When looking at industry certifications regularly for cybersecurity, I make an effort to study what may be unique, interesting, and even valuable for my students. While I understand that you may have different circumstances than recent college graduates, you will still benefit from looking into the below-specialized achievements.
Specialized Cybersecurity Certifications
Most of these certifications offer both self-study, online, and in-person learning options.
Healthcare Information Security and Privacy Practitioner (HCISPP) offered by ISC2.
The healthcare industry continues to be pummeled with cyber-attacks, most coming from criminals who threaten systems with ransomware. If that is not enough, rigorous HIPAA laws can create nightmares for hospital administrators and hefty fines.
This certification appears to be geared towards those working in compliance and auditing. It covers such topics as risk management, risk assessment, third-party liabilities, and applicable laws.
ICS/SCADA Cybersecurity offered by EC-Council.
Critical Infrastructure attacks have been in the news quite a bit recently as several groups have targeted water departments. Programmable Logic Controllers connected to remote sites or many different devices within the same location.
Outdated software, poor configuration, or inadequate security can make manufacturing and utilities a prime industry for hackers to explore.
Cloud+ by CompTIA.
While there are other offerings on cloud computing certifications, CompTIA Cloud+ is the only cloud-focused certification approved for DoD 8570.01-M.
The course of study goes beyond just secure cloud configurations; it expands to architecture, deployment, operations, and support. The Cloud+ certification also offers seminar, online, and self-study options.
PEN-200: Penetration Testing with Kali Linux by OffSec.
This is a unique class in that it focuses on open-source tools that are popular for both ethical and not-so-ethical hackers. Learning how to use Kali distributions well is not something most cybersecurity professionals have in their repertoire so this certification could put you ahead on the road to a high-paying, exciting career.
This is just a small sample of interesting certifications I have looked into recently.
However, AI for both offensive and defensive cyber operations, blockchain decryption, and mobile device forensics are very much a part of reality now and in the future, thus, there are certifications that may be available and worth exploring as well.
