Cissp Exam - Going Beyond Technology And Understanding Security In A Holistic Manner
For years I have heard people complain about having to learn things for the CISSP exam that they would never use in their life. When I was preparing for the exam a few years ago, I also had the same perspective as others. I also hear people saying that they have to learn security through (ISC)2's view for this exam, which is so detached from reality. The thought on both of these statements is that someone would have to memorize items for the test that are not useful in their professional life – thus a waste of time. Again, I was also in the same boat when I prepared and took the exam ages ago. Now I see it completely differently.
I have found that since I have authored books and taught CISSP classes for many years, I have a greater understanding of the material than I would have if I just studied and took the test and moved on with life.
The things that people complain about having to learn (Bell Lapadula, Biba, Clark-Wilson, etc.) are very beneficial to their understanding of security in a holistic manner instead of just focusing on their original thought of what makes up security. A lot of the technical guys are of the belief that learning beyond technology is a waste of their time. This thinking is common to these people because they think of anyone who does not understand technology like they do as inferior. But companies are not in business to just have software and networks in place. The software, network, and systems are just a few of the tools the company uses to support and further their business. So getting a deeper know-how that are above technology, commonly referred to as soft skills, are actually more critical in the world of business – which is where we all live and work.
Although I am pretty disappointed with the way that the questions on the CISSP exam are worded (confusing, vague, subjective), I have greater appreciation of the actual Common Body of Knowledge CBK. I was a security consultant before I took the exam, and then I wrote books, and taught CISSP – and I am still a security consultant, but the difference in my knowledgebase and view on security has drastically changed.
I, like many people, concentrated on the security topics relevant to my current job. At the time on-line banking was coming out of the market (yes that reveals how old I am now) and I worked with programmers, software architects, project managers, analysts, and end customers – all doing on-line banking . I sure as hell was not interested in the different types of fire suppression, access control models, trusted computing base or anything outside of my domain of topics that I lived, worked and breathed in.
