Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)

Definition - What does Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) mean?

A Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) is an information technology (IT) professional who has undergone official training and received certification for it upon completion from Cisco Systems. A CCSP has undergone training in network-related security software, hardware and administration. Cisco officially retired the CCSP certification on November 17, 2011.

CCSPs are typically employed in IT security departments as system admins. The CCSP training usually covers the following:

Security policy development
Authentication
Identity management
Authorization
Anti-malware programs
Firewalls

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Techopedia explains Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)

As of November 17, 2011, Cisco decided to retire the CCSP certification program. Cisco then announced that those who are interested in pursuing a similar certification should opt for the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) security certification.

The CCSP training covered various technologies to build extensive network-security solutions. In order to acquire a CCSP certification, a professional should display a strong expertise in multi-level security paradigms and networking protocols to be used in a business environment, especially e-commerce. CCSP professionals were also trained to effectively manage local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) security to ensure utmost business asset protection in the most cost-effective manner.

CCSPs possessed superior know-how and abilities needed to safeguard Cisco networks. CCSPs demonstrated the abilities essential to secure and manage network infrastructures to ensure productivity, minimize threats and cut down expenditures.

The CCSP certification program emphasized the following:

Cisco Router IOS and Catalyst Switch safety features
Secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity
Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA)
Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)
Security Enterprise and Device Administration
Cisco Security Agent (CSA)
Network Admission Control (NAC)
Solutions to optimize the above technologies in a single, built-in network-security solution