It is a mandatory requirement of three (3) credit hours for BS Cyber Security students to earn industry-relevant certifications, preferably through recognized national or international certification bodies. Recommended Cyber Security Certifications (Initial List – 2026):
1.(ISC)² CC - Certified in Cybersecurity
2.Google Cybersecurity Certificate - Coursera
3.Google Cloud Skills Boost - AI for Cybersecurity Quest
4.CompTIA Security+
5.CompTIA PenTest+
6.Cisco - Introduction to Cybersecurity
7.Cisco CCNA (200-301)
8.Cisco CyberOps Associate
9.Linux Essentials / Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC-1)
10.Fortinet Certified Fundamentals - Network Security Expert 1 (NSE-1)
11.Fortinet Network Security Expert 2 (NSE-2)
12.TryHackMe – for hands-on practice
13.HackTheBox Academy
14.HackTheBox-CPTS – Certified Penetration Testing Specialist
15.IBM - Penetration Testing, Incident Response and Forensics
16.IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate
17.IBM QRadar SIEM Foundation
18.EC-Council - CEH – Certified Ethical Hacker
19.TCM Security - PNPT – Practical Network Penetration Tester
20.TCM Security - PJPT - Practical Junior PenTester
21.INE Security - eJPT – eLearnSecurity Junior Penetration Tester (eJPT)
22.INE Security - eWPTX
23.Coursera - AI for Cybersecurity Specialization - Johns Hopkins University
24.INFOSEC - Computer Forensics Specialization
25.Microsoft Security Fundamentals (SC-900)
26.Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900)
27.Cybrary - Incident Response & Cyber Investigations
28.Qualys - Qualys Certified Courses
29.Splunk Core Certified User
30.AWS Certified Security – Specialty
31.PECB - ISO IEC 27001 Foundation
32.ISC2 - Systems Security Certified Practitioner