A great way to start the CWNP Certified Security Administrator and Engineer (CSAE) preparation is to begin by properly appreciating the role that syllabus and study guide play in the CWNP CSAE-101 certification exam. This study guide is an instrument to get you on the same page with CWNP and understand the nature of the CWNP Security Administrator and Engineer exam.
Our team of experts has composed this CWNP CSAE-101 exam preparation guide to provide the overview about CWNP Security Administrator and Engineer exam, study material, sample questions, practice exam and ways to interpret the exam objectives to help you assess your readiness for the CWNP CSAE exam by identifying prerequisite areas of knowledge. We recommend you to refer the simulation questions and practice test listed in this guide to determine what type of questions will be asked and the level of difficulty that could be tested in the CWNP Security Administrator and Engineer certification exam.
CWNP CSAE-101 Exam Overview:
| Exam Name | CWNP Security Administrator and Engineer |
| Exam Number | CSAE-101 |
| Exam Price | $399 USD |
| Duration | 100 minutes |
| Number of Questions | 40 |
| Passing Score | 70% |
| Exam Registration | Prometric |
| Sample Questions | CWNP CSAE-101 Sample Questions |
| Practice Exam | CWNP Certified Security Administrator and Engineer Practice Test |
CWNP CSAE-101 Exam Topics:
| Section | Objectives |
|---|---|
Security Concepts and Terminology - 15% |
|
| Understand and evaluate security controls |
- Security control categories and types
- Defense-in-depth strategies |
| Explain how the following core security principles apply to enterprise environments |
- CIA triad implementation (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) - Non-repudiation mechanisms - AAA framework deployment (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) - Zero Trust architecture - Control plane and data plane security - Policy-driven access control systems - Policy enforcement points |
| Describe and distinguish among these physical security systems |
- Access control systems and badge management - Video surveillance systems (CCTV, IP cameras) - Environmental controls (HVAC, fire suppression) - Physical intrusion detection sensors - Lighting and perimeter security - Security guard operations and integration |
| Describe and distinguish among these deception and disruption technologies |
- Honeypot deployment and management - Honeynet architecture design - Honeyfile and honeytoken strategies - Integration with threat intelligence platforms - Deception technology for threat detection |
| Explain these cryptographic solutions and the roles they play in enterprise security |
- PKI infrastructure deployment and management - Certificate lifecycle management (issuance, renewal, revocation) - Encryption implementation
- Key management systems and HSM integration
|
| Understand how to apply change management processes for security |
- Security-focused change approval workflows - Impact analysis and risk assessment for changes - Backout plans and rollback procedures - Configuration management and version control - Documentation standards for security changes - Stakeholder management in change processes |
Threats and Vulnerabilities - 15% |
|
| Analyze threat actors, attributes, and motivations |
- Threat actor types
- Threat actor attribution and profiling |
| Assess and mitigate attack vectors and surfaces |
- Message-based attacks (email, SMS, instant messaging) - Image-based and file-based attack vectors - Voice call and removable device threats - Social engineering campaigns (phishing, vishing, smishing, pretexting, watering hole) - Supply chain attacks (MSPs, vendors, suppliers) - Vulnerable and unsupported software management - Network-based attack surfaces (wireless, wired, Bluetooth) - Default credential and open port management |
| Identify and classify vulnerabilities across environments |
- Application vulnerabilities (memory injection, buffer overflow, race conditions, malicious updates) - OS-based and web-based vulnerabilities (SQL injection, XSS) - Hardware and firmware vulnerabilities - Virtualization vulnerabilities (VM escape, resource reuse) - Cloud-specific and supply chain vulnerabilities - Mobile device vulnerabilities (side loading, jailbreaking) - Zero-day vulnerability management - Misconfiguration identification |
| Analyze and respond to indicators of malicious activity |
- Malware analysis
- Physical attack indicators (brute force, RFID cloning, environmental) |
| Implement comprehensive mitigation techniques |
- Network segmentation and isolation strategies - Access control lists and permission management - Application allow listing and isolation - Patch management programs - Encryption and monitoring implementation - Least privilege enforcement - Configuration enforcement and compliance - Secure decommissioning procedures - Hardening techniques (encryption, endpoint protection, HIPS, port/protocol disabling, default password changes, software removal) |
Security Controls - 30% |
|
| Engineer security architecture for diverse contexts |
- On-premises vs. centralized vs. decentralized architecture - Enterprise network security (network infrastructure, network edge, internetwork connectivity, physical and logical isolation/segmentation, SDN, Zero Trust architecture) - Cloud security architecture (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public, private and hybrid) - Industrial network architecture security (ICS, /SCADA, DCS, PLC, HMI, and RTOS) - IoT system and network security - Security for common architectural components
- Architecture considerations (availability, resilience, cost, responsiveness, scalability, ease of deployment, risk transference, ease of recovery, patch management, power, compute) |
| Design and implement enterprise infrastructure security |
- Infrastructure device considerations ( placement, attributes, attack surface, connectivity, failure modes) - Security zone design and segmentation - Failure mode planning (fail-open vs. fail-closed) - Network appliance deployment (jump servers, proxy servers, IPS/IDS, load balancers, sensors) - Port security implementation (802.1X, EAP) - Firewall architecture (WAF, UTM, NGFW, Layer 4/Layer 7) - Selection of effective security controls |
| Implement secure remote communication and access solutions |
- VPN architecture (site-to-site, remote access) - Tunneling protocols (TLS, IPSec) - SD-WAN security implementation - SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) architecture - Remote access security controls |
| Engineer comprehensive data protection strategies |
- Data types and classifications
- Data state protection (at rest, in transit, in use)
- Database activity monitoring and encryption |
| Design resilience and recovery architecture |
- High availability strategies (load balancing vs. clustering) - Site resilience planning (hot, cold, warm sites) - Geographic dispersion strategies - Platform diversity and multi-cloud systems - Capacity planning - Testing (tabletop exercises, failover, simulation, parallel processing) - Backup strategies
- Power resilience (generators, UPS, redundant power supply, multiple utility feeds) |
Security Monitoring - 20% |
|
| Administer secure computing resources across platforms |
- Secure baseline management (establishment, deployment, maintenance) - System hardening across multiple platforms
- Wireless device security (site surveys, heat maps, WPA3, AAA/RADIUS, authentication protocols) |
| Manage assets throughout the lifecycle |
- Acquisition and procurement (security requirements, vendor evaluation, supply chain security) - Assignment and classification - Monitoring and tracking (inventory, enumeration, change tracking, license management) - Disposal and decommissioning (sanitization, destruction, certification, retention compliance) |
| Implement and operate vulnerability management programs |
- Vulnerability identification methods
- Vulnerability analysis (confirmation, CVSS/CVE, OSV, classification, prioritization, environmental factors, risk alignment) |
| Deploy and manage security monitoring systems |
- SIEM (deployment, configuration, management, tuning) - XDR (extended detection and response) - Log management (aggregation, correlation, analysis, retention) - Alert management (generation, tuning, response workflows) - Compliance monitoring (SCAP security content automation scanning, benchmarks, drift detection) - Monitoring tools deployment
- Reporting and dashboards |
| Engineer and operate advanced security capabilities |
- Network security capabilities
- Content filtering and inspection
- Operating system security (Group Policy, SELinux, security baselines) |
| Administer identity and access management systems |
- User lifecycle management (provisioning, de-provisioning, least privilege) - Identity proofing and verification - Federation and SSO (LDAP, OAuth, SAML, OpenID Connect) - Access control models (MAC, DAC, RBAC, ABAC) - Multi-factor authentication (implementations, factors, risk-based authentication) - Password management (policy enforcement, passwordless authentication) - Privileged Access Management
- Access reviews and attestation |
| Implement security automation and orchestration |
- Automation use cases (provisioning, guardrails, ticketing, vulnerability scanning, compliance checking) - Integration capabilities (APIs, webhooks, custom scripts) - CI/CD security automation (scanning, testing, compliance gates) - Benefits and considerations |
| Execute incident response operations |
- Incident response process (preparation, detection, containment, eradication, recovery, lessons learned) - Training and testing (tabletop exercises, simulations, debriefs) - Root cause analysis - Threat hunting (hypothesis-driven, intelligence-driven, baseline deviation) - Digital forensics (chain of custody, acquisition, preservation, analysis, reporting) |
| Conduct security investigations |
- Log analysis
- Data source correlation (SIEM, vulnerability scans, packet captures, threat intelligence) |
Security Governance - 20% |
|
| Implement effective security governance frameworks |
- Policies and standards development
- Procedures (change management, onboarding/offboarding, playbooks) |
| Manage organizational risk through structured processes |
- Risk identification - Risk assessment (ad hoc, recurring, continuous) - Risk analysis
- Risk register management
- Risk reporting |
| Administer third-party risk management programs |
- Vendor assessment (questionnaires, audits, certifications) - Supply chain analysis (mapping, dependencies, fourth-party risk) - Vendor selection and due diligence - Agreement management
|
| Maintain comprehensive compliance programs |
- Compliance reporting and monitoring - Automation and dashboards - Privacy compliance programs
- Data governance (inventory, classification, retention) |
| Conduct security assessments and testing |
- Internal assessments (compliance, controls, vulnerabilities, architecture) - Audit coordination - Penetration testing programs
- Reconnaissance operations
|
| Implement security awareness and culture programs |
- Training programs
- Phishing simulations (campaign design, execution, metrics, remedial training)
|
CWNP CSAE Exam Description:
The CSAE has the knowledge and skill set required to implement security administration and engineering best practices in modern networks and systems. This professional has sufficient knowledge of network security, computer/systems security, data security, physical security, and cybersecurity allowing for the proper administration and engineering of security within these domains. The individual is aware of the security concepts, procedures, tools, and feature sets available and the capabilities they offer. The CSAE elearning course provides the knowledge required to plan, implement, manage, monitor, and control security in modern systems and networks. It includes more than 15 hours of learning materials, a practice test, and the certification exam that validates your skills as a CSAE.
