Early-career cybersecurity professionals often struggle to demonstrate their technical skills and qualifications to prospective employers, a challenge that ISACA is addressing with its newly launched Certified Cybersecurity Operations Analyst credential.
ISACA’s Certified Cybersecurity Operations Analyst (CCOA) focuses on the technical skills analysts need to advance their careers to the next level. Designed for cybersecurity professionals with a few years of experience, CCOA enables cyber analysts to gain a deeper understanding of how to identify and respond to cyber threats, perform vulnerability assessments, and provide guidance on industry best practices for securing assets—enhancing their skills and knowledge to set them apart to future employers.
“Cybersecurity professionals are often expected to have years of hands-on experience, even when they are early in their careers,” says Shannon Donahue, ISACA chief content and publishing officer. “Being able to demonstrate to peers and prospective employers a mastery of on-the-job tasks, as well as a wide breadth of knowledge and experience in both business and technical skills, can give candidates a competitive advantage and a boost in getting to that next step in their profession.”
Addressing both technical and regulatory readiness, and the latest cybersecurity challenges, CCOA covers the key domains of technology essentials; cybersecurity principles and risks; adversarial tactics, techniques, and procedures; incident detection and response; and securing assets.
ISACA’s State of Cybersecurity findings show that the top factors for determining qualified candidates for jobs are prior hands-on experience (73 percent) and credentials held (38 percent), and CCOA also provides hands-on, performance-based labs that simulate real-world scenarios and leverage today’s technologies. This experience-based component equips cybersecurity analysts with skills that can be used on the job, preparing them to tackle evolving cyber challenges and demonstrate their technical abilities effectively.
Along with the CCOA online review course—which includes one year of exam prep access to allow for time to master skills—the related materials accompanying the new credential also include a Questions, Answers, and Explanations Database (QAE) and CCOA Review Manual (available both in print and digital formats).
With a long history offering credentialing and training offerings, including Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), ISACA is committed to serving IT and IS professionals wherever they are in their career journeys. CCOA offers a step toward advancing in a cybersecurity career path, including pursuing CISM in the future. If choosing that route, CCOA exam passers earn a one-year waiver toward the CISM exam.
Learn more about CCOA at www.isaca.org/credentialing/ccoa, and about the benefits and key domains of the credential in an infographic here: www.isaca.org/resources/infographics/ccoa-infographic. More information about ISACA’s other credentials can be found at www.isaca.org/credentialing.