The Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer (PCSAE) is the certification exam that helps the candidates to validate their knowledge and skills in developing, analyzing, and administering security automation, Cortex XSOAR security orchestration, and response platform with the help of native threat intelligence management. If you are rooting for a career in the security automation field, this certification test is a must-do for you. Once you pass it, it will lead you to the namesake certification.

Who Is PCSAE Intended for?

This certification exam is designed for anyone who wants to showcase their skills, abilities, and knowledge in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR functionality, and in particular, the targeted audience includes partners, system engineers, analysts, administrators, and customers. Simply, anyone who wishes to get the Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer certification has to pass this exam with a good score to be hired in a reputable firm.

What Is PCSAE Test?

The Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer is a popular exam that leads candidates to unlimited career opportunities as Security Automation Engineer. If you are taking this test, you need to keep in mind that it's an 80-90-minute exam, and you have to attempt 85 questions while doing it. The formats of the test items are multiple-choice, matching, and scenarios with graphics. The PCSAE evaluation is a third-party proctored exam so you need to register with Pearson VUE to schedule it.

What Topics Are Included in Official Test?

The candidates who wish to show their expertise in the PCSAE exam need to master the measured domains to perform well in it. The topics are the following:

• Playbook development 25%;
• Solution architecture 15%;
• Incident types, indicator types, fields, and layouts 20%;
• Automation, integration, and related concepts 20%;
• Web interface workflow, reports, and dashboards 10%;
• Content management & content updates 10%.

The first tested domain discusses playbook development. It includes the subtopics like conceptualizing context data, outlining the use of loop sub-playbooks, and summarizing the difference between inputs, outputs, and playbook tasks. Moreover, here, the candidate should also have expertise in using transformers and filters to manipulate data.

The second measured area talks about solution architecture. In detail, this section focuses on assessing the system architecture and outlining scalability opportunities. In addition, you will be tested on describing the components of XSOAR system architecture as well as creating incidents utilizing XSOAR.

The third gauged section describes incident types, indicator types, fields, and layouts. Thus, you should have relevant information about comparing & contrasting different incident types and outlining the various layout types. Furthermore, the candidate's skills in summarizing field types, associated purpose, and defining advanced field capabilities will also be assessed in the main evaluation.

The fourth tested objective defines the automation and integration-related concepts. It deals with the knowledge and skills of using automation to respond to incidents and highlights the integration concepts. While talking about the latter, the candidates need to know the difference between the arguments & parameters along with the definition of the integration types and process of contributing integrations. Furthermore, under the same topic, you should also know about configuring integration instances that include applying basic troubleshooting if integration is not performing well and classifying the set of data for different types of fields.

The fifth scope highlights the relevant information about web interface workflow, reports, and dashboards. In particular, it involves the knowledge of navigating the UI and query system data. The candidate needs to have skills in writing the structured query utilizing the appropriate syntax. Next, you should also have knowledge of summarizing the workflow elements that are required for doing an investigation, creating dashboards & reports, and applying suitable widget types. In addition, defining the custom widgets and analyzing when they are necessary will also be tested in the final validation.

The sixth measured part focuses on content management and content updates. The candidates taking the PCSAE test should have detailed information about marketplace concepts and know how to apply the custom content and manage content updates. Plus, you must have skills in identifying the benefits of custom content and how new content will be implemented in the market. Moreover, the candidate should have expertise in explaining the appropriate time for imports and exports including the process of how it should be done. Not only this but you will also be tested on summarizing the relationship between the existing content updates and customer content while navigating such a domain.

Professional Aspirations

After passing the PCSAE exam, the candidates can showcase their certification on their profiles to attract potential employers. It leads them to the path of unlimited career opportunities and growth. Employers are already looking for skilled certified individuals to fill the missing seats in the firms for the security automation engineer position. Apart from this, the job roles that you can apply for after passing the PCSAE evaluations are:

• Security analysts;
• System engineers;
• Security automation engineers;
• Security administrators.

The salary of the security automation engineer is $94k while the annual income of the security analyst is $69k as revealed by ZipRecruiter and PayScale, respectively. You can earn a good income if you have the relevant skills along with the prestigious Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer certification. So, sharpen your acumen and master the exam domains to achieve heights in your career. This way, you will get a chance to work with security professionals in the IT sector and get a broad range of knowledge by getting guidance from them. According to Palo Alto Networks, 80% of the individuals certify to get the competitive advantage and salary increase. Thus, you can also get this designation to achieve higher goals in the competitive IT industry.

Certification Path

The PCSAE certification exam is considered the highest-level evaluation when it comes to the security engineer path of Palo Alto Networks. Apart from this test, you can also take the Prisma Certified Cloud Security Engineer and Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer exams to expand your knowledge and become one step closer to your successful cybersecurity career. Be ready to make the mark in the cybersecurity field by passing the popular exams and attaining the remarkable Palo Alto Networks validations.