By Lon J. Berman, CISSP, RDRP
BAI has recently expanded its training program to include training for the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) credential. Beginning in February 2018, we are offering an intensive five-day course designed to prepare students for the CISSP certification exam.
CISSP is an internationally recognized certification in the field of information technology security. It is administered by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, more commonly known as (ISC)2. CISSP has been around for nearly 25 years and is widely considered as the “gold standard” of information security certifications.
Professional certification can be a key factor in career advancement. Some studies have shown significant salary differences between certified and noncertified personnel. The Department of Defense (DoD) requires all personnel with cybersecurity responsibilities, including both government employees and contractors, to hold professional certifications appropriate to their roles. CISSP certification fulfills this requirement for the overwhelming majority of job categories as defined by DoD.
The CISSP curriculum, known as the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK), includes eight subject areas or domains:
- Security and Risk Assessment
- Asset Security
- Security Engineering
- Communications & Network Security
- Identity and Access Management
- Security Assessment and Testing
- Security Operations
- Software Development Security
In the BAI training program, students learn the subject matter in each of these domains. Beyond that, instruction is provided on the best approach to the certification exam. Numerous sample test questions are provided, both during the class and as “take home” exercises. Additional self-study resources are also provided.
The CISSP certification exam is extremely challenging because it is not a simple test of factual knowledge. Rather, the test questions frequently present a “scenario” and then ask the student to identify the “best approach” to deal with the given situation. BAI training prepares students to handle these types of questions.
The five-day CISSP Preparation class will be offered in several BAI training sites in 2018, starting with Oakland (February), Dallas (March), and National Capital Region (April). These classes will be taught by instructors with extensive experience in preparing students for CISSP as well as other professional certifications. BAI is also offering an online, instructor-led version of the CISSP Preparation class on May 14th – 18th.
For further information, or to register for one of our upcoming classes, please visit BAI at www.rmf.org/register. For additional information on the certification exam itself, please see www.isc2.org.
