The Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec), formerly the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP), is an independent, not-for-profit body governed by its members, with the principal objective of advancing the professionalism of

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

practitioners and thereby the professionalism of the industry as a whole. The primary aim of the institute is to provide a universally accepted focal point for the information security profession.

Overview

The Chartered Institute of Information Security has a membership representing over 10,000 individuals globally throughout

Industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

Academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. CIISec has offices in

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, England, Worceste ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, London. The institute's HQs are based in

, close to the cyber-hubs of

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

and Malvern. The institute is run by its members and has an elected board of directors with Luke Beason as the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

Activities

One of its main activities is to act as an accreditation authority for the industry. The consortium of CIISec, CREST, and RHUL has been appointed by NCSC as one of the certification bodies for the UK's Certified Cyber Professional (CCP) assured service. The consortium assesses individuals based on the Skills Framework, as part of a certification scheme driven by NCSC, the IA arm of

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primar ...

. Full membership of the institute is information security's professional standard and endorses the knowledge, experience and professionalism of an individual in this field. The award of membership levels is competency-based which sets it apart from purely knowledge-based qualifications and is awarded to those professionals who demonstrate breadth and depth of knowledge, and substantial practical experience.

History

Based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom, the institute was established in 2006 by information security professionals. In 2007, the institute developed the CIISec Skills Framework. This framework describes the range of competencies expected of information security and

information assurance Information assurance (IA) is the practice of assuring information and managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and data transmission, transmission of information. Information assurance includes protection of the data integrity, inte ...

(IA) professionals in the effective performance of their roles. It was developed through collaboration between both private and public sector organisations and academics and security leaders. In 2012, as part of the government's investment in cyber security, the CIISec consortium was appointed by NCSC (formally CESG) to provide certification for UK government information assurance professionals. The CIISec defined a set of information security skills and skill levels and these skill definitions have been supplemented by NCSC to enable certification bodies to make formal assessments, and others to make informal assessments against the IA skill levels.

References

Sources

"Cloud Expo 2014 presentation from Piers Wilson, Director of the IISP: Equipping security teams to deal with changing technology."
Wednesday 26 February 2014. *Burke, Claire
" Top tips to stop cyber criminals from targeting your small business "
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', London, Tuesday 11 March 2014.
"New Cyber Security Government skills certification from IISP and CREST."
Wednesday 24 October 2012.

Retrieved on Saturday 15 March 2014. * ttp://raconteur.net/technology/what-is-a-security-professional-knowing-what-good-looks-like "The Times Raconteur Section: What is a security professional? Knowing what good look like." Wednesday 12 December 2012.
"e-skills uk and IISP to align professional skills standards in information-security."
Tuesday 6 November 2012.
"IISP Pulse magazine focus on Validsoft ceo's views."
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428001657/http://www.validsoft.com/news/iisp-pulse-magazine-focus-on-validsoft-ceo-s-view-news-23491413846 , date=2014-04-28

External links

Chartered Institute of Information Security
2006 establishments in the United Kingdom Computer security in the United Kingdom Computer security organizations Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Internet in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the London Borough of Southwark Organizations established in 2006 Information Security Professionals