Recent CCSP Exam Feedback

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One of my former students, Mark Landes, shared this with me today. Mark reminds us of the purpose and use of practice questions: not to learn the material, but to prepare for how to deal with questions about the topics. Thanks, Mark, and congratulations!

”Hi Ben. I was in the CCSP boot camp with ISC2 conference last November. Just wanted to let you know I passed the certification exam in December and got the confirmation of award in late January. Your class and books (study guide and practice exams) were a great help. There were not a lot of direct ‘book questions’ from either, but rather a lot of questions applying the cloud models and technologies the books taught. The practice of answering all those sample questions really helped prepare from a psychological perspective. Thanks again!”

CSA CCM Update

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The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) just published Version 4 of the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM). If you are involved with securing a cloud environment, I cannot recommend this tool highly enough; it works for any type of organization, in any kind of cloud deployment. Best of all, it’s my favorite price: free.

Go download it here: https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/artifacts/cloud-controls-matrix-v4

46 Arrr Matey

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Big News: ISC2 Online Testing

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ISC2 is finally going to experiment with offering online testing. It’s the last major INFOSEC certification body to do so, and it’s taken a long time to get to this point. I applaud this evolution, and am pleased that underserved communities will finally be able to leap the barrier to entry that physical testing required. (I’m also glad that online testing will reduce pollution necessitated by travel.)

Well done, ISC2!

https://www.isc2.org/News-and-Events/Press-Room/Posts/2021/01/11/ISC2-To-Offer-Online-Exam-Proctoring-for-CISSP-and-Other-Cybersecurity-Certifications

New Year, New Book!

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New year, new book!

If you're studying for the CCSK, I just published over 300 practice questions covering all topic areas of that exam. It might also be a useful resource for CCSP studies, too, as many of the questions will be applicable for that test.

Many thanks to Mohamed Malki for technical review and editing, the inimitable Rachel Ribando-Gros, for being the best go-to graphics pro (with the most patience!), and Robin Cabe for layout and formatting. Y'all are wonderful, and I can't thank you enough.

Enjoy!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR9KTZZ?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

42. Safing: Fighting Surveillance with Raphael Fiedler

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Join us in exploring a new way to control your personal privacy online in a conversation with the CEO of Safing, Raphael Fiedler. You know it’s going to be a great episode when their website header is “Fight surveillance because you love Freedom.”

Raphael’s company, Safing: https://safing.io/

Raphael’s podcast: https://safing.io/podcast/


Got an email from the CEO of ISACA recently....

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THIS is how professional responsibility is done. This is how to craft an apology. This is leadership.

”Dear ISACA Community,

The integrity, high professional standards and smooth delivery of our certification exams are essential to maintaining the trust we’ve earned with ISACA’s professional communities. Last month we stumbled with the smooth delivery promise, and I am writing to our full member community to apologize. We must do better.

As some of you know, we experienced some unexpected issues when our certification exam vendor PSI performed a system upgrade. About 17% of our exam takers in November and the first few days of December were impacted. Earlier this afternoon, I reached out to those individuals to personally apologize and to offer them a complimentary exam retake if they did not receive a passing score.

We have also heard that our customer experience center response times to questions from the affected candidates has been slower than it should be. We are taking immediate steps to improve this, starting with a dedicated email address that affected candidates can use so their messages are marked as top priority. We have also added additional staff resources to the customer experience team.

During times of change and turbulence, individuals make an important choice to invest in themselves, and our certifications are “go to” education opportunities for IT professionals to advance their careers. Exam candidates invest time, money and dreams into our tests, and they deserve a trusted and smooth experience. I want you all to know that I take direct responsibility for these issues regardless of where the experience fell short. My team and I are committed to turning this experience around and helping candidates have a more successful exam day and a more positive experience with ISACA. In fact, beginning in early 2021, we are introducing 24/7 customer support so ISACA members and exam candidates no longer have to wait for help based on their time zone.

In addition, we are holding PSI accountable for their part in this issue. From the moment we began receiving information about this issue, we started regular meetings with the PSI leadership team, and they have assured us the technology issues are resolved. However, we plan to increase the communication to ensure this does not happen again.

Thank you for your trust in ISACA and our globally recognized credentials. We are committed to giving you and all of our members, customers and certification candidates the support you need and being a valued partner on your career and learning journeys.

Best regards,
David

David Samuelson
ISACA CEO”


I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud to be an ISACA member.

40. Test Prep Books With Prashant Mohan

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39. Prob gonna get hate for this but....

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The links we promise in the episode:

 

California law related to gender identity in employment/trade associations:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB396

 

Canadian law regarding gender identity:

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/AnnualStatutes/2017_13/FullText.html

 

The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island takes this a bit further, as do several of the Canadian jurisdictions:

https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/sites/default/files/legislation/H-12%20-Human%20Rights%20Act.pdf

Here’s the ironic (and wildly contradictory) section (12):

“12. Discrimination in advertising prohibited

(1) No person shall publish, display or broadcast, or permit to be published, displayed or broadcasted on lands or premises, or in a newspaper or through a radio or television broadcasting station or by means of any other medium, any notice, sign, symbol, implement or other representation indicating discrimination or an intention to discriminate against any person or class of persons.

Free expression of opinion

(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to interfere with the free expression of opinion upon any subjectin speech or in writing. 1975,c.72,s.12”