The C³ by CONCORDIA Certification and the preparatory Course are back in 2022!

What do we have for you?

This year we will open again the C³ by CONCORDIA Certification exams and run the preparatory course. And we will, again, offer this for free! But we have a limited number of places available.

The Course “Becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant” (support in preparing for taking the C³ by CONCORDIA Certification exam) has the following structure:

• Online module – covering theoretical concepts linked to threats, technology, economics of cybersecurity; the lessons are hosted on the COURSERA platform
  • Prerequisites: fill in the registration FORM
• Webinar over 3 half days containing a set of hands-on exercises ran on KYPO cyber-range platform
  • Prerequisite: The participation to the webinar is conditioned by the finalization of the online module of the course; an overall pass mark of the quizzes of 70% is required

The C³ by CONCORDIA Certification could be briefly described as follows:

To be accepted to sit the exam, the candidate would need to fulfill the following prerequisites:

• 3 years of practical experience in the subject of Cybersecurity (Including but not limited to Cybersecurity Consulting, Cybersecurity Management etc) or a relevant Post -graduate Academic Degree
• Basic knowledge of data structures and algorithmic principles, regular expressions, database principles, shell scripting, networking principles, tools and architectures, operating systems basics, security controls, mechanisms and practice and risk management theories and methods is required.

Structure of the Certification exam

• Theoretical exam hosted on ISOGRAD platform
  • Prerequisites: being accepted to sit the exam after providing the proof of fulfilling the prerequisites via FORM
  • Structure of the exam – 50 questions of different difficulty level, addressing 3 areas: threats, technology, economics and business; pass mark 70%, with at least 60% per individual areas
• Practical exam hosted on KYPO cyber-range platform
  • Prerequisite – only participants who managed to pass the theoretical exam will be accepted to take the practical exam
  • structure of the exam – Practical Exercises implemented through the KYPO Cyber Range Platform; pass mark 80%

The certificate will be issued via the EduCTX blockchain based platform after the candidate successfully passed both exams and signed the Declaration of Honor. More details on the Certification scheme can be found on the dedicated page.

Whom is it for?

The Certification is addressed mainly to European cybersecurity professionals, cybersecurity middle managers and freelancers looking into having specific knowledge and skills validated via a certificate. For an overview of the knowledge and skills we consider a Cybersecurity Consultant should have, I invite you to check the specific page [link].

The candidates to enter the C³ by CONCORDIA Certification are strongly encouraged to follow first the dedicated course “Becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant” whose first edition is presented here. To take full advantage of the content covered and be able to solve the short quizzes included in the course, the participants should have basic knowledge of data structures and algorithmic principles, regular expressions, database principles, shell scripting, networking principles, tools and architectures, operating systems basics, security controls, mechanisms and practice and risk management theories and methods.

When would this happen?

The next dates and the process to follow are presented in the timeline below.

The story behind

It’s been quite a venture to setup and pilot the Cybersecurity Consultant Certification scheme and the associated Course but here we are.

• One of the first activities of the CONCORDIA project was an Assessment of the EU’s educational portfolio for cybersecurity professionals including the CONCORDIA ones [link]. This activity revealed heterogeneity both on the cybersecurity jobs market and on the cybersecurity courses offer, and underlined the importance of certifications in the area. The conclusion regarding heterogeneity was further expanded to certification after we concluded a study on existing certification schemes [link].
• The above led to the design of the first version of the Cybersecurity Skills Certification Framework of CONCORDIA, with the aim to become a common reference for Cybersecurity Skills Certification Schemes. Moreover, to put theory into practice and evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed framework, we decided to pilot the entire process for a specific role.
• Since the Cybersecurity Consultant role profile (medium level) was not specifically covered by any of the existing certification schemes. We took this opportunity (to be read “challenge”) within CONCORDIA and started working on it. We developed the relevant certification scheme in alignment with the Cybersecurity Skills Certification Framework of CONCORDIA, we created the content for the certification theoretical and practical exams, and we put together a set of lessons and practical exercises to help candidates acquire the relevant competencies before taking the certification exams (if they so desired).
• Last year we piloted both the Course and the Certification, asked for feedback from the participants, improved the content and ran it again. So far, more than 94 individuals took the course and 17 of them made it to the Certification exam.

Would you dare to take this challenge?

The participation to the next Course and Certification are still free but we have a limited number of places. So, hurry up!
Register to the next Certification exam [link]
Register to the next preparatory Course [link]

(By Felicia Cutas (EIT Digital))