Destination CISSP: A Concise Guide

by Rob Witcher, John Berti, Lou Hablas

The goal of this concise study guide is to help you confidently pass the CISSP exam and to provide you with a foundation of security knowledge that will equip you to be a better security professional as you navigate your career. The first edition of Destination CISSP is aligned with ISC2's 2021 Exam Outline.

We have written this guide to be as concise as possible while still providing sufficient, valuable, and relevant information to help you understand the concepts behind each domain that makes up the CISSP certification.

We have created hundreds of diagrams and summary tables and highlighted the core concepts to know for each section - all to make the daunting task of CISSP exam preparation as easy as possible.Our collective wisdom from decades in the trenches of security, working with ISC2, developing official curriculums and official guides, teaching thousands of CISSP classes, and guiding tens of thousands of students to passing the CISSP exam has been distilled to create this concise guide to the CISSP exam.

Genres: Nonfiction

1153 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2023

Reviews

[Greg Gaussa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing as an educational resource. I found the presentation of the physical book to be fantastic and think it is the least dull CISSP resource (reading wise) that I have used. Overall the format of the sections and domains, the visual graphs and tables helped reinforce my understanding. Additionally the links in the book to the Destination Certification Mind Maps as well as the practice questions have been great additions. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in studying for the CISSP. Even if I don’t pass my exam, I have taken away a wealth of knowledge from this book. I also hope they release a resource for the CCSP as I would buy that instantly.

[Nima Khezr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally, this book, along with the Mindmap videos, became my passport to success in passing the CISSP exam. The dedication and effort poured into developing the content are evident throughout. The Mindmap videos, adorned with simplified diagrams, figures, and pictures, are an added bonus, providing visual aid to reinforce complex concepts. In an industry often filled with dry technical manuals, 'Destination CISSP' breathes life into the information security field. While I found myself wishing for more depth on certain topics, overall, it was a great read and I recommend it to anyone looking to tackle the brutal CISSP exam. Rob and his team have created an indispensable resource that deserves a place on every cybersecurity professional's bookshelf.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I studied for my CISSP prep. Nowhere near as dry as the All-in-One and more to-the-point on things that mattered. That said I think it pairs well with the All-in-One which provides greater depth on topics if you're the sort of learner who benefits from that. I will say Destination also includes great online material to pair with the book for studying. Their quizzes though were not helpful or very representative of the test, so that part can be skipped.

[Martin Giguere · Rating 5 out of 5]

an interesting read compared to other dry books

The authors use multiple real life examples to explain many of the concepts. This is a great CISSP book to gain the fundamentals for the exam. I highly recommend it.

[Michael Ibarra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, an amazingly comprehensive resource to use in place of the official study guide and textbook. I used this in conjunction with some other materials to study, and my test is in a few weeks... so, we'll see how effective it was. Many thanks to the team at Destination Cert!

[Mara G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed. Great illustrations and connection with the world. This could go more in depth but I recognize that depth was meant through a wandering mind, wondering mind. Thank you.

[AO ADEBAYO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book.

I had recommend it to few of my colleagues. So, hope yo pass the cissp at 1 sitting now. All the best guys.

[Zane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked all the material from Rob Witcher. This and the youtube videos helped a lot.

[Abby Tish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsure of its value in helping me on the exam… but a super well-written textbook that I read cover to cover and moderately enjoyed, so I’m logging it.

[Destinee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a textbook fully until I read this one. Great overview of all the CISSP domains. I’m using this with other study methods to take my CISSP. More to follow after I take my exam.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read twice, test once... And throw in OSG for good measure.

Some errors here and there but nothing major. The "block cipher modes of operation" diagram was horrible imo, just Google it instead.

[anjuli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the whole book cover to cover and made use of my highlighter!! There is SO much material for the CISSP certification prep and the Dest Cert book made it relatively easier to digest. The book definitely follows the ISC2 guideline for the exam. It makes sure to point out important concepts and definitions to focus on. The authors also use examples where necessary.

The book kept topics relative to the certification requirements without droning on and on about stuff that would not benefit for the certification per se. The CISSP material is a mile long to learn and understand, and the authors kept the material focused without trying to bombard the folks with unnecessary material. I appreciated that. Another thing to keep in mind is that the exam is based on a perfect world scenario and our real world experiences and/or mindset would not help us on certification day - this was a frequent reminder/drilled into us folks.

Is this a perfect book? No. Because, there is NO perfect book, question bank or material out there for CISSP certification. It is all subjective and relative to the person trying to study based on various individual factors. For me, this was the right book/materials to understand the concepts without the extra fluff. They delivered.

Full disclosure - I bought their CISSP MasterClass and the book was included in that course work bundle. It is a self paced coursework, Structured, with full videos, workbook, quizzes, mentorship, end of course exam etc.. Their app calculates the amount of time it would take for you to make the first pass of the material based on your input of dedicated hours. For someone who loves to plan and prefers structure when studying, this was godsend. It helped me plan how much time realistically I could dedicate and when can I attempt my exam etc. as life happens so got to accommodate those hiccups.

I passed my exam in March!!!! Just waiting for ISC2 to make it official now.
Thank you to the DC team!

***Update***
I received my endorsement and my certificate both digital and in paper. I received a small (think tiny) CISSP Pin as well from ISC2. The whole process from exam day to receiving the certification (including endorsement) was roughly a 6 week process for me. Individual experiences may vary.
It is official :)

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Passed @138 questions with 45 minutes left. Thanks, DC!