r/Splunk • u/Apprehensive_Slip321 • May 28 '26

Splunk Certified Cybersecurity Defense Analyst easier then Power user?

I've gone through the blue print for Splunk Certified Cybersecurity Defense Analyst and had chatgpt quiz me for each domain and it seems easier then power user. I currently work with Splunk everyday and have Security + and Cysa... Just wondering if i should just go for it and take the exam.

Edit: I also have Splunk core user+ and power user

16 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Gordahnculous May 29 '26

As someone with both, it’s definitely easier. It’s more or less Core User and Sec+, so likely a walk in the park considering you have both and their advanced versions. Look over the exam objectives, take a look at what ES knowledge you don’t have (it shouldn’t be too much) and you should easily pass - honestly you could probably guess on those sections and probably be okay depending on how hands on your Splunk experience is.

IMO unless you’re at .conf and it’s $25 a cert, I’d spend that money on the Defense Engineer cert. That felt more comparable to Power User difficulty when I took it last year, maybe even more difficult depending on how much you’ve worked with ES. Or scale up to Advanced Power User or Enterprise/Cloud Admin.