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, sometimes shortened to InfoSec, 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 unauthorize ...

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 secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

and

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

. CIISec has offices in Evesham,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

and Southwark, London. The institute's HQs are based in Evesham, close to the cyber-hubs of Cheltenham and Malvern. The institute is run by its members and has an elected board of directors with Dr Alastair MacWillson as the chairman.

Activities

One of its main activities is to act as an accreditation authority for the industry. The consortium of CIISec,

CREST Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

, and

RHUL Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

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, commonly known as 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 Uni ...

. 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.

Community hubs

The CIISec has a number of regional branches which are developed for its members:

History

Based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 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 transmission of information. Information assurance includes protection of the integrity, availability, authenticity, ...

(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

{{Reflist

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 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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."

External links

Chartered Institute of Information Security
2006 establishments 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