--- title: CCNP Security: Should You Take the Leap? | daily.dev description: Two Cisco Designated VIPs, Mira Eilenstein and Brahim Mellal, share why moving from CCNA to CCNP Security is worthwhile for networking professionals wanting to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: CCNP Security: Should You Take the Leap? | daily.dev og:description: Two Cisco Designated VIPs, Mira Eilenstein and Brahim Mellal, share why moving from CCNA to CCNP Security is worthwhile for networking professionals wanting to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gZelsSIVx.png og:image:alt: CCNP Security: Should You Take the Leap? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # CCNP Security: Should You Take the Leap? **[Cisco](https://daily.dev/sources/cisco)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Two Cisco Designated VIPs, Mira Eilenstein and Brahim Mellal, share why moving from CCNA to CCNP Security is worthwhile for networking professionals wanting to specialize in security. They discuss how Cisco certifications apply even in multi-vendor environments since they're grounded in universal RFCs, share real-world incident stories where their training helped resolve major outages and audits, and outline the exam structure (one core exam plus one concentration exam). Cisco data cited claims 81% of employers associate certification holders with higher-quality work and 84% of certified professionals are more attractive to hiring managers. The piece closes with tips for overcoming exam anxiety and links to official Cisco U. learning paths for exam prep. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What do I need to pass to earn the CCNP Security certification? Earning the CCNP Security certification requires passing two exams: one core exam and one concentration exam chosen from several options based on professional focus. This flexible structure lets candidates tailor the concentration to their specialty, such as identity management or security infrastructure design. Passing these exams while holding an active CCNA also counts toward CCNA recertification. _Developers and engineers planning certification paths can track networking and security career resources on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Bringing Professional-Level Skills to Cisco Networking Academy](https://daily.dev/posts/bringing-professional-level-skills-to-cisco-networking-academy-8qfpnfw9w) · Cisco · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [From Factory Floors to CyberSecurity: How Cisco Helped Me Build My Dream Career](https://daily.dev/posts/from-factory-floors-to-cybersecurity-how-cisco-helped-me-build-my-dream-career-u7foryoed) · Cisco · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Accelerate Your Career and Impact with CCNA Certifications](https://daily.dev/posts/accelerate-your-career-and-impact-with-ccna-certifications-pqoqn3btt) · Cisco · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#cisco](https://daily.dev/tags/cisco) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"CCNP Security: Should You Take the Leap?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx"},"datePublished":"2026-08-13T15:54:11.626Z","dateModified":"2026-08-13T15:54:35.289Z","description":"Two Cisco Designated VIPs, Mira Eilenstein and Brahim Mellal, share why moving from CCNA to CCNP Security is worthwhile for networking professionals wanting to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/93eaf258bbfc0c8f4321e5fdc4c44a3f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/93eaf258bbfc0c8f4321e5fdc4c44a3f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Cisco","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cisco","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/68b8a8be17184235a5067d7c84162f77","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/cisco"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,career,cisco","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cisco","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/cisco"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"CCNP Security: Should You Take the Leap?"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ccnp-security-should-you-take-the-leap--gzelssivx#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What do I need to pass to earn the CCNP Security certification?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Earning the CCNP Security certification requires passing two exams: one core exam and one concentration exam chosen from several options based on professional focus. 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