--- title: "AWS Services and Concepts on the AWS Security Specialty Exam [Cheat Sheet] - Cybr" description: "A list of the most commonly included AWS services, features, and concepts on the AWS Security Specialty certification exam." url: https://cybr.com/cloud-security/aws-services-and-concepts-on-the-aws-security-specialty-exam/ --- # AWS Services and Concepts on the AWS Security Specialty Exam \[Cheat Sheet\] Sometimes the hardest part is knowing where to start studying for an exam. With so much to learn and so many different topics, what should… Christophe Published January 30, 2024 · Updated June 18, 2024 Sometimes the hardest part is knowing where to start studying for an exam. With so much to learn and so many different topics, what should you focus on and where should you start? If you’re interested in getting the AWS Certified Security Specialty certification, then here are the main AWS services, features, concepts, and tools that you can expect to see on the exam 👇👇👇 *Note: this doesn’t mean these are the only services/topics you’ll get tested on. AWS can make changes at any time, and this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list. Plus, everyone’s version of the exam will be slightly different. However, these are the core topics you can expect to see.* ## 🕵️‍♀️ Management and Governance 📌 AWS CloudTrail 📌 Amazon CloudWatch 📌 AWS Config 📌 AWS Organizations 📌 AWS Systems Manager (SSM) 📌 AWS Trusted Advisor ## 🛜 Networking and Content Delivery Security 📍 Amazon VPC 📍 Network Access Analyzer 📍 NACLs 📍 Security Groups (SGs) 📍 VPC Endpoints 📍 CloudFront ## 🔐 Security, Identity, and Compliance 🔴 AWS Audit Manager 🔴 AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) 🔴 AWS CloudHSM 🔴 Amazon Detective 🔴 AWS Directory Service 🔴 AWS Firewall Manager 🔴 Amazon GuardDuty 🔴 AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO) 🔴 Amazon Inspector 🔴 AWS KMS 🔴 Amazon Macie 🔴 AWS Network Firewall 🔴 AWS Security Hub 🔴 AWS Shield 🔴 AWS WAF 🔴 AWS RAM (Resource Access Manager) 🔴 IAM Policies/Roles/Users/Groups 🔴 Amazon Cognito ## ✨ Other important services 🟠 Amazon S3 (including security features and general storage knowledge) 🟠 Amazon SNS 🟠 Amazon EventBridge 🤔 What do you think? Am I missing any important services that might show up on the exam? Let me know in the comments below. ♻️ If you know someone studying for or interested in the exam, please share this with them! ♻️ 🤩 [More AWS security cheat sheets](https://cybr.com/tag/cheat-sheets/) 🤩 [Study with me](https://study.cybr.com/) for your exam ## AWS Services, Features, Concepts, Tools In-scope for the **Security Specialty Exam (SCS-C03)** ![AWS Certified Security - Specialty badge](https://cybr.com/aws-security-services/aws-certified-security-specialty.png) [Cybr](https://cybr.com/) [https://cybr.com](https://cybr.com/) [Christophe Limpalair](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophelimpalair/) Just because a service or topic isn’t listed below doesn’t mean it won’t be on the exam. It’s not an exhaustive list and AWS can make modifications at any time. Each exam is a little bit different and your version may not contain everything you see here. However, this cheat sheet contains the most important services and tools to focus on since you’re likely to see them on the exam. ### Concepts & Tools Tools and concepts that might appear on the exam **AWS CLI** (Command Line Interface) **AWS Management Console** **AWS SDKs** (Software Development Kits) **Secure Remote Access** **Certificate Management** **IaC** (Infrastructure as Code) **OWASP Top 10** (including GenAI OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications) ### In-scope AWS services and features **What to learn:** What’s the main purpose of each service? How do they work with other AWS services (and which ones)? How are they deployed in multi-account environments? What are best practices for configuring, deploying, and managing them? ### Management and Governance **AWS CloudFormation** **AWS CloudTrail** **AWS CloudTrail Lake** **Amazon CloudWatch** **AWS Config** **AWS Control Tower** **Amazon Managed Grafana** **AWS Organizations** **AWS Resilience Hub** **AWS RAM** (Resource Access Manager) **AWS Service Catalog** **AWS Systems Manager** **AWS Trusted Advisor** **AWS User Notifications** **AWS Well-Architected Tool** ### Networking and Content Delivery Security **Amazon Application Recovery Controller** **Amazon VPC** **Network Access Analyzer** **Network ACLs** **Security Groups (SGs)** **VPC Endpoints** **AWS Site-to-Site VPN** **VPC Flow Logs** **AWS Verified Access** **AWS Client VPN** **Amazon CloudFront** **Amazon Verified Permissions** **Amazon Route 53** (including Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall) **AWS Direct Connect** **Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)** **AWS Transit Gateway** ### Security, Identity, and Compliance **AWS Artifact** **AWS Audit Manager** **AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)** **AWS CloudHSM** **Amazon Cognito** **Amazon Detective** **AWS Directory Service** **AWS Firewall Manager** **Automated Forensics Orchestrator for Amazon EC2** **Amazon GuardDuty** **AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)** **AWS IAM Identity Center** **Amazon Inspector** **AWS KMS** (Key Management Service) **Amazon Macie** **AWS Network Firewall** **AWS Private Certificate Authority** **AWS Secrets Manager** **AWS Security Hub** **Amazon Security Lake** **AWS Shield / AWS Shield Advanced** **AWS Security Token Service (AWS STS)** **AWS WAF** (Web App Firewall) ### Analytics **Amazon Athena** **Amazon OpenSearch Service** ### Application Integration **Amazon SNS** **AWS Step Functions** ### Developer Tools **AWS Fault Injection Service** ### Internet of Things **AWS IoT Core** ### Compute **Amazon API Gateway** **Amazon EC2** (including EC2 Image Builder, EC2 Instance Connect) **Amazon EKS** **Amazon EMR** **AWS Lambda** **Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager** ### Machine Learning **Amazon Bedrock** **Amazon Q** **Amazon SageMaker AI** ### Storage and Data Management **Amazon S3** **AWS Backup** **AWS DataSync** **Amazon EFS** (including EFS Lifecycle policies) **Amazon FSx for Lustre** ### Other important services **Amazon EventBridge** **Elastic Container Registry** **Signer** **Elastic Container Service** **DynamoDB** ### Use this cheat sheet with AI Copy a ready-to-use prompt into your preferred AI assistant. Goal Preview prompt Prompt Sources and more info: [**\- Official AWS exam guide:** https://docs.aws.amazon.com/pdfs/aws-certification/latest/ security-specialty-03/security-specialty-03.pdf](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/pdfs/aws-certification/latest/security-specialty-03/security-specialty-03.pdf) **More cheat sheets like this:** [https://cybr.com/cheat-sheets](https://cybr.com/cheat-sheets) ## Filed under - [Certifications](https://cybr.com/certifications-archives/) - [Cloud Security](https://cybr.com/cloud-security/) - [AWS](https://cybr.com/tag/aws/) - [AWS Security](https://cybr.com/tag/aws-security/) - [AWS Security Cheat Sheets](https://cybr.com/tag/aws-security-cheat-sheets/) - [Cheat Sheets](https://cybr.com/tag/cheat-sheets/) - [Cloud Security](https://cybr.com/tag/cloud-security/) ## Comments Loading comments… Recommended resources [![Explore the AWS Certified Security Specialty course](https://media.cybr.com/2023/12/cybr-aws-security-specialty-banner-768x432.jpg)](https://cybr.com/courses/aws-certified-security-specialty-course/) ## Build practical AWS security skills Start with the core services, then prepare for the AWS Certified Security Specialty exam with guided lessons and hands-on practice. 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