The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has outlined new rules of the road for earning its Certified Cyber Professional (CCP) specialist certification. The new pilot program for the certification commences in 2019 and focuses on assessing two main areas of specialism: risk management and security architecture.

Why is this of interest to you? The NCSC has outlined three ways in which candidates can demonstrate foundational cybersecurity knowledge in order to qualify for the scheme. One of those ways is to hold a CISSP certification and a full (ISC)² membership. This is yet another signpost that highlights the industry recognition of our noted certification. As the NCSC blog post states:

“As you’d expect, we’ve spent a lot of time reviewing professional certifications and currently the only one we think meets our criteria is the International Information System Security Certification Consortium’s (ISC)² Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Consequently, we’ll recognise CISSP plus an (ISC)² endorsement of being in good standing as evidence of foundational knowledge.”

It’s still early days and this pilot has not yet launched. Nonetheless, it’s important to recognize the influence and stature that our CISSP holds within the community. For a government organization like the NCSC to recognize it, in combination with full (ISC)² membership, as one of the key indicators for foundational, experience-based knowledge of the cybersecurity profession says a lot about its value. We’ll continue to do as much as we can to support the U.K. government’s efforts to further professionalize our industry.

As data is gathered about the pilot’s results, we’ll be sure to keep you updated. Watch this space for more updates in 2019.