Certification Exam Outline

Effective Date: April 15, 2024

About CISSP
The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is the most globally recognized certification
in the information security market. CISSP validates an information security professional’s deep technical
and managerial knowledge and experience to effectively design, engineer, and manage the overall security
posture of an organization.

The broad spectrum of topics included in the CISSP body of knowledge ensure its relevancy across all
disciplines in the field of information security. Successful candidates are competent in the following
eight domains:

• Security and Risk Management

• Asset Security
• Security Architecture and Engineering
• Communication and Network Security
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Security Assessment and Testing
• Security Operations
• Software Development Security

Experience Requirements
Candidates must have a minimum of five years cumulative, full-time experience in two or more of the eight
domains of the current CISSP Exam Outline. Earning a post-secondary degree (bachelors or masters) in
computer science, information technology (IT) or related fields may satisfy up to one year of the required
experience or an additional credential from the ISC2 approved list may satisfy up to one year of the required
experience. Part-time work and internships may also count towards the experience requirement.

A candidate that doesn’t have the required experience to become a CISSP may become an Associate of ISC2
by successfully passing the CISSP examination. The Associate of ISC2 will then have six years to earn the five
years required experience. You can learn more about CISSP experience requirements and how to account for
part-time work and internships at www.isc2.org/Certifications/CISSP/experience-requirements.

Accreditation
CISSP was the first credential in the field of information security to meet the stringent requirements of ANSI/
ISO/IEC Standard 17024.

Job Task Analysis (JTA)

ISC2 has an obligation to its membership to maintain the relevancy of the CISSP. Conducted at regular
intervals, the Job Task Analysis (JTA) is a methodical and critical process of determining the tasks that are
performed by security professionals who are engaged in the profession defined by the CISSP. The results of
the JTA are used to update the examination. This process ensures that candidates are tested on the topic
areas relevant to the roles and responsibilities of today’s practicing information security professionals.

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 2

 CISSP CAT Examination Information
The CISSP exam uses Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) for all English, German,
Spanish-Modern, Japanese, Simplified Chinese exams. You can learn more about CISSP
CAT at www.isc2.org/certificatons/CISSP-CAT.

Length of exam 3 hours

Number of items 100 - 150
Item format Multiple choice and advanced innovative items
Passing grade 700 out of 1000 points

Exam language availability Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Spanish

Testing center ISC2 Authorized PPC and PVTC Select Pearson VUE
Testing Centers

CISSP CAT Examination Weights

Domains Average Weight

1. Security and Risk Management 16%

2. Asset Security 10%

3. Security Architecture and Engineering 13%

4. Communication and Network Security 13%

5. Identity and Access Management (IAM) 13%

6. Security Assessment and Testing 12%

7. Security Operations 13%

8. Software Development Security 10%

Total: 100%

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 3

 Domain 1:
Security and Risk Management
1.1 Understand, adhere to, and promote professional ethics

» ISC2 Code of Professional Ethics

» Organizational code of ethics

1.2 Understand and apply security concepts

» Confidentiality, integrity, and availability, authenticity, and nonrepudiation (5 Pillars of Information Security)

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 (e.g., International Organization for Standardization (ISO), National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT),
Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture (SABSA), Payment Card Industry (PCI), Federal Risk
and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP))
» Due care/due diligence

1.4 Understand legal, regulatory, and compliance issues that pertain to information
security in a holistic context
» Cybercrimes and data breaches » Issues related to privacy (e.g., General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer
» Licensing and Intellectual Property requirements
Privacy Act, Personal Information Protection Law,
» Import/export controls Protection of Personal Information Act)
» Transborder data flow » Contractual, legal, industry standards,
and regulatory requirements

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

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

1.7 Identify, analyze, assess, prioritize, and implement Business Continuity (BC) requirements
» Business impact analysis (BIA)
» External dependencies

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 4

 1.8 Contribute to and enforce personnel security policies and procedures
» Candidate screening and hiring » Onboarding, transfers, and termination processes
» Employment agreements and policy driven » Vendor, consultant, and contractor agreements and
requirements controls

1.9 Understand and apply risk management concepts

» Threat and vulnerability identification » Continuous improvement (e.g., risk maturity
modeling)
» Risk analysis, assessment, and scope
» Risk frameworks (e.g., International Organization
» Risk response and treatment (e.g., cybersecurity
for Standardization (ISO), National Institute
insurance)
of Standards and Technology (NIST), Control
» Applicable types of controls (e.g., preventive, Objectives for Information and Related Technology
detection, corrective) (COBIT), Sherwood Applied Business Security
» Control assessments (e.g., security and privacy) Architecture (SABSA), Payment Card Industry (PCI))

» Continuous monitoring and measurement

» Reporting (e.g., internal, external)

1.10 Understand and apply threat modeling concepts and methodologies

1.11 Apply supply chain risk management (SCRM) concepts

» Risks associated with the acquisition of products service level requirements, silicon root of trust,
and services from suppliers and providers (e.g., physically unclonable function, software bill of
product tampering, counterfeits, implants) materials)
» Risk mitigations (e.g., third-party assessment
and monitoring, minimum security requirements,

1.12 Establish and maintain a security awareness, education, and training program
» Methods and techniques to increase awareness » Program effectiveness evaluation
and training (e.g., social engineering, phishing,
security champions, gamification)
» Periodic content reviews to include emerging
technologies and trends (e.g., cryptocurrency,
artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain)

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 5

 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 information and assets 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, » Data maintenance
processors, users/subjects)
» Data retention
» Data collection » Data remanence
» Data location » Data destruction

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

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))

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 6

 Domain 3:
Security Architecture and Engineering
3.1 Research, implement and manage engineering processes using secure design principles

» Threat modeling » Keep it simple and small

» Least privilege » Zero trust or trust but verify
» Defense in depth » Privacy by design
» Secure defaults » Shared responsibility
» Fail securely » Secure access service edge
» Segregation 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 » Internet of Things (IoT)

» Server-based systems » Microservices (e.g., application programming
interface (API))
» Database systems
» Containerization
» Cryptographic systems
» Serverless
» Industrial Control Systems (ICS)
» Embedded systems
» Cloud-based systems (e.g., Software as a Service
(SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as » High-Performance Computing systems
a Service (PaaS)) » Edge computing systems
» Distributed systems » Virtualized systems

3.6 Select and determine cryptographic solutions

» Cryptographic life cycle (e.g., keys, algorithm » Key management practices (e.g., rotation)
selection) » Digital signatures and digital
» Cryptographic methods (e.g., symmetric, certificates (e.g., non-repudiation,
asymmetric, elliptic curves, quantum) integrity)
» Public key infrastructure (PKI)
(e.g., quantum key distribution)

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 7

 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 » Environmental issues

(e.g., natural disasters, man-made)
» Server rooms/data centers
» Fire prevention, detection, and suppression
» Media storage facilities
» Power (e.g., redundant, backup)
» Evidence storage
» Restricted and work area security
» Utilities and heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning (HVAC)

3.10 Manage the information system lifecycle

» Stakeholders needs and requirements » Verification and validation

» Requirements analysis » Transition/deployment
» Architectural design » Operations and maintenance/sustainment
» Development /implementation » Retirement/disposal
» Integration

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 8

 Domain 4:
Communication and Network Security
4.1 Apply secure design principles in network architectures
» Open System Interconnection (OSI) and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) models
» Internet Protocol (IP) version 4 and 6 (IPv6) (e.g., unicast, broadcast, multicast, anycast)
» Secure protocols (e.g., Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), Secure Shell (SSH), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/
Transport Layer Security (TLS))
» Implications of multilayer protocols
» Converged protocols (e.g., Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI), Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP), InfiniBand over Ethernet, Compute Express Link)
» Transport architecture (e.g., topology, data/control/management plane, cut-through/store-and-forward)
» Performance metrics (e.g., bandwidth, latency, jitter, throughput, signal-to-noise ratio)
» Traffic flows (e.g., north-south, east-west)
» Physical segmentation (e.g., in-band, out-of-band, air-gapped)
» Logical segmentation (e.g., virtual local area networks (VLANs), virtual private networks (VPNs),
virtual routing and forwarding, virtual domain)
» Micro-segmentation (e.g., network overlays/encapsulation; distributed firewalls, routers,
intrusion detection system (IDS)/intrusion prevention system (IPS), zero trust)
» Edge networks (e.g., ingress/egress, peering)
» Wireless networks (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, satellite)
» Cellular/mobile networks (e.g., 4G, 5G)
» Content distribution networks (CDN)
» Software defined networks (SDN), (e.g., application programming interface (API), Software-Defined
Wide-Area Network, network functions virtualization)
» Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
» Monitoring and management (e.g., network observability, traffic flow/shaping,
capacity management, fault detection and handling)

4.2 Secure network components

» Operation of infrastructure (e.g., redundant » Network Access Control (NAC) systems

power, warranty, support) (e.g., physical, and virtual solutions)
» Transmission media (e.g., physical security » Endpoint security (e.g., host-based)
of media, signal propagation quality)

4.3 Implement secure communication channels according to design

» Voice, video, and collaboration » Data communications
(e.g., conferencing, Zoom rooms) (e.g., backhaul networks, satellite)
» Remote access (e.g., network » Third-party connectivity (e.g., telecom
administrative functions) providers, hardware support)

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 9

 Domain 5:
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
5.1 Control physical and logical access to assets
» Information » Facilities
» Systems » Applications
» Devices » Services

5.2 Design identification and authentication strategy (e.g., people, devices, and services)

» Groups and Roles » Federated Identity Management (FIM)

» Authentication, Authorization and Accounting » Credential management systems
(AAA) (e.g., multi-factor authentication (MFA), (e.g., Password vault)
password-less authentication)
» Single sign-on (SSO)
» Session management
» Just-In-Time
» Registration, proofing, and establishment
of identity

5.3 Federated identity with a third-party service

» On-premises » Hybrid
» Cloud

5.4 Implement and manage authorization mechanisms

» Role-based access control (RBAC) » Attribute-based access control (ABAC)
» Rule-based access control » Risk-based access control
» Mandatory access control (MAC) » Access policy enforcement (e.g., policy decision
point, policy enforcement point)
» Discretionary access control (DAC)

5.5 Manage the identity and access provisioning lifecycle

» Account access review (e.g., user, system, service) » Role definition and transition (e.g., people
assigned to new roles)
» Provisioning and deprovisioning
(e.g., on /off boarding and transfers) » Privilege escalation (e.g., use of sudo,
auditing its use)
» Service accounts management

5.6 Implement authentication systems

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 10

 Domain 6:
Security Assessment and Testing
6.1 Design and validate assessment, test, and audit strategies
» Internal (e.g., within organization control) » Third-party (e.g., outside of enterprise control)
» External (e.g., outside organization control) » Location (e.g., on-premise, cloud, hybrid)

6.2 Conduct security control testing

» Vulnerability assessment » Coverage analysis
» Penetration testing (e.g., red, blue, and/or purple » Interface testing (e.g., user interface,
team exercises) network interface, application programming
interface (API))
» Log reviews
» Breach attack simulations
» Synthetic transactions/benchmarks
» Compliance checks
» Code review and testing
» Misuse case testing

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 (BC)
» Key performance and risk indicators
» Backup verification data

6.4 Analyze test output and generate report

» Remediation
» Exception handling
» Ethical disclosure

6.5 Conduct or facilitate security audits

» Internal (e.g., within organization control) » Third-party (e.g., outside of enterprise control)
» External (e.g., outside organization control) » Location (e.g., on-premises, cloud, hybrid)

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 11

 Domain 7:
Security Operations
7.1 Understand and comply with investigations
» Evidence collection and handling » Digital forensics tools, tactics, and procedures
» Reporting and documentation » Artifacts (e.g., data, computer, network,
mobile device)
» Investigative techniques

7.2 Conduct logging and monitoring activities

» Intrusion detection and prevention (IDPS) » Log management
» Security information and event management » Threat intelligence (e.g., threat feeds, threat
(SIEM) hunting)
» Continuous monitoring and tuning » User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA)
» Egress monitoring

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
» Segregation of Duties (SoD) and responsibilities » Service-level agreements (SLA)
» Privileged account management

7.5 Apply resource protection

» Media management » Data at rest/data in transit

» Media protection techniques

7.6 Conduct incident management

» Detection » Recovery
» Response » Remediation
» Mitigation » Lessons learned
» Reporting

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 12

 7.7 Operate and maintain detection 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 » Multiple processing sites
(e.g., cloud storage, onsite, offsite) » System resilience, high availability (HA),
» Recovery site strategies (e.g., cold vs. hot, Quality of Service (QoS), and fault tolerance
resource capacity agreements)

7.11 Implement disaster recovery (DR) processes

» Response » Restoration
» Personnel » Training and awareness
» Communications (e.g., methods) » Lessons learned
» Assessment

7.12 Test disaster recovery plans (DRP)

» Read-through/tabletop » Full interruption
» Walkthrough » Communications (e.g., stakeholders,
test status, regulators)
» Simulation
» Parallel

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 » Emergency management
» Security training and awareness » Duress
(e.g., insider threat, social media impacts,
two-factor authentication (2FA) fatigue)

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 13

 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, Scaled Agile Framework)
» Maturity models (e.g., Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM))
» Operation and maintenance
» Change management
» Integrated Product Team

8.2 Identify and apply security controls in software development ecosystems

» Programming languages » Software configuration management (CM)

» Libraries » Code repositories
» Tool sets » Application security testing (e.g., static
application security testing (SAST),
» Integrated Development Environment
dynamic application security testing (DAST),
» Runtime software composition analysis, Interactive
» Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery Application Security Test (IAST))
(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

» Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) » Managed services (e.g., enterprise applications)
» Open source » Cloud services (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS),
» Third-party 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 (API)
» Secure coding practices
» Software-defined security

CISSP Certification Exam Outline 14

 Additional Examination Information
Supplementary References
Candidates are encouraged to supplement their education and experience by reviewing
relevant resources that pertain to the CBK and identifying areas of study that may need
additional attention.

View the full list of supplementary references at www.isc2.org/certifications/References.

Examination Policies and Procedures

ISC2 recommends that candidates review exam policies and procedures prior to
registering for the examination. Read the comprehensive breakdown of this important
information at isc2.org/register-for-exam.

Legal Info
For any questions related to ISC2’s legal policies, please contact the ISC2 Legal
Department at [email protected].

Any Questions?
Contact ISC2 Candidate Services in your region:

Americas
Tel: +1.866.331.ISC2 (4722), press 1
Email: [email protected]

Asia-Pacific
Tel: +(852) 5803-5662
Email: [email protected]

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Tel: +44 (0)203-960-7800
Email: [email protected]

CISSP Certification
v9/2024 Exam Outline 15