognized as a standard of expertise and practical knowledge regarding cloud security. Professionals who are in information security roles, managers, consultants, and security architects should earn this certificate to prove their abilities to use controls specially tailored for the cloud constructively.
The exam is open-book and you can either prepare for the exam by yourself or enroll in their comprehensive training.
There are a total of 60 questions and the time limit for the exam is 90 minutes. The exam is online therefore you can take the exam from anywhere. The exam is open-book but makes it tougher than most of the exams.
- Test Format: 60 multiple-choice questions.
- Cost of Examination: 395 USD (around 32865 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 149,760 USD (around 12460758 INR)
6. Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate
This Microsoft certification is used for the implementation of threat protection and security control. Along with these, the certification can also be used for managing identity skills, protecting and accessing the data, applications, networking, virtualization, cloud architecture, and capabilities. These skill sets include:
- Securing applications and data
- Implementations of platform protection
- Helps in the management of security operations with Security Center, Sentinel, and Azure Monitor
- Securing access in Azure Active Directory
Job titles: Cloud DevOps engineer, Cybersecurity engineer, and security and integration architect.
- Test Format: 40-60 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions
- Cost of Examination: 165 USD (around 13724 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 126,00 USD (around 13724 INR)
7. AWS Certified Security — Specialty
Provided by Amazon, AWS-certified security is one of the most used public cloud platforms because of its high value and boost in job prospects. It is a good option for people who are looking for a security job in companies that are using Amazon Web Service. Someone who has this certification gains an understanding of data classification, protection measures, AWS implementation encryption, etc.
- Test Format: 65 multiple-choice or multiple-response questions
- Cost: 300 USD (around 24953 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 71K to 108K USD
8. Google Professional Cloud Architect
Google Professional Cloud Architect is a high-performance infrastructure for machine learning, cloud computing, and data analytics. It also provides high-performance, reliable, and secure cloud services Here you can also manage the cloud solution infrastructure along with designing for compliance and security. For IT professionals who want to become solution architects, this certification is for them as they do not need much experience and can easily complete the whole process.
- Test Format: 40 questions in MCQ format
- Cost: 200 USD (around 16635 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 157,500 USD (around 13100330 INR)
9. Google Associate Cloud Engineer
Someone with this certification secures applications and infrastructure and maintains enterprise solutions, along with monitoring multiple projects. So if you want to oversee numerous projects and maintain corporate solutions then this certification is for you.
This is one of the vital Google Cloud certification developers, software engineers, and programmers. Also, people with a basic understanding of cloud concepts such as containers, networking, and virtual machines are among the few skills required for this certification.
- Test Format: 40 questions in MCQ format
- Cost: 125 USD (around 10397 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 145,513 USD (around 12103291 INR)
10. AWS Solutions Architect Professional
This is a professional examination certificate that provides advanced technical knowledge for creating properly distributed systems and applications on Amazon’s cloud platform. Aws solution architect professional certification helps in the development and identification of crucial capabilities for cloud implementation. Also, the credentials help verify your ability to develop, evaluate, and implement applications on AWS.
- Test format: 75 questions in Multiple-response and multiple-choice questions
- Cost: 300 USD (around 24953 INR)
- Average Annual Salary: 159k USD (around 13225095 INR)
These were the top Cloud Security Certifications that you can go for in the year 2024. Although these exams are tough they offer a higher salary as compared to uncertified professionals.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned about various cloud certifications that you can choose in case you want to make your career in cloud computing. Here you can also read about how these certifications work and their feature, then go for the one you like. Here you have also been guided on which article you should opt for.
Happy learning!
FAQs – Cloud Security Certifications
Q1. Which certification is best for cloud security?
These are the certification, best for cloud services:
- GIAC Cloud Security Automation – GCSA
- (ISC)² Certified Cloud Security Professional – CCSP
- CompTIA Cloud+
- AWS Certified Security — Specialty
- Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate
Q2. Which is better CCSP or Cissp?
Both certifications are unique in their own ways and choosing one among them can be quite difficult because CCSP and CISSP are nearly the same. So you will have to differentiate among them based on your preference and requirement that what you want to accomplish and move further accordingly.
Q3. Which cloud certification is best for beginners?
These are the best cloud certifications for beginners:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
- Google Associate Cloud Engineer
- IBM Certified Technical Advocate
- Cloud Security Alliance: Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK)
Q4. Is AWS certification good for cyber security?
You can greatly benefit from obtaining the AWS (Amazon Web Services) certifications, particularly if you want to work with cloud-based infrastructure and services.
Q5. Is CCSP certification worth it?
Yes, CCSP certification is really good to advance in your career. Most CCSP certification holders get a salary hike. It can be very beneficial for your career.