Career-Boosting Certifications: Top 5 Certs for Cybersecurity Architects

The world of cybersecurity can be fun and intriguing. There is a bit of a James Bond element to it. Those who choose the CyberSec profession understand the world isn’t black and white — it’s so many shades of gray. It’s a career where you study the worst parts of technology and human nature to help protect others. 

If you are interested in cybersecurity or a newer IT pro, here are five certifications every cybersecurity architect should earn during their careers. 

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1. Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert

The first stop on the list is the Microsoft Certified Cybersecurity Architect certification, and this cert is big! Earning the MS Cybersecurity Architect Expert means passing the SC-100 exam while fully grasping zero-trust principles.  Despite its difficulty, we recommend this certification because it will teach IT professionals a broad range of hard and soft skills in cybersecurity principles. For example, anyone who passes the SC-100 exam will be able to understand how to design networks with zero-trust architecture, evaluate governance risk compliance, and design solutions for secure infrastructures and applications using security best practices. The good news is that these skills can be applied to a wide range of IT and tech positions.

2. CompTIA Security+

The Security+ is the easiest certification to earn in this list – it should be considered an entry-level cert for the CyberSec community. So, what will you learn? CompTIA Security+ accredited candidates will understand how to assess the security posture for organizations, monitor and secure hybrid infrastructures, have a basic understanding of risk governance and compliance, and be able to remediate security issues. 

While the Security+ won’t propel your career to CISO status overnight, you’ll understand the ever-important fundamentals required to pass more advanced certifications on this list. 

3. CompTIA PenTest+

All good cybersecurity professionals understand how to pentest their infrastructures, but penetration testing requires a particular set of skills, skills acquired over a lengthy career. Understanding how to perform proper penetration testing means understanding how the bad guys work. You’ll need to be just as creative as they are. 

What the PenTest+ offers that other penetration testing certifications don’t is knowledge affirmations that cover all stages of the pentest processing. There is much more to penetration testing than brute-forcing some 733t passwords. 

Believe it or not, penetration testing involves just as much social engineering as it does poking at fences with networking tools. The PenTest+ certification will leave you better prepared than other penetration testing-focused certs. 

4. CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional

If you want to be one of the bigwigs, you must earn the ISC2 CISSP. The Certified Information Systems Security Professional certification is less about doing the grunt work and more about understanding how to design and manage the entire cybersecurity process. 

Earning the CISSP requires experience in the certification process. Unlike other certifications, CISSP candidates must have at least five years of verifiable experience. Likewise, the questions on the CISSP are no walk in the park. CISSP holders can design and implement a secure network, launch robust spear phishing attacks, and explain the latest security flaws. They can also confidently make critical security positioning decisions for organizations that could potentially land the cert holder in serious legal trouble if they are wrong. The CISSP isn’t for the faint of heart but is the gold standard in cybersecurity certifications. 

5. Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

There are many cybersecurity certificates to choose from, but sometimes, we need a goal to aim for that’s a little more fun. So why not earn the Certified Ethical Hacker certification? 

While understanding how to perform penetration testing is a requirement for cybersecurity professionals, learning how to become an elite haxor is more of a novelty. A good cybersecurity professional understands what encryption is and how different types of encryption ciphers work. 

CyberSec pros must understand these principles to implement TLS encryption on a web server. Certified Ethical Hackers understand how to use fuzzing to discover new exploits in their architecture.

That knowledge can be expanded to everything in your career. It’s one thing to understand the playbook, but Certified Ethical Hackers are writing it and facing some of the worst cyber threats online. 

Microsoft SC-100 Certification is an Ideal First Step for Cybersecurity Architects

There isn’t a better time to start becoming a cybersecurity architect, especially if you are already an IT professional.

The SC-100 is among the most well-rounded and affordable certifications in the CyberSec industry. Most employers recognize it, and it’s the best jumping point toward earning the CISSP and Certified Ethical Hacker certifications.