NSA partners with ISC2 to create new InfoSec certification.

The International Information Systems Security Consortium (ISC)2 has announced a five-year contract with the National Security Agency's Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) to develop and administer the new Information Systems Security Engineering Professional (ISSEP) credential for information security professionals who want to work for NSA, either as employees or outside contractors.

The new certification will serve as an extension of the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), offered by (ISC)2 for information security professionals with four years cumulative work experience in the field. Persons interested in taking the ISSEP exam will be required to already hold a CISSP credential. CISSP certification was designed to recognize mastery of an international standard for information security professionals and their understanding of the 10 domains of the (ISC)2 Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) in forming security policies, standards and procedures.

"The U.S. government has a unique set of standards for information security," said Patricia L. Moreno, chief of staff for NSA's Information Assurance Directorate. "We believe (ISC)2's longtime international expertise in professional certification best suits our training needs within NSA."

NSA has prepared the groundwork for this certification and will provide the subject matter experts to develop the ISSEP examination. (ISC)2 will manage the additional domains and exam material for the extension. The new domains of the ISSEP will focus on the technical knowledge required of government information systems security engineers such as ISSE processes and government regulations.

The ISSEP complements the CISSP by comprehensively addressing the systems engineering side of information security. As with the CISSP, the substance of the domains studied will be updated with the constantly changing field of information security.

"Creating the ISSEP extension to the CISSP for NSA is an honor and a privilege," said James E. Duffy, CISSP, executive director of (ISC)2, based in Framingham, Mass. "With more time and resources being applied to the protection of our government's information assets, (ISC)2 values the opportunity to join the effort."

The National Security Agency is the nation's cryptologic organization. It coordinates, directs and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information. A high technology organization, NSA is on the frontiers of communications and data processing. It is also one of the most important centers of foreign language analysis and research within the U.S. government.