4 Reasons CISSP Certification Makes You More Valuable

1. Organizations want your skills

There are many organizations that will only hire information security professionals with specific certifications. While other certifications are fairly common, CISSP professionals are sometimes rare. That’s why some organizations actively search for CISSP-certified professionals for specific roles. They won’t consider anyone else.

When you get your CISSP certification, you’ll be perfect for the certification-specific roles companies are trying to fill. You’ll have the advantage over other candidates who aren’t certified. If they have skills, they might get hired by the same organization, but they won’t be put in the position that calls for CISSP certification.

2. You’ll save organizations time and money

The skills you’ll bring to the table as a CISSP-certified professional will save organizations time and money. For example, say you get hired working for a software company that has never embraced DevSecOps. Until you came along, their development team worked in a silo before handing off the project to the security team.

When software security is an afterthought, it’s not effective. Oftentimes, when software is secured at the end, it needs constant attention to keep it secure. This can cost companies tens of thousands of dollars in releasing continual fixes and patches.

As a CISSP, you’ll have the authority to get your organization to embrace DevSecOps throughout the software development cycle. If you’re working with other information security professionals, they might not be aware of just how important DevSecOps is for software development.

Being certified will give you the authority you need to be taken seriously when you implement DevSecOps as part of the software development process.

3. You’ll grow as an information security professional

If you’re like most professionals, you look forward to growing in your industry. Growth is required for excellence, and when your goal is to be considered an expert, you need as much growth as possible.

Each time you earn a new professional certification, you grow in your knowledge and abilities. Earning a certification requires learning new information and being able to apply your new knowledge to real-world situations.

Although your new knowledge won’t yet be backed by experience, you’ll be equipped to gain that experience over time. As you gain experience where you can apply your new knowledge, you’ll grow even more as a cybersecurity professional.

4. You’ll be qualified to work in any industry

Being a cybersecurity professional doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready to work in any industry. Some industries have complex data security laws and are governed by strict regulations. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs how protected health information (PHI) can be handled electronically and the requirements are strict. If you don’t know the specifics, you could leave your organization vulnerable to a data breach and subsequent fines.

However, when you become CISSP-certified, you can work in virtually any industry because you’ll have access to worldwide regulations. As a CISSP-certified professional, you’ll have access to the United Compliance Framework (UFC), which provides access to worldwide compliance standards.

Having all the knowledge and information required to work in any industry will benefit you financially, since some industries pay better than others.

Requirements for maintaining CISSP certification

As a certified CISSP, you’ll be required to complete 120 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits every three years. This amounts to 40 CPEs each year. You can complete this requirement in various ways, including reading, writing books on information security, and studying certain qualifying materials.

Since the requirement is every three years, there is some wiggle room. For instance, you won’t lose your CISSP certification after the first, or even the second year that you don’t complete any CPEs. However, when the third year rolls around and you don’t have 120 CPEs, you will lose your certification.

It’s recommended to complete 40 CPEs per year to stay on top of your game. However, the three-year requirement is nice because if you get busy or forget for a time, you can still catch up to your requirements.

To meet your CPE requirements, you can also attend virtual symposiums and quarterly EMEA webinars, if they are deemed qualifying by the (ISC)². As a CISSP, you’ll always be up-to-date with new developments in the IT security industry, which is part of why you’ll be so valuable to organizations.

Ready to get certified? Our CISSP training course will help you pass

To pass the CISSP exam, you’ll need to take a professional training course. This isn’t an entry-level certification and is only suited for existing IT security professionals.

To qualify for the CISSP exam, you’ll need at least five years of experience in two of the eight (ISC)² domains. The CISSP exam will take about three hours and consists of 100-150 multiple-choice and advanced questions.

You’ll be assessed on your knowledge of the following domains:

• Security and Risk Management (15%)
• Asset Security (10%)
• Security Architecture and Engineering (13%)
• Communication and Network Security (14%)
• Identity and Access Management (IAM) (13%)
• Security Assessment and Testing (12%)
• Security Operations (13%)
• Software Development Security (10%)

The exam is challenging. However, with our CISSP preparation course, you’ll spend six twelve-hour days learning from our professional experts who will guide you through everything you need to know to pass the exam.

If you’re ready to take your information security career to the next level, sign up for our CISSP training course to get started. You can schedule your course in advance based on your needs, as we have several dates available at any given time.

If you want to be seen as an IT security authority that organizations depend on and your teammates come to for advice, you need to become a CISSP.

Take our training course today so you can be ready for the next step in your cybersecurity career.