Welcome to CCNA Security Exam Cram! The fact that you are reading this means that you are interested in the CCNA Security certification that Cisco announced in July of 2008. Cisco has done a thorough job of revamping the certification path for the Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP), with the CCNA Security certification being the cornerstone upon which the CCSP certification depends. Implementing Cisco IOS Network Security (IINS) is the recommended training course for CCNA Security certification. If you already hold the prerequisite valid CCNA certification, passing the 640-553 IINS exam enables you to obtain the CCNA Security certification—likely to become one of the hottest certifications in IT. This book helps prepare you for that exam. The book assumes that you already have your CCNA certification or an equivalent level of knowledge. If you do not have a CCNA level of knowledge, you should consider putting down this book and first pursuing more robust fundamental training, such as a full CCNA course book or a recommended CCNA course. And remember that CCNA is a prerequisite to CCNA Security certification.

This book is a synthesized, distilled, and pared-down effort, with only enough information as is necessary to provide context for the information you need to pass the exam. This is not to say that this book is not a good read, but it is a fair reflection of the type of material that you will need to master in order to be successful with the exam. Read this book, understand the material, and drill yourself with the practice exams, and you stand a very good chance of passing the exam. That said, it’s possible that in the course of working through this book, depending on your prior CCNA Security training or on-the-job experience, you might identify topics you are struggling with and might require you to look up more fundamental resources to deal with. This book discusses all the topics on the exam and tests you on all of them, but it does not always provide detailed coverage of all those topics.