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Back to SCS-C02

Security Specialty Exam Guide

A comprehensive 10-week study plan to help you prepare for the AWS Security Specialty certification exam. This is a specialty-level exam requiring deep AWS security knowledge.

Exam Information

170 minutes

Duration

65 questions

Questions

750/1000

Passing Score

$300 USD

Exam Cost

Recommended Study Plan

Week 1

Security Fundamentals & IAM Deep Dive

Identity and Access Management (16%)

12-15 hours

IAM policies, roles, and trust relationships
Policy evaluation logic and permission boundaries
IAM Access Analyzer and policy validation
Cross-account access patterns

Recommended Resources:

IAM Documentation

IAM Policy Simulator

Week 2

Federation & Identity Center

Identity and Access Management (16%)

10-12 hours

SAML 2.0 and OIDC federation
IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO)
Cognito user pools and identity pools
Active Directory integration

Recommended Resources:

Identity Center Labs

Documentation

Week 3

Logging & Monitoring

Security Logging and Monitoring (18%)

12-14 hours

CloudTrail configuration and management
CloudTrail Lake for querying
VPC Flow Logs analysis
CloudWatch Logs and metric filters

Recommended Resources:

CloudTrail Documentation

Hands-on Labs

Week 4

Security Hub & Compliance

Security Logging and Monitoring (18%)

12-14 hours

Security Hub aggregation and findings
AWS Config rules and conformance packs
Compliance frameworks (CIS, PCI DSS)
Automated remediation with EventBridge

Recommended Resources:

Security Hub Labs

Config Documentation

Week 5

Network Security

Infrastructure Security (20%)

12-14 hours

Security groups and NACLs
AWS WAF rules and managed rule groups
AWS Shield Standard and Advanced
AWS Network Firewall

Recommended Resources:

WAF Documentation

Security Labs

Week 6

Secure Connectivity

Infrastructure Security (20%)

10-12 hours

VPN and Direct Connect security
PrivateLink and VPC endpoints
Transit Gateway security
Traffic mirroring and inspection

Recommended Resources:

Networking Documentation

Architecture Labs

Week 7

Data Protection - Encryption

Data Protection (18%)

12-14 hours

KMS key types and key policies
Multi-region keys and grants
S3 encryption options (SSE-S3, SSE-KMS, SSE-C)
CloudHSM for compliance

Recommended Resources:

KMS Documentation

Encryption Labs

Week 8

Data Protection - Secrets & Certificates

Data Protection (18%)

10-12 hours

Secrets Manager rotation
Parameter Store (SecureString)
ACM certificate management
Client-side encryption patterns

Recommended Resources:

Secrets Manager Labs

ACM Documentation

Week 9

Threat Detection & Incident Response

Threat Detection and Incident Response (14%)

12-14 hours

GuardDuty finding types and remediation
Amazon Inspector vulnerability scanning
Amazon Detective for investigation
Automated incident response with Lambda

Recommended Resources:

GuardDuty Documentation

Incident Response Workshop

Week 10

Governance & Review

Management and Security Governance (14%)

15-20 hours

AWS Organizations and SCPs
Control Tower and guardrails
Firewall Manager policies
Practice exams and weak area review

Recommended Resources:

Practice Exams

Security Whitepapers

Exam Tips & Strategies

Think Defense in Depth

AWS security uses layered controls. Understand how IAM, network, and data protection work together.

Time Management

With 170 minutes for 65 questions, you have about 2.5 minutes per question. Security scenarios can be complex - manage time wisely.

Hands-On Security Labs

Use AWS Security Workshops (workshops.aws) for hands-on practice with GuardDuty, Security Hub, and incident response.

Master IAM Policy Evaluation

Know the policy evaluation logic inside out. Many questions test your understanding of how policies interact.

Key Topics to Master

IAM policy evaluation logic

Cross-account access patterns

SAML/OIDC federation

CloudTrail event types and analysis

VPC Flow Logs interpretation

Security Hub and Config integration

WAF rule groups and rate limiting

Network Firewall vs Security Groups

KMS key policies and grants

Encryption at rest and in transit

Secrets Manager rotation

GuardDuty finding types

Incident response automation

SCPs and Organizations

Firewall Manager policies

For the most up-to-date exam information, visit the official exam guide.

View Official Exam Guide

Back to SCS-C02

Security Specialty Exam Guide

A comprehensive 10-week study plan to help you prepare for the AWS Security Specialty certification exam. This is a specialty-level exam requiring deep AWS security knowledge.

Exam Information

170 minutes

Duration

65 questions

Questions

750/1000

Passing Score

$300 USD

Exam Cost

Recommended Study Plan

Week 1

Security Fundamentals & IAM Deep Dive

Identity and Access Management (16%)

12-15 hours

IAM policies, roles, and trust relationships
Policy evaluation logic and permission boundaries
IAM Access Analyzer and policy validation
Cross-account access patterns

Recommended Resources:

IAM Documentation

IAM Policy Simulator

Week 2

Federation & Identity Center

Identity and Access Management (16%)

10-12 hours

SAML 2.0 and OIDC federation
IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO)
Cognito user pools and identity pools
Active Directory integration

Recommended Resources:

Identity Center Labs

Documentation

Week 3

Logging & Monitoring

Security Logging and Monitoring (18%)

12-14 hours

CloudTrail configuration and management
CloudTrail Lake for querying
VPC Flow Logs analysis
CloudWatch Logs and metric filters

Recommended Resources:

CloudTrail Documentation

Hands-on Labs

Week 4

Security Hub & Compliance

Security Logging and Monitoring (18%)

12-14 hours

Security Hub aggregation and findings
AWS Config rules and conformance packs
Compliance frameworks (CIS, PCI DSS)
Automated remediation with EventBridge

Recommended Resources:

Security Hub Labs

Config Documentation

Week 5

Network Security

Infrastructure Security (20%)

12-14 hours

Security groups and NACLs
AWS WAF rules and managed rule groups
AWS Shield Standard and Advanced
AWS Network Firewall

Recommended Resources:

WAF Documentation

Security Labs

Week 6

Secure Connectivity

Infrastructure Security (20%)

10-12 hours

VPN and Direct Connect security
PrivateLink and VPC endpoints
Transit Gateway security
Traffic mirroring and inspection

Recommended Resources:

Networking Documentation

Architecture Labs

Week 7

Data Protection - Encryption

Data Protection (18%)

12-14 hours

KMS key types and key policies
Multi-region keys and grants
S3 encryption options (SSE-S3, SSE-KMS, SSE-C)
CloudHSM for compliance

Recommended Resources:

KMS Documentation

Encryption Labs

Week 8

Data Protection - Secrets & Certificates

Data Protection (18%)

10-12 hours

Secrets Manager rotation
Parameter Store (SecureString)
ACM certificate management
Client-side encryption patterns

Recommended Resources:

Secrets Manager Labs

ACM Documentation

Week 9

Threat Detection & Incident Response

Threat Detection and Incident Response (14%)

12-14 hours

GuardDuty finding types and remediation
Amazon Inspector vulnerability scanning
Amazon Detective for investigation
Automated incident response with Lambda

Recommended Resources:

GuardDuty Documentation

Incident Response Workshop

Week 10

Governance & Review

Management and Security Governance (14%)

15-20 hours

AWS Organizations and SCPs
Control Tower and guardrails
Firewall Manager policies
Practice exams and weak area review

Recommended Resources:

Practice Exams

Security Whitepapers

Exam Tips & Strategies

Think Defense in Depth

AWS security uses layered controls. Understand how IAM, network, and data protection work together.

Time Management

With 170 minutes for 65 questions, you have about 2.5 minutes per question. Security scenarios can be complex - manage time wisely.

Hands-On Security Labs

Use AWS Security Workshops (workshops.aws) for hands-on practice with GuardDuty, Security Hub, and incident response.

Master IAM Policy Evaluation

Know the policy evaluation logic inside out. Many questions test your understanding of how policies interact.

Key Topics to Master

IAM policy evaluation logic

Cross-account access patterns

SAML/OIDC federation

CloudTrail event types and analysis

VPC Flow Logs interpretation

Security Hub and Config integration

WAF rule groups and rate limiting

Network Firewall vs Security Groups

KMS key policies and grants

Encryption at rest and in transit

Secrets Manager rotation

GuardDuty finding types

Incident response automation

SCPs and Organizations

Firewall Manager policies

For the most up-to-date exam information, visit the official exam guide.

View Official Exam Guide