The latest InfoSec professionals statistics according to the ISC2 member counts as of Dec 31, 2018.
Really happy to receive the CISSP-ISSEP certificate today to become the first ISSEP holder in Taiwan:)
It’s a lovely afternoon and peaceful moment to enjoy the view looking out through the floor-to-ceiling window from the office.
When the ISSAP score report disclosed “Congratulations!”, my goal has been achieved pursuing the planned certifications from ISC2. I spent around 4 months in total studying intensively and finally passed the six ISC2 exams: CISSP, CCSP, CSSLP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISSP-ISSMP, and CISSP-ISSAP.
After studying for 40 hours within 8 days (from 2018/11/06 to 2018/11/13), I cleared the ISC2 CISSP-ISSAP (Information Systems Security Architecture Professional) exam today. This exam is one of the 3 CISSP concentrations. I would say the level of difficulty would be ISSAP < ISSMP < ISSEP.
The ISACA CGEIT is the last mile for me to declare success achieving my annual goal.
My plan of the year is revised as follows:
Addon, 2019/12/10:
When I passed the ISSAP exam, I was really excited as all my annual objectives were achieved and I didn’t note down the materials I used.
The following are the materials I used:
I didn’t use any test engine but the practice questions in the CBKs.
After studying for 42 hours in 12 days (from 2018/09/14 to 2018/09/25), I cleared the ISC2 CISSP-ISSEP exam this afternoon and it’s really lucky for me, probably, to be the first exam taker who passed this exam in Taiwan.
The following is what I used to prepare for this exam:
My exam preparation is completely directed by the ISC2 CISSP-ISSEP exam outline. The most common references used for the ISSEP by domain from ToniHardy and the ISC2 official references are quite helpful. Having passed CSSLP exam helps as well.
The milestones are updated as follows:
Moving forward is the best strategy of retreat! I’ll keep moving.
After studying for 36 hours in 6 days (from 2018/09/08 to 2018/09/13), I cleared the ISC2 CSSLP exam this afternoon. The following is what I used to prepare for this exam:
The ISC2 official Guide to the CSSLP helps. The exam is not so challenging for an experienced developer with CISSP qualification.
The milestones are updated as follows:
What a relief! Keep moving!
After studying for 40 hours in 9 days (from 2018/08/29 to 2018/09/06), I cleared the ISC2 CCSP exam this morning. The following is what I used to prepare for this exam:
It helps to pass this exam having some hands-on experience in cloud computing, ex. Azure and/or AWS, and sticking to the official CCSP CBK and study guide.
After evaluating the criticality of the CCSP and CSSLP exams, I changed my strategy to take CCSP exam first. The milestones are updated as follows:
Keep moving!
Special thanks to Luke Ahmed and his Facebook Group: CISSP Exam Preparation – Study Notes and Theory.
After a prolonged 2-month journey that takes 250 hours in 45 effective study days, I finally cleared the CISSP exam today. Thanks to the new CAT examination with 100 questions in 3 hours, the threshold to obtaining CISSP is lowered to a reasonable level, even though it is still quite challenging.
It’s nice that the CISSP exam is reasonably challenging. I wish you all the best to clear it ASAP.
The following resources are helpful to me:
PS. I am sorry to let you know that I’ve attended the official CISSP classroom-based training in Taipei and it’s a total waste of money and disappointing. The text for this class from ISC2 is just a bunch of slides with terribly poor quality and the instructor, from my point of view, is not prepared and qualified for this class either.