Certified Information System Security Professional

Modules / Chapter

Old CISSP Syllabus Effective from 1st April, 2018

Domain 1: Security and Risk Management (15 %)
Domain 2: Asset Security (10 %)
Domain 3: Security Architecture and Engineering (13 %)
Domain 4: Communication and Network Security (14 %)
Domain 5: Identify And Access Management (IAM) (13 %)
Domain 6: Security Assessment and Testing (12 %)
Domain 7: Security Operations (13 %)
Domain 8: Software Development Security (10 %)

New CISSP Syllabus Effective from 1st May, 2021

Domain 1: Security and Risk Management (15 %)
Domain 2: Asset Security (10 %)
Domain 3: Security Architecture and Engineering (13 %)
Domain 4: Communication and Network Security (13 %)
Domain 5: Identify And Access Management (IAM) (13 %)
Domain 6: Security Assessment and Testing (12 %)
Domain 7: Security Operations (13 %)
Domain 8: Software Development Security (11 %)

 Domain 1: Security and Risk Management

1.1 Understand, adhere to, and promote professional ethics

» (ISC)2 Code of Professional Ethics

» Organizational code of ethics 

1.2 Understand and apply security concepts

» Confidentiality, integrity, and availability, authenticity and nonrepudiation

1.3 Evaluate and apply security governance principles

» Alignment of the security function to business strategy, goals, mission, and objectives

» Organizational processes (e.g., acquisitions, divestitures, governance committees)

» Organizational roles and responsibilities

» Security control frameworks

» Due care/due diligence

1.4 Determine compliance and other requirements

» Contractual, legal, industry standards, and regulatory requirements

» Privacy requirements

1.5 Understand legal and regulatory issues that pertain to information security in a holistic context

» Cybercrimes and data breaches

» Licensing and Intellectual Property (IP) requirements

» Import/export controls

» Transborder data flow

» Privacy

1.6 Understand requirements for investigation types (i.e., administrative, criminal, civil, regulatory, industry standards) 

1.7 Develop, document, and implement security policy, standards, procedures, and guidelines

1.8 Identify, analyze, and prioritize Business Continuity (BC) requirements

» Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

» Develop and document the scope and the plan 

1.9 Contribute to and enforce personnel security policies and procedures

» Candidate screening and hiring

» Compliance policy requirements

» Employment agreements and policies  » Privacy policy requirements

» Onboarding, transfers, and termination processes

» Vendor, consultant, and contractor agreements and controls

1.10 Understand and apply risk management concepts

» Identify threats and vulnerabilities

» Risk assessment/analysis

» Risk response

» Countermeasure selection and implementation

» Applicable types of controls (e.g., preventive, detective, corrective)      

» Control assessments (security and privacy)

» Monitoring and measurement

» Reporting

» Continuous improvement

(e.g., Risk maturity modeling) » Risk frameworks

1.11 Understand and apply threat modeling concepts and methodologies

1.12 Apply Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) concepts

» Risks associated with hardware, software,        

» Minimum security requirements and services  

» Service level requirements

» Third-party assessment and monitoring

1.13 Establish and maintain a security awareness, education, and training program

» Methods and techniques to present awareness and training (e.g., social engineering, phishing, security champions, gamification)

» Periodic content reviews

» Program effectiveness evaluation

 Domain 2: Asset Security

2.1 Identify and classify information and assets

» Data classification

» Asset Classification

2.2 Establish information and asset handling requirements

2.3 Provision resources securely

» Information and asset ownership

» Asset inventory (e.g., tangible, intangible)

» Asset management

2.4 Manage data lifecycle

» Data roles (i.e., owners, controllers, custodians, processors, users/subjects)

» Data collection

» Data location 

» Data maintenance

» Data retention

» Data remanence

» Data destruction

2.5 Ensure appropriate asset retention (e.g., End-of-Life (EOL), End-of-Support (EOS))

2.6 Determine data security controls and compliance requirements

» Data states (e.g., in use, in transit, at rest)

» Scoping and tailoring » Standards selection

» Data protection methods (e.g., Digital Rights Management (DRM), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB))

Domain 3: Security Architecture and Engineering

3.1 Research, implement and manage engineering processes using secure design principles

        » Threat modeling           » Keep it simple

        » Least privilege               » Zero Trust

        » Defense in depth          » Privacy by design

        » Secure defaults             » Trust but verify

        » Fail securely    » Shared responsibility

» Separation of Duties (SoD)

3.2 Understand the fundamental concepts of security models (e.g., Biba, Star Model, Bell-LaPadula)  3.3 Select controls based upon systems security requirements
3.4 Understand security capabilities of Information Systems (IS) (e.g., memory protection, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), encryption/decryption)
3.5 Assess and mitigate the vulnerabilities of security architectures, designs, and solution elements

» Client-based systems

» Server-based systems

» Database systems

» Cryptographic systems

» Industrial Control Systems (ICS)

» Cloud-based systems (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS))

» Distributed systems

3.6 Select and determine cryptographic solutions

» Internet of Things (IoT)

» Microservices

» Containerization

» Serverless

» Embedded systems

» High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems

» Edge computing systems

» Virtualized systems

» Cryptographic life cycle (e.g., keys, algorithm selection)

» Cryptographic methods (e.g., symmetric, asymmetric, elliptic curves, quantum)

» Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

» Key management practices

» Digital signatures and digital certificates

» Non-repudiation

» Integrity (e.g., hashing)

3.7 Understand methods of cryptanalytic attacks

        » Brute force                     » Fault injection

        » Ciphertext only             » Timing

        » Known plaintext            » Man-in-the-Middle (MITM)

        » Frequency analysis       » Pass the hash

        » Chosen ciphertext        » Kerberos exploitation

        » Implementation attacks            » Ransomware

» Side-channel

3.8 Apply security principles to site and facility design

3.9 Design site and facility security controls

» Wiring closets/intermediate distribution facilities

» Server rooms/data centers

» Media storage facilities

» Evidence storage

» Restricted and work area security

» Utilities and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

» Environmental issues

» Fire prevention, detection, and suppression

» Power (e.g., redundant, backup)

 Domain 4: Communication and Network Security

4.1 Assess and implement secure design principles in network architectures

» Open System Interconnection (OSI) and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) models

» Internet Protocol (IP) networking (e.g., Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), Internet Protocol (IP) v4/6)

» Secure protocols

» Implications of multilayer protocols

» Converged protocols (e.g., Fiber Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE),

Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP))

» Micro-segmentation (e.g., Software Defined Networks (SDN), Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN), Encapsulation, Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN))

» Wireless networks (e.g., Li-Fi, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, satellite)

» Cellular networks (e.g., 4G, 5G)

» Content Distribution Networks (CDN)

4.2 Secure network components

» Operation of hardware             

» Network Access Control (NAC) devices

(e.g., redundant power, warranty, support) » Endpoint security » Transmission media

4.3 Implement secure communication channels according to design

» Voice

» Multimedia collaboration

» Remote access             

» Data communications

» Virtualized networks

» Third-party connectivity

 Domain 5: Identity and Access Management (IAM)

5.1 Control physical and logical access to assets

        » Information     » Facilities

        » Systems            » Applications

» Devices

5.2 Manage identification and authentication of people, devices, and services

        » Identity Management (IdM) implementation    

» Federated Identity Management (FIM)

        » Single/Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)        

» Credential management systems

        » Accountability                » Single Sign On (SSO)

        » Session management » Just-In-Time (JIT)

» Registration, proofing, and establishment of identity

5.3 Federated identity with a third-party service

        » On-premise     » Hybrid

» Cloud

5.4 Implement and manage authorization mechanisms

        » Role Based Access Control (RBAC)         » Discretionary Access Control (DAC)

        » Rule based access control                        » Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC)

        » Mandatory Access Control (MAC)          » Risk based access control

5.5 Manage the identity and access provisioning lifecycle

» Account access review (e.g., user, system, service)         » Role definition (e.g., people assigned to new roles)

» Provisioning and deprovisioning                                          » Privilege escalation (e.g., managed service (e.g., on /off boarding and transfers)    

5.6 Implement authentication systems

        » OpenID Connect (OIDC)/Open Authorization   

» Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

        (Oauth) (RADIUS)/Terminal Access Controller Access

» Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Control System Plus (TACACS+)

» Kerberos

 Domain 6: Security Assessment and Testing 

6.1 Design and validate assessment, test, and audit strategies

» Internal

» External

» Third-party

6.2 Conduct security control testing

        » Vulnerability assessment           » Misuse case testing

        » Penetration testing                     » Test coverage analysis

        » Log reviews                                   » Interface testing

        » Synthetic transactions » Breach attack simulations

        » Code review and testing            » Compliance checks

6.3 Collect security process data (e.g., technical and administrative)

        » Account management » Training and awareness

        » Management review and approval        » Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity

        » Key performance and risk indicators     (BC)

» Backup verification data

6.4 Analyze test output and generate report

» Remediation

» Exception handling

» Ethical disclosure

6.5 Conduct or facilitate security audits

» Internal

» External

» Third-party

 Domain 7: Security Operations

7.1 Understand and comply with investigations

» Evidence collection and handling

» Reporting and documentation

» Investigative techniques

7.2 Conduct logging and monitoring activities

» Intrusion detection and prevention

» Security Information and Event Management

(SIEM)

» Continuous monitoring

» Egress monitoring

» Digital forensics tools, tactics, and procedures

» Artifacts (e.g., computer, network, mobile device)   

» Log management

» Threat intelligence (e.g., threat feeds, threat hunting)

» User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)

7.3 Perform Configuration Management (CM) (e.g., provisioning, baselining, automation)

7.4 Apply foundational security operations concepts

        » Need-to-know/least privilege   » Job rotation

» Separation of Duties (SoD) and responsibilities

» Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

» Privileged account management

7.5 Apply resource protection

» Media management

» Media protection techniques

7.6 Conduct incident management

        » Detection         » Recovery

        » Response         » Remediation

        » Mitigation        » Lessons learned

» Reporting

7.7 Operate and maintain detective and preventative measures

        » Firewalls (e.g., next generation, web    » Sandboxing

        application, network)      » Honeypots/honeynets

» Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion             » Anti-malware Prevention Systems (IPS)

» Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

        » Whitelisting/blacklisting             based tools

» Third-party provided security services

7.8 Implement and support patch and vulnerability management 7.9 Understand and participate in change management processes 7.10 Implement recovery strategies

        » Backup storage strategies         » System resilience, High Availability (HA), Quality

        » Recovery site strategies             of Service (QoS), and fault tolerance

» Multiple processing sites

7.11 Implement Disaster Recovery (DR) processes

» Response

» Personnel

» Communications

» Assessment

7.12 Test Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP)         » Restoration

» Training and awareness

» Lessons learned

» Read-through/tabletop

» Walkthrough

» Simulation       » Parallel

» Full interruption

7.13 Participate in Business Continuity (BC) planning and exercises 7.14 Implement and manage physical security

» Perimeter security controls

» Internal security controls

7.15 Address personnel safety and security concerns

» Travel

» Security training and awareness             » Emergency management

» Duress

Domain 8: Software Development Security

8.1 Understand and integrate security in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

» Development methodologies (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, DevOps, DevSecOps)

» Maturity models (e.g., Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM)) » Operation and maintenance

» Change management

» Integrated Product Team (IPT)

8.2 Identify and apply security controls in software development ecosystems

» Programming languages

» Libraries

» Tool sets

» Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

» Runtime

» Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

8.3 Assess the effectiveness of software security

» Auditing and logging of changes

» Risk analysis and mitigation

8.4 Assess security impact of acquired software        

» Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR)

» Software Configuration Management (SCM)

» Code repositories

» Application security testing (e.g., Static Application

» Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST))

» Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)

» Open source

» Third-party     

» Managed services (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS))

8.5 Define and apply secure coding guidelines and standards

» Security weaknesses and vulnerabilities at the source-code level

» Security of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

» Secure coding practices

» Software-defined security