CISSP Study Plan – Day 12 of 55 | Kerberos and Deep CISSP Concepts
- Luke Ahmed
- Sep 22
- 2 min read
"Kerberos will always be an important part of the exam not because of its technical nature, but because of the deep CISSP concepts hidden within it."– Luke Ahmed
Today is Day 12 of Yihenew’s CISSP study plan, diving deeper into Identity and Access Management with a focus on Kerberos. While it may look like a purely technical protocol, the exam uses Kerberos questions to test whether you understand the security principles and risk management concepts behind it.
Key Areas Covered:
What Kerberos Is — a trusted third-party authentication system using tickets and symmetric key cryptography
Key Components — Key Distribution Center (KDC), Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT), Service Tickets
CISSP Exam Perspective — focus on concepts like trust, mutual authentication, and centralized control rather than configuration details
Strengths — prevents password replay attacks, supports single sign-on (SSO), improves accountability
Limitations — requires time synchronization and a single trusted authority; if the KDC is compromised, the entire system is at risk
In this CISSP study plan session, Yihenew emphasized that Kerberos is less about memorizing steps and more about understanding how authentication systems fit into the larger governance and risk framework.
Quick CISSP Practice Question
Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of Kerberos in an enterprise environment?
A. To enforce least privilege for database users
B. To provide encrypted tunnels for secure communications
C. To enable mutual authentication and prevent replay attacks
D. To replace the need for role-based access control
✅ Correct Answer: C. To enable mutual authentication and prevent replay attacks
Explanation: Kerberos provides ticket-based authentication to ensure both users and services verify each other’s identity. It also prevents replay attacks by using timestamps and short-lived tickets. It is not a replacement for RBAC, nor does it focus on encrypted tunnels like VPN protocols.
👉 Can you take the Yani Challenge?
55 days of consistent CISSP prep, tackling one domain at a time, using only the resources below:
Course
Luke's CISSP Course (2 months access, $89.98)
One-to-one Zoom sessions with Luke Ahmed (2 weeks before exam)
Books, Notes, and Practice Questions
All-In-One Study Guide by Shon Harris (Around $45)
Sybex 10th Edition (Around $52.55)
Total Cost: approxiamately $250 depending on your geographic location. Yani is located in East Africa.
📚 Study Plan (55 Days of Dedication):
- Weekdays: 2–3 hours of focused study—late nights and early mornings (5 AM).
- Weekends: 5–6 hours of deep study sessions.
Pass CISSP in first attempt within 100 questions.
Yani's biggest expense was his time, committment, consistency, and dedication! It was worth it because he passed first attempt in 100 questions using the above resources only.
If Yihenew could do it, so can you.
All the best Future CISSP. You can feel free to contact me anytime as well.
Thank you.
Luke Ahmed
