CCNA Cyber Ops vs CCNA Security

About this video

NetworkChuck compares the CCNA Cyber Ops and CCNA Security certifications, after opening segments on extreme ownership and RSA Conference news including Google Chronicle’s Backstory log-analysis product and the NSA’s open-source Ghidra reverse-engineering tool. He says the exam topics look similar, but the prerequisites and roles differ: CCNA Security requires CCENT (or CCNA Routing and Switching / any CCIE) and is a single exam (210-260 in the transcript), focused on firewalls, Cisco security implementation, VPN/WAN topics and layer-2 attack mitigation, preparing learners for a network security admin role and a path onward to CCNP Security and CCIE Security. Cyber Ops has no prerequisites, requires two exams covering security fundamentals, cryptography, host-based analysis, monitoring, attack methods, forensics, incident handling and compliance frameworks such as PCI, HIPAA and SOX, and prepares learners for a Security Operations Center analyst role correlating logs and events, often for large or managed-service employers. He notes job listings often accept either cert, and that Security+ overlaps heavily with Cyber Ops. His recommendation is CCNA Security first — because Cyber Ops had no CCNP-level follow-on at the time, Security is better known to recruiters, and he believes everyone should get CCNA Routing and Switching fundamentals before specializing — while saying doing both is possible.

Key takeaways

• CCNA Security: requires CCENT, one exam, firewall/implementation-focused, aimed at network security admin roles
• CCNA Cyber Ops: no prerequisites, two exams, monitoring/forensics/incident-response-focused, aimed at SOC analyst roles
• Creator recommends CCNA Security first because it leads to CCNP/CCIE Security, while Cyber Ops had no higher-level track then
• Job postings cited in the video often list Cyber Ops, CCNA Security, CCNP Security, or Security+ interchangeably
• Creator’s standing advice is to earn CCNA Routing and Switching fundamentals before any security specialization

Episode details: published March 12, 2019 · 17:27 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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