Certification Introduction

Checkpoint Security Certified Administrator (CCSA R77) is a certification intended for System Administrators, System and Network Engineers, and Security Managers or anyone wishing to excel in configuration of Checkpoint Security products and solutions. CCSA certification provides deep understanding of the concepts and skills related to Checkpoint security gateway and security policy design and implementation, Security gateway configuration and configuring a Virtual Private Network. CCSA R77 also advances candidate's knowledge in GAIA operating system.

Checkpoint Certified Security Expert certification has a higher rank among other network security certifications because it validates candidates skills of implementation of latest security advancements. The certification holder can get access to certified professional community and can have special web access.

Related Exams

Checkpoint provides multiple Certifications in Security Domain few of the related and top hierarchy level certifications are mentioned below.

• Checkpoint Managed Security Expert (CCMSE), it provides expertise in multidomain security management.
• Checkpoint Certified Security master (CCSM), it is most technical and top level in certification hierarchy provides time saving commands to manage and troubleshoot security systems.

Certification Objectives

The objectives of the CCSA R77 certification are explained below:

• To test the candidate's Security Gateway install, configure and troubleshooting ability in distributed environment.
• Testing Knowledge of Configuration rules on web servers and Gateway Servers.
• Testing Candidate's ability of a rule base creation in smart Dashboard with permissions assigned.
• Enabling certification holders to Backups scheduling and seamless upgrading in least amount of time.
• To test the candidate's ability to monitor and troubleshoot Intrusion Protection Systems and network traffic.

Certification Exam Format

The certification exam comprises of questions from all parts of network security topics. To certify a candidate must have complete information of Checkpoint Technology products and should know to deploy platforms with security policies implemented. The preparation for certification covers topics to monitor network traffic and connections for recognizing the malicious activity across the network. The Network Address Translation (NAT) is also an important topic to cover. The knowledge of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) configuration and management is also necessary. Other topics to be covered are user management and authentication and identity awareness implementation.

The CCSA R77 exam number is 156-215.77. Exam can be attempted by registering VU test centers. The certification exam includes 90 multiple choice case studies based questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes. Hands on lab practice are also necessary for concepts understanding and to pass the exam.

Certification Information

Re Certification

Checkpoint Certified Security Administrator certification has a two year validity. After that the candidate has to re attempt the exam to retain the certification diploma.

Pre requisite

There is no strict pre requisite for CCSA R77 certification but[ it is highly recommended for the candidates to have a working experience on Checkpoints products for six months to one year.

The candidate should also have knowledge of networking, internet and TCP/IP protocol and should be familiar with Windows/ UNIX servers working environment.

Skills and benefits

CCSA R77 is a very useful certification in network security track. It enables candidate to be aware of network security threats and to cope with them using detection and prevention systems. The skills gained by CCSA R77 are briefly mentioned below:

• The certified person is fully prepared to work in practical environment and tackle and defend against security threats in a network.
• The certified person is able to define security policies in a network. It includes verifying existing rules plus defining new security rules in the rule base.
• A Checkpoint certified Security Administrator can also user restrict and mange user accessibility issues in corporate Local Area Networks.
• A certified person is able to analyze security attacks on the network and can recognize and monitor malicious network activities.
• This certification holder is capable to troubleshoot network connections.
• Provides the knowledge of network data and server data security management e.g. Email and messages.

What's next?

After obtaining CCSA R77 certification the candidate can move on to a next certification in the hierarchy i.e. Checkpoint Certified Security Expert (CCSE), a higher level certification which enables the certified expert to execute active fault analysis. It is better to have CCSE certification after two and half years of CCSA R77.