- What the Published Data Actually Says
- Why There Is No Official Pass Rate
- What We Do Know About Exam 100-160
- Where Candidates Are Most Likely to Lose Points
- Domain-by-Domain Readiness Checks
- Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain
- How to Read Pass-Rate Claims Critically
- Registration and Fee Mechanics
- Who Hires CCST Cybersecurity Holders
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Cisco has not published an official pass rate for the CCST Cybersecurity exam (100-160), so any specific percentage you see is unverified.
- Exam 100-160 is listed at 50 minutes with a USD 125 fee, which makes pacing and first-attempt readiness matter.
- The exam spans five domains, from Essential Security Principles through Incident Handling, with no official domain weights published.
- Judge readiness by domain-level practice results, not by a rumored national pass percentage.
What the Published Data Actually Says
Search for the Cisco Certified Support Technician Cybersecurity pass rate and you will find confident-sounding numbers on forums, social posts, and thin affiliate sites. The honest answer from the primary sources is simpler: Cisco's exam page and the Certiport/Pearson VUE delivery page for the CCST Cybersecurity exam list the exam duration, fee, and objectives, but they do not publish a pass rate, a cut score, or a question count.
That absence is itself the most important piece of data. If you are building a study plan around a claim like "most candidates pass," you are building on sand. This article lays out what is verifiable, what is not, and how to turn the uncertainty into a practical readiness strategy. For a broader look at difficulty, see our guide on how hard the CCST-C exam is.
Why There Is No Official Pass Rate
Many certification programs keep pass statistics private. Several reasons are typical across the industry, and they apply here as a reasonable explanation rather than a confirmed Cisco policy:
- Entry-level exams attract a very mixed population. Students, career changers, helpdesk staff, and experienced IT workers all sit the same exam, so an aggregate rate would blend wildly different preparation levels.
- Delivery happens through a testing network. The exam is delivered through Certiport and Pearson VUE channels, which can complicate any single consolidated figure.
- Exam forms rotate. Even if an overall figure existed, it would not tell you how hard your particular form will be.
Because the numeric passing score is also not established in the supplied official sources, we cannot responsibly tell you a "percent you need." Our page on the CCST-C passing score explains how to treat that gap and what to do instead.
What We Do Know About Exam 100-160
While pass rates are unavailable, several concrete facts are verifiable and directly shape your odds:
| Item | What is established |
|---|---|
| Exam code | 100-160 |
| Credential | Cisco Certified Support Technician - Cybersecurity |
| Duration | 50 minutes (listed by Cisco) |
| Fee | USD 125 (listed by Cisco) |
| Objective domains | Five official domains |
| Official domain percentages | Not established in the supplied source context |
| Question count | Not established in the supplied source context |
| Numeric passing score | Not established in the supplied source context |
| Recommended preparation | An introductory 150 hours of instruction and hands-on experience describes successful candidates; it is not established here as a mandatory prerequisite |
Notice the 150-hour figure. Cisco frames it as a description of what a successful candidate typically has, not as a gate you must clear before registering. If you want to understand how eligibility really works, read our breakdown of CCST-C requirements.
Where Candidates Are Most Likely to Lose Points
Without published statistics, the best evidence is structural: the objectives themselves show where breadth turns into risk. These are inferences from the official objective list, not measured failure rates.
Breadth across five very different areas
The objectives move from conceptual security principles to hands-on endpoint commands to compliance and incident-response frameworks. A candidate strong in networking may be weak on frameworks like the Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK, and the Diamond Model. A candidate from a policy background may stumble on tcpdump, netstat, and nslookup.
Terminology that looks similar
Many items hinge on distinguishing near-neighbors: authentication versus authorization versus accounting, vulnerability versus risk, IDS versus IPS, data at rest versus in transit versus in use, and DRP versus BCP. Candidates who memorize definitions loosely tend to be vulnerable when answer choices are deliberately close.
Applied scenarios over rote recall
Objectives such as interpreting system logs, identifying suspicious events, and deciding when escalation is required reward applied judgment. Reading about Event Viewer or syslog is not the same as recognizing an anomaly in one.
Domain-by-Domain Readiness Checks
Use these checks as a self-audit. If you cannot explain a bullet aloud without notes, treat it as a gap. The domain names below match the official objectives; for a fuller walkthrough, see our complete guide to all five CCST-C content areas.
Domain 1: Essential Security Principles
The vocabulary foundation that every later domain assumes.
- Distinguish threats, vulnerabilities, exploits, risks, and attack vectors, and explain defense-in-depth and the CIA triad.
- Differentiate phishing, spear phishing, vishing, smishing, tailgating, and man-in-the-middle attacks.
- Explain AAA, RADIUS, MFA, and password policy rationale.
- Contrast hashing with encryption, and explain certificates and PKI, plus protecting data in transit, at rest, and in use.
Domain 2: Basic Network Security Concepts
Protocol weaknesses and the controls that contain them.
- Describe weaknesses in TCP, UDP, HTTP, ARP, ICMP, DHCP, and DNS.
- Explain how segmentation, CIDR notation, NAT, and public versus private addressing affect security.
- Place a DMZ, proxy, IDS, IPS, and honeypot in a security architecture.
- Configure a secure SoHo wireless network (SSID, encryption standards, MAC filtering) and explain ACLs, firewalls, VPNs, and NAC.
Domain 3: Endpoint Security Concepts
Hands-on familiarity with operating systems and tools.
- Compare Windows, macOS, and Linux security features, including permissions and privilege escalation.
- Recognize what netstat, nslookup, and tcpdump reveal about an endpoint.
- Connect compliance drivers such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR to asset management, backups, and BYOD policy.
- Interpret Event Viewer, audit, system, application, and syslog entries, and walk through malware scanning and remediation.
Domain 4: Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Management
Moving from finding weaknesses to deciding what to do about them.
- Separate active from passive reconnaissance and explain port scanning.
- Explain what CVEs and vulnerability databases offer and where they fall short.
- Rank risks, choose mitigation approaches, and explain data classification.
- Distinguish disaster recovery planning from business continuity planning.
Domain 5: Incident Handling
The framework-heavy domain that rewards structured thinking.
- Explain the roles of SIEM and SOAR and when escalation is warranted.
- Describe the Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK, the Diamond Model, and TTPs.
- Explain evidence preservation and chain of custody.
- Walk through the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle and how GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, FERPA, and FISMA affect reporting.
Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain
Because no official weights exist, do not assume any domain can be skipped. A sensible sequence builds vocabulary first, then protocols and tools, then frameworks that depend on both. This is a sample ordering, not a prescription; our CCST-C study guide covers the full approach.
Domain 1 first
- Lock in the CIA triad, AAA, social engineering variants, and encryption concepts.
- Later domains reuse this vocabulary constantly, so weak foundations compound.
Domain 2 with a lab habit
- Pair each protocol weakness with the control that addresses it.
- Practice reading a simple topology and placing firewall, DMZ, and IDS/IPS.
Domain 3 on a real machine
- Run netstat and nslookup yourself and read Event Viewer entries.
- Commands are easier to recall when you have seen their output.
Domains 4 and 5 together
- Risk ranking and incident response share vocabulary, so study them side by side.
- Finish with timed mixed practice to test pacing against the 50-minute window.
Keep a one-page reference of the frameworks and commands you tend to confuse; our CCST-C cheat sheet is a good model for that format.
How to Read Pass-Rate Claims Critically
When you encounter a specific figure, run it through these filters:
- Is it attributed? A real statistic names the body that produced it. If the claim cites "reports" or "candidates say," it is anecdote.
- Is it about this exam? Check that it refers to CCST Cybersecurity, exam 100-160, and not CCST Networking, CyberOps Associate, or an unrelated credential with a similar abbreviation.
- Is the sample described? A survey of a handful of forum posters is not a population rate.
- Does it match the exam as currently published? The objectives document carries a 2025 copyright, so older material may describe a different blueprint.
Key Takeaway
Replace "What is the pass rate?" with "Am I consistently scoring well in every domain under timed conditions?" The second question is one you can actually answer and improve. Our CCST-C practice tests let you measure exactly that.
Registration and Fee Mechanics
Cisco's exam page lists exam 100-160 at USD 125, and the Certiport/Pearson VUE delivery page for the CCST Cybersecurity exam is the pathway for scheduling. Because the listed duration is 50 minutes, treat each attempt as a meaningful cost: failing means paying again, so a readiness check before booking is cheaper than a retake. Before you commit, review the CCST-C certification cost breakdown and confirm availability on the exam dates and scheduling page, since fees and delivery details should always be verified against Cisco's official page at the time you register.
Who Hires CCST Cybersecurity Holders
This is an entry-level, technician-oriented credential, and its objectives point to the kinds of roles where it carries weight: IT support and helpdesk positions with a security responsibility, junior security operations or monitoring roles, and general IT staff taking on endpoint and policy duties. The content on SIEM and SOAR, log interpretation, and escalation maps naturally to monitoring work, while endpoint hardening and patching map to support and administration roles.
We do not cite salary numbers here because none are established in the source context. If you are weighing the investment, our ROI analysis and CCST-C jobs overview discuss the career side in more detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
No pass rate was established in the official sources reviewed. Cisco's exam page lists the duration (50 minutes) and fee (USD 125), but not pass statistics. Treat any specific percentage you see as unverified.
A numeric passing score was not established in the supplied source context, so we do not state one. Aim for consistent strength across all five domains rather than a target number.
No. The 150 hours of instruction and hands-on experience describes what successful candidates typically bring, but it is not established here as a mandatory prerequisite. See our requirements guide for details.
No. CCST Cybersecurity is a distinct certification from both CCST Networking and Cisco CyberOps Associate, with its own objectives and exam code. Data about those exams should not be used to estimate your odds here.
Take timed, mixed-domain practice sets across all five domains and look for any area where you consistently struggle. Resources like the pass rate overview and our practice test site help you measure readiness directly rather than guess from rumors.