The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification is considered to be the gold standard in information security. This is so because of all the doors that certification opens to a CISSP professional. Those doors lead to many different types of positions and opportunities, thus making the information security community dynamic and multifaceted. In support of this diversity, (ISC)² has launched a series of interviews to explore where CISSP certification has led security professionals. Last time Angus Macrae shared his CISSP experience. This installment features Melissa Parsons, Senior Consultant in Cyber Security for KPMG Canada. She has notable success driving and managing increasingly complex IT, security and privacy related projects. What job do you do today? Currently, I work as

Demand for cybersecurity professionals will stay strong through the remainder of the decade, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. In the 10-year period between 2019 and 2029, employment of information security analysts will grow by 31%, according to the bureau’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. The projected growth rate is more than seven times higher than the national job growth average of 4%, and roughly three times that of the 11% projected growth in IT-related occupations. The reason for the high growth rate for information security analysts is no secret to anyone in the industry. As the bureau notes: “Cyberattacks have grown in frequency, and analysts will be needed to come up with innovative solutions to prevent hackers from stealing critical

By Stephen Fried, CISSP As COVID-19 began to spread rapidly across the globe in 2020, many organizations moved their employees off company premises and enabled large "work from home" efforts. Nobody knew how long this would last, but we assumed we could work remotely for a few months until this thing worked itself out, then return to the office and get back to "normal." We were very wrong. We weren’t just wrong about the length of the crisis; we were wrong about how our employees defined “home.” What we didn’t anticipate is that the pandemic would force companies to rethink the definition of “home.” Adult children needed to live with their sick parents to care for them. Travelers on vacation

Happy Data Privacy Day! The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) designates January 28 as a day to empower individuals and encourage businesses around the world to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust.  In honor of the effort to inspire dialogue and empower learning about how personal information is used, collected and shared in our digital society, following is a list of helpful (ISC)2 resources and activities focused on privacy best practices. Professional Development Institute courses The PDI is a portfolio of more than 40 continuing cybersecurity education courses that is free to (ISC)2 members. Among the wide array of topics covered, these two courses focus specifically on giving learners an overview of privacy regulations: GDPR for Security Professionals: A

The new President’s administration is asking Congress to allocate U.S. $9 billion in emergency funds to fortify the federal IT and cybersecurity infrastructure. Although cybersecurity didn’t get much attention during the presidential campaign, the move indicates that protecting federal systems from cyber attacks is a key priority and focus area for the new administration. The spending proposal is part of a COVID-19 response package proposed by the Biden administration. The sense of urgency to strengthen cybersecurity stems from a massive data breach in December 2020, which affected a number of federal agencies, including the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Department of Commerce. It is believed Russian attackers exploited vulnerabilities in software used by the agencies, as well as numerous private