Stephane Maarek's preparation course for the AWS Certified Security – Specialty exam, an advanced certification for securing AWS environments. It covers IAM, encryption, threat detection and compliance in depth. It is exam prep for experienced practitioners; the certification is a separate, paid specialty exam.
Good for: Experienced AWS practitioners preparing for the Security Specialty exam.
Less suitable if: You are new to AWS or security, or you want a beginner overview.
Requirements: Solid AWS experience and security familiarity; advanced.
Realistic time: About 19 hours of course; most people study over several weeks.
About this course
This course prepares you for the AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) exam, the most advanced AWS security certification. Topics include IAM policies and permission boundaries, KMS encryption, CloudTrail and GuardDuty for threat detection, WAF and Shield for perimeter defense, Macie for data classification, and Security Hub for centralized findings.
What you'll learn
Design IAM policies with least privilege and permission boundaries
Implement encryption with KMS and manage key rotation and access
Configure GuardDuty and Security Hub for centralized threat detection
Deploy WAF rules and Shield Advanced for DDoS and application protection
Pass the AWS Certified Security – Specialty SCS-C02 exam
This course includes
19h
On-demand video
Yes
Certificate
Yes
Mobile access
English
Language
What it costs
A paid Udemy course, usually on sale for around $12 to $20. The AWS Security Specialty exam is separate and costs $300 (an existing AWS certification earns a 50% discount, halving it to $150).
Comparison · LBS
Compare alternatives for AWS Certified Security — Specialty 2026
Same topic, different options. We surface the trade-offs others hide so you can pick the course that actually fits your time, budget, and goals.
UDUdemy4.7(10,000)
AWS Certified Security — Specialty 2026
Price
Paid
One-time purchase, sales ~$15
Duration
19 hrs
Level
Advanced
Certificate
Course Certificate
PLPluralsight
AWS Developer: Deployment and Security
Price
Paid
Pluralsight subscription · from $21/mo billed annually (free trial)
This prepares you for the AWS Certified Security – Specialty exam — a separate, paid specialty exam ($300, or $150 with an existing-cert discount) for experienced practitioners.
Instructor
SM
Stephane Maarek
Udemy instructor
120K+ learners25 courses4.7 instructor rating
Taught by Stephane Maarek and AWS security specialists on Udemy with expert-level AWS security implementation experience.
About this provider
UD
Udemy
The world's largest online learning marketplace. 65M+ students, 210,000+ courses.