certification
Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity
Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity is Cisco's entry-level cybersecurity certification.
Compare certification options for my goalCertification details change. Always confirm final pricing, availability, and credential terms on the official provider page linked in the sources below before you pay for anything.
A foundational starting point — use the vendor’s audience to decide fit.
The call: Take it if Cisco's audience and recommended background below describe where you are, and you want a foundational check of the published domains. Skip or compare it if you already do the tested work or your target requires hands-on or professional-level proof beyond a foundational exam.
Cisco positions Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity as a foundational exam. Use the objective domains below as a study outline, then pair the credential with hands-on evidence aligned to the work you want; the credential does not establish job readiness by itself. Vendor-recommended experience · checked
Who this certification is designed for
The vendor’s stated audience, plus an honest fit for your starting point. No pass rates, no guarantees.
Per Cisco: There are no formal prerequisites to earn these certifications, but you should have an understanding of the exam topics before taking any of the exams. Cisco CCST Cybersecurity Exam · checked
General funding research checklist: vouchers, WIOA, Workforce Pell, GI Bill, and employer education assistance may be worth checking. This list is not evidence that this credential, exam, or provider qualifies; confirm eligibility with the official program before relying on funding. Compare funding options →
What Cisco asks for
Entry stage. RoleMath groups this with credentials that assume no prior experience. Cisco’s own wording is below, and it is the one to go by.
Recommended background: There are no formal prerequisites to earn these certifications, but you should have an understanding of the exam topics before taking any of the exams. [vendor page] A recommendation, not a registration requirement.
Prerequisites: No formal prerequisites.
| Length | 50 minutes |
|---|---|
| Languages | English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese |
Exam details read from Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity — official vendor page · checked 2026-06-12T17:54:15+00:00.
Cost & upkeep
Exam fee plus what it takes to keep it — the recurring cost most pages hide.
- Exam price (US)
- $125 Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity — official vendor page · checked verified 2026-06-12 · read from the official vendor page
- Renewal fee (per 5-year cycle)
- No maintenance fee recorded Cisco renewal fees · checked Retake the qualifying exam before expiry for credentials earned on or after 2025-07-15
- Renewal retake (current exam price)
- $125 Cisco exam price · checked The recorded renewal method permits using this current exam; other qualifying renewal routes can have different prices.
We publish no ROI or payback figure for this credential. Paid training prices are not included in this credential cost view. See the full cost breakdown →
Exam at a glance
How Cisco administers the exam — the logistics only. This is format, not a pass prediction, and it says nothing about how hard the material is for your background.
- Duration
- 50 minutes
- Languages
- English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese
- Testing provider
- Pearson VUE
- Delivery
- Cisco exams are delivered by Pearson VUE three ways: at an Authorized Test Center, online-proctored from home via OnVUE, or self-administered online for 700-series exam codes only.
- Online proctoring
- For the OnVUE online option: a government photo ID matching your booking name, a quiet distraction-free space, a 360-degree room scan, a single display only, an empty desk (computer plus a beverage), check-in starting 30 minutes early, and a connection of at least 6 Mbps down / 2 Mbps up.
Policies change; verify delivery, ID, room-scan, reschedule, and refund rules on the official page before you book or pay. See exam-day logistics →
Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity — official vendor page · checked Pearson VUE testing & OnVUE policies · checkedSkills measured
Vendor-published objective domains, normalized for display; use the cited official objectives for exact wording. Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity — official vendor page · checked
We have no exam-domain weightings recorded for this certification, so the domains are shown unweighted. Check the vendor’s objectives page for current weightings.
Free ways to study for Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity
1 free resource on record
- CCST Cybersecurity 100-160 exam page and topics link Free · official Best use: Confirm the official scope, domains, and version before studying. Limitation: Official Cisco exam page with exam-topic access for the entry cybersecurity support credential. Checked 2026-07-01.
Official sources control exam scope. Independent resources are reviewed for usefulness and labeled; none is a pass guarantee or affiliate recommendation.
Prerequisites
What's required vs merely recommended — stated plainly.
- Hard requirement
- What we found on the vendor eligibility page: No formal prerequisites.
“Recommended” is the vendor’s guidance, not a formal prerequisite. Confirm current exam availability on the official page before scheduling.
What this proves — and how Cisco says to prepare
Cisco’s own framing of who earns it and what it signals, plus their free official study material. Quoted and cited — never dressed up as a job guarantee.
- Who the vendor built it for
- Best fit for entry-level learners validating cybersecurity terminology, security principles, endpoint/network security basics, vulnerability handling, and incident-response fundamentals.
- What it signals you can do
- The Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity (100-160) exam validates a candidate's skills and knowledge of entry-level cybersecurity concepts and topics, including security principles, network security and endpoint security concepts, vulnerability assessment and risk management, and incident handling. The Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity (100-160) exam is also a first step toward CyberOps Associate certification.
- Where it leads
- Entry cybersecurity foundation before Cisco associate/professional security paths.
Free official study material
Skills this credential is associated with
Derived from the roles Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity supports — the skills those roles commonly require. This is a role-mediated association, not a claim that the exam objectives cover each skill. See the “Skills measured” section above for what the exam itself tests.
- Incident response
- Networking fundamentals
- Security fundamentals
- Security monitoring
- Troubleshooting
Job titles reported for related planning roles
RoleMath editorially associates this credential with the planning roles below. O*NET independently reports these titles for those roles’ occupations; O*NET does not say this credential is required or maps to them. This is not employer-demand, placement, or hiring evidence. Titles vary by employer, seniority, and location.
- Information Security Officer
- Information Security Specialist
- Information Systems Security Analyst
- Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO)
- Information Technology Security Analyst (IT Security Analyst)
- Network Security Analyst
- Security Analyst
- Systems Analyst
- Computer Support Specialist
- Computer Tech (Computer Technician)
- Desktop Support Technician (Desktop Support Tech)
- Help Desk Analyst
Source: O*NET OnLine supports the reported titles only; the credential-to-role association is RoleMath planning context.
RoleMath planning roles associated with this credential
These are RoleMath editorial associations based on skill and stage fit, not a vendor, O*NET, employer-demand, or universal-requirement claim. The sequence labels are planning context, not proof that this credential causes advancement, hiring, or placement.
- Cybersecurity Analyst · entry-stage context
- Incident Response Analyst · entry-stage context
- SOC Analyst · entry-stage context
- Threat Intelligence Analyst · entry-stage context
Pay context for the roles this maps to
Occupation-level government data for a related role — not a salary this certification pays you.
$75,090 to $199,850 · Cybersecurity Analyst (SOC 15-1212) BLS OEWS May 2025 — Information Security Analysts (15-1212), national · checked
This is what the occupation pays across the whole economy — set by the job, your experience, and location, not by holding this certification. Your actual pay will differ. See the full role page →
Credential credit map
What this counts toward
RoleMath shows cited equivalency, baseline, stacking, and renewal signals as planning context. These are not hiring guarantees or universal transfer credits.
Recommended next step (vendor path)
The vendor's certification path lists this credential before the target shown — a natural next step, not a requirement.
Cisco certification map lists Cybersecurity path levels Entry CCST Cybersecurity, Associate CCNA Cybersecurity, Professional CCNP Cybersecurity.
Official source
Equivalency, credit, and baseline mappings come from official/authoritative sources and are shown as planning context only. ACE recommendations are accepted at each institution's discretion; DoD baseline status must be confirmed against the current official DoD Cyber Exchange table; 'comparable scope' means similar role positioning, NOT an equivalence or substitution. No certification guarantees a job, salary, or outcome.
Core source records
This table lists the page’s core content records and when they were checked. Claim-specific citations appear beside the relevant text and may not be repeated here.
| ID | Supports | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIT-01 | Public official credential page for Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity. | Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity - Cisco | 2026-06-09T03:15:30+00:00 |
| CIT-02 | Supports official facts for Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity. | Official objective-domain source | 2026-06-12T17:54:15+00:00 |
| CIT-03 | Supports official facts for Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity. | Cisco Certified Support Technicians - Cisco | 2026-06-12T17:54:15+00:00 |
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