CCSP – Certified Cloud Security Professional

For practitioners doing actual cloud security engineering (not consulting/audit), vendor certs (AWS Security Specialty, Azure SC-100) often deliver more applicable knowledge per hour. CCSP best-positioned for cloud-strategy / risk-leadership roles.

Cost: $599 USD exam + $125/yr AMF (combined CISSP+CCSP if you hold both). Renewal: 90 CPEs / 3 years. Often pursued alongside or after CISSP — significant content overlap (encryption, IAM, governance) makes prep efficient if CISSP is fresh.

Vendor-neutral content (covers AWS, Azure, GCP at conceptual level). Less hands-on than vendor-specific cloud security tracks — heavy on policy, encryption theory, contracts/SLAs. Pete Zerger CCSP videos + ISC2 Official Study Guide standard prep.

ISC2's cloud-security flagship. Often described as "CISSP-lite focused on cloud". Requires 5 years experience (1 in cloud) — Associate of ISC2 fallback if missing. ISC2 salary surveys show meaningful uplift, especially in cloud-architect / consulting roles.