CISSP Certification Course syllabus
                     
Overview
The information security architect plays a vital                   
role to implement a sound security program in the              
organizations as an expert shouldering the role 
between a C-suite and upper managerial level. As an 
information security architect or analyst, this role 
involves executing diverse information security                   
consultative and analytical processes. The CISSP-             
ISSAP is an all-embracing certification that validates 
your technical skills in security architecture and 
grants the globally accepted credentials of chief            
security architect or analyst. This extensive                           
certification evaluates your proficiency to develop, 
design and analyze various security solutions and 
instills skills to provide risk-based guidance to the 
higher management inaddressing various                          
organizational goals.
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Target Audience
CISSP-ISSAP training helps advancing the technical 
competencies of:
• System Architects
• Business Analysts
• System and Network Designers
• Chief Security Officers
• Chief Technology Officers
Pre-Requisite
A minimum of 2 years of full-time and cumulative paid 
work experience in at least one of the six CISSP-ISSAP 
CBK domains
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DOMAIN 1
17% Architect for Governance,
Compliance and Risk Management
DOMAIN 2
Security Architecture Modeling 15%
DOMAIN 3
21% Infrastructure Security Architecture
DOMAIN 4
Identity and Access Management 16%
(IAM) Architecture
DOMAIN 5
13% Architect for Application Security
DOMAIN 4
Security Operations Architecture 18%
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DOMAIN 1
Architect for Governance,
Compliance and Risk Management
1.1 Determine legal, regulatory, organizational and industry 
requirements 
• Determine applicable information security standards and guidelines
• Identify third-party and contractual obligations (e.g., supply chain, 
outsourcing, partners)
• Determine applicable sensitive/personal data standards, guidelines 
and privacy regulations
• Design for auditability (e.g., determine regulatory, legislative, forensic 
requirements, segregation, high assurance systems)
• Coordinate with external entities (e.g., law enforcement, public 
relations, independent assessor)
1.2 Manage Risk
• Identify and classify risks
• Assess risk
• Recommend risk treatment (e.g., mitigate, transfer, accept, avoid)
• Risk monitoring and reporting
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DOMAIN 2
Security Architecture Modeling
2.1 Identify security architecture approach
• Types and scope (e.g., enterprise, network, Service-Oriented                           
Architecture (SOA), cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Control 
Systems (ICS)/Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA))
• Frameworks (e.g., Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture 
(SABSA), Service-Oriented Modeling Framework (SOMF))
• Reference architectures and blueprints
• Security configuration (e.g., baselines, benchmarks, profiles)
• Network configuration (e.g., physical, logical, high availability, 
segmentation, zones)
2.2 Verify and validate design (e.g., Functional Acceptance 
Testing (FAT), regression) 
• Validate results of threat modeling (e.g., threat vectors, impact, 
probability)
• Identify gaps and alternative solutions
• Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) (e.g., tabletop 
exercises, modeling and simulation, manual review of functions)
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DOMAIN 3
Infrastructure Security Architecture
3.1 Develop infrastructure security requirements 
• On-premise, cloud-based, hybrid
• Internet of Things (IoT), zero trust
3.2 Design defense-in-depth architecture
• Management networks • Container security
• Industrial Control Systems (ICS) security • Cloud workload security
• Network security • Firmware security
• Operating systems (OS) security • User security awareness 
• Database security considerations
3.3 Secure shared services (e.g., wireless, e-mail, Voice over 
Internet Protocol (VoIP), Unified Communications (UC), 
Domain Name System (DNS), Network Time Protocol (NTP))
3.4 Integrate technical security controls 
• Design boundary protection (e.g., firewalls, Virtual Private Network 
(VPN), airgaps, software defined perimeters, wireless, cloud-native)
• Secure device management (e.g., Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), 
mobile, server, endpoint, cloud instance, storage)
3.5 Design and integrate infrastructure monitoring
• Network visibility (e.g., sensor placement, time reconciliation, 
span of control, record compatibility)
• Active/Passive collection solutions (e.g., span port, port mirroring, 
tap, inline, flow logs)
• Security analytics (e.g., Security Information and Event Manage-
ment (SIEM), log collection, machine learning, User Behavior Analytics 
(UBA))
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3.6 Design infrastructure cryptographic solutions
• Determine cryptographic design considerations and constraints
• Determine cryptographic implementation (e.g., in-transit, in-use, at-rest)
• Plan key management lifecycle (e.g., generation, storage, distribution)
3.7 Design secure network and communication infrastructure 
(e.g., Virtual Private Network (VPN), Internet Protocol Security 
(IPsec), Transport Layer Security (TLS))
3.8 Evaluate physical and environmental security requirements
• Map physical security requirements to organizational needs (e.g., perime-
ter protection and internal zoning, fire suppression)
• Validate physical security controls
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DOMAIN 4
Identity and Access Management
(IAM) Architecture 
4.1 Design identity management and lifecycle 
• Establish and verify identity
• Assign identifiers (e.g., to users, services, processes, devices)
• Identity provisioning and de-provisioning
• Define trust relationships (e.g., federated, standalone)
• Define authentication methods (e.g., Multi-Factor Authentication 
(MFA), risk-based, location-based, knowledge-based, object-based,                               
characteristicsbased)
• Authentication protocols and technologies (e.g., Security Assertion 
Markup Language (SAML), Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service              
(RADIUS), Kerberos)
4.2 Design access control management and lifecycle
• Access control concepts and principles (e.g., discretionary/mandato-
ry, segregation/Separation of Duties (SoD), least privilege)
• Access control configurations (e.g., physical, logical, administrative)
• Authorization process and workflow (e.g., governance, issuance, 
periodic review, revocation)
• Roles, rights, and responsibilities related to system, application, and 
data access control (e.g., groups, Digital Rights Management (DRM), trust 
relationships)
• Management of privileged accounts
• Authorization (e.g., Single Sign-On (SSO), rulebased, role-based, 
attribute- based)
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4.3 Design identity and access solutions
• Access control protocols and technologies (e.g., eXtensible Access 
Control Markup Language (XACML), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol 
(LDAP))
• Credential management technologies (e.g., password management, 
certificates, smart cards)
• Centralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) architecture (e.g., 
cloud-based, on-premise, hybrid)
• Decentralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) architecture (e.g., 
cloud-based, on-premise, hybrid)
• Privileged Access Management (PAM) implementation (for users with 
elevated privileges)
• Accounting (e.g., logging, tracking, auditing)
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DOMAIN 5
Architect for Application Security
5.1 Integrate Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) with application 
security architecture (e.g., Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM), 
security architecture documentation, secure coding)
• Assess code review methodology (e.g., dynamic, manual, static)
• Assess the need for application protection (e.g., Web Application 
Firewall (WAF), anti-malware, secure Application Programming Interface 
(API), secure Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML))
• Determine encryption requirements (e.g., at-rest, in-transit, in-use)
• Assess the need for secure communications between applications 
and databases or other endpoints
• Leverage secure code repository
5.2 Determine application security capability requirements and              
strategy (e.g., open source, Cloud Service Providers (CSP),                    
Software as a Service (SaaS)/Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)/ 
Platform as a Service (PaaS) environments) 
• Review security of applications (e.g., custom, Commercial 
Off-the-Shelf (COTS), in-house, cloud)
• Determine application cryptographic solutions (e.g., cryptographic 
Application Programming Interface (API), Pseudo Random Number                 
Generator (PRNG), key management)
• Evaluate applicability of security controls for system components 
(e.g., mobile and web client applications; proxy, application, and database 
services)
5.3 Identify common proactive controls for applications (e.g., Open 
Web Application Security Project (OWASP)) 
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DOMAIN 6
Security Operations Architecture 
6.1 Gather security operations requirements (e.g., legal, compliance, 
organizational, and business requirements)
6.2 Design information security monitoring (e.g., Security Information 
and Event Management (SIEM), insider threat, threat intelligence, 
user behavior analytics, Incident Response (IR) procedures) 
• Detection and analysis
• Proactive and automated security monitoring and remediation (e.g., 
vulnerability management, compliance audit, penetration testing)
6.3 Design Business Continuity (BC) and resiliency solutions 
• Incorporate Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
• Determine recovery and survivability strategy
• Identify continuity and availability solutions (e.g., cold, warm, hot, cloud 
backup)
• Define processing agreement requirements (e.g., provider, reciprocal, 
mutual, cloud, virtualization)
• Establish Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives 
(RPO)
• Design secure contingency communication for operations (e.g., backup 
communication channels, Out-of-Band (OOB))
6.4 Validate Business Continuity Plan (BCP)/Disaster Recovery Plan 
(DRP) architecture
6.5 Design Incident Response (IR) management 
• Preparation (e.g., communication • Containment
plan, Incident Response Plan (IRP), • Eradication
training) • Recovery
• Identification • Review lessons learned
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