
Robert Hotaling, CSO of Cengage, teaches the record-breaking Certified CISO class in Atlanta, GA
The CCISO program was designed by sitting CISOs along with EC-Council in an effort to address the fact that the information security industry isn’t typically represented well enough at the top levels of most companies’ management.
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) September 23, 2016
EC-Council, creator of the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) program, has seen the popularity of its executive information security program grow exponentially over the last two years, as evidenced by the huge turnout for the latest live Certified CISO (CCISO) class in Atlanta, GA. The CCISO class, taught by Cengage CSO Robert Hotaling, took place over the four days prior to the Hacker Halted IT security conference and Global CISO Forum run by the non-profit arm of EC-Council, EC-Council Foundation. Students in the class represented companies as diverse as Deloitte, University of Phoenix, Cox Enterprises, and the US National Guard. All the students in the class were there to take their careers to the next level – either by learning how to make the jump from the middle manager to executive or by honing their executive skills.
Since the CCISO class took place directly before the Hacker Halted IT security conference and Global CISO Forum most of the students attended one of these events. Most of the students opted for the Global CISO Forum as those presentations were geared toward a much more executive audience. An invitation to the closed-door, invite-only Global CISO Forum was automatically extended to the CCISO students in a gesture meant to help continue their executive education.
The CCISO program was designed by sitting CISOs along with EC-Council in an effort to address the fact that the information security industry isn’t typically represented well enough at the top levels of most companies’ management.
According to EC-Council Vice President, Eric Lopez, “By certifying individuals’ skills and knowledge in the domains of the CCISO program, EC-Council hopes that information security will be taken more seriously by those at the top level and the industry can make some real progress toward a more secure future.”
Mr. Lopez went on to say, “The program was designed to create well-rounded security professionals ready to tackle not only the technical problems inherent in protecting information but also the people and management problems that have to be addressed in order for security to become a part of the culture of an organization. Strong leaders are oftentimes what is missing from an information security program and the CCISO program was designed to help solve this problem.”
Each domain of the program was specifically designed to address an aspect of a CISO’s daily life. Domain 1 deals with the governance and policy issues central to creating the framework for a program. Domain 2 delves into the audit and risk management that is at the heart of creating and sustaining an effective program. Domain 3 deals with the day-to-day responsibilities of a CISO like program leadership and operations. Domain 4 is a look at some of the technical responsibilities a CISO has but always from an executive point of view. Domain 5 is all about the strategic planning, financial management, and vendor management that make the CISO such a vexing position at times.
The students in the Atlanta CCISO class were effusive in their praise of how the material they learned in the class would impact their existing information security programs and their career development. When asked how the program would impact their work, one student responded, “It already has. Now that I have been at work for the last couple of days I have reached back into the materials and put it to use and seen it work!”
Another student responded with a core tenant of the program, that all information security initiatives must be tied to the goals of the business, saying, “In assessing cyber security risk, one must be able to present the risk in a manner that addresses the business goals of an organization.”
When asked about their favorite part of the class, one of the students responded that “Peer networking. Professional interaction and discussions” were the best part of the week as there were so many professionals all working together in one room.
To learn more about the CCISO program and see the full class schedule, click here: https://ciso.eccouncil.org/cciso-certification/.
About EC-Council
EC-Council has been the world’s leading information security certification body since the launch of their flagship program, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), which created the ethical hacking industry in 2002. Since the launch of CEH, EC-Council has added industry-leading programs to their portfolio to cover all aspects of information security including EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI), Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), among others. EC-Council Foundation, the non-profit branch of EC-Council, created Global CyberLympics, the world’s first global hacking competition. EC-Council Foundation also hosts a suite of conferences across the US and around the world including Hacker Halted, Global CISO Forum, TakeDownCon, and CISO Summit.
For more information about EC-Council, please see http://www.eccouncil.org.