Replacement of Infosecurity Professional Magazine

[erwindus]

With the November/December 2022 issue being the last issue of the Infosecurity Professional Magazine, when will the successor (online only) be announced? And will we be able to earn CPEs with the successor?

[theblurr]

I agree with some of the feedback. The removal of the magazine is a negative and backwards step.

The new format is disorganized and overwhelming. The amount of CPEs (2), by the nature of the magazine were pretty standard. Now we receive the same amount of CPEs for staying on top of, much more information, and presented in a much less structured manner. In addition, I agree about the offline version. I frequently used the PDFs to read during air travel.

Currently in the 'news' section for Jan/Feb alone, there are 20 articles. That doesn't even include the 'Featured' section, the 'blog' section, or the 'opinion' section.

This change rather than encouraging me to come to ISC2 for the latest info, has discouraged me, and I'll likely look elsewhere for CPE opportunities. The way the magazine used to organize and distill the latest topics professionally into a cohesive and organized unit will be sorely missed.

[ChrisGreen]

Hello everyone

Just wanted to reiterate what is stated on the quiz instructions and on the blog announcing it, the CPE Quiz is only based on features and opinion articles (our longer read pieces) from the past two months, a small amount of our overall editorial output. It is not based on the news articles.

Thanks

Chris

[Narsil]

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@JoePete wrote:

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@ALKahn10 wrote:

(ISC)2 already runs a blog, I read it too.  It just feels like the magazine was an extra value add with our membership.

Absolutely agree. Some sort of publication is at the center of nearly every member organization I can think of. It is a great tool for fostering affinity. Some of this gets into our tax and legal status as a non-profit, but do we really feel like a member association? Do we see ourselves as owners of the (ISC)2 or as customers of it - essentially buying a certification and its renewal every three years? Yes, of course, it's not just money; we have to prove ourselves through the exams and the CPEs, but do members see their connection to the (ISC)2 as transactional or associative? Especially if the idea is let's replace a members-only magazine with a freely accessible clearinghouse of articles, I don't see that as associative. I do see it as consistent with what the (ISC)2 has been doing in recent years. It's not like it is a surprise, but I think there is a "missing the forest for the trees element to the decision." Then again, if I were so brilliant or right, I wouldn't be sitting at my desk, getting back to the grind right now.

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+1 very well said.

This further reduction in member benefits feels like very much like another backward step for (ISC)2 as an association, following on from this last year: https://community.isc2.org/t5/Member-Talk/Member-Perks-Program-Discontinued/m-p/49028

7 months on still waiting to hear an update on: "We are looking into alternative programs to invest in so that we can provide relevant and helpful benefits to enhance the value of your membership."

Likewise a noticeable drop-off in webinars since the previous long-time facilitator left (ISC)2:
https://www.isc2.org/News-and-Events/Webinars/APAC-Webinars

[JoePete]

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@theblurr wrote:

This change rather than encouraging me to come to ISC2 for the latest info, has discouraged me, and I'll likely look elsewhere for CPE opportunities. The way the magazine used to organize and distill the latest topics professionally into a cohesive and organized unit will be sorely missed.

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I have to give a tip of the hat to @Caute_cautim who on a daily basis digs up some interesting links to thought-provoking articles in the Community forum here. I find that more CPE-worthy than many other categories. 

What really caught me about your reply, however, was your reference to distilling topics professionally - really, isn't that our job as security professionals? No matter the roles we play organizationally, at some stage, we all have to boil something down into a clear, engaging, and actionable presentation. I agree the magazine generally did this well. It clearly leveraged some editorial and graphic resources that I suspect the powers that be judged were too expensive. Shame, because it provided us, the practitioners, a good template for how to approach these topics with our audience.

Ironically, our board/management is trying to sell us on this quantity over quality alternative. I don't begrudge financial decisions - maybe the magazine was too expensive to produce; of course I might suggest if you cut the cost of a benefit, you should also cut the cost of a member fee. But this insistence on painting this alternative as some conscious improvement is disturbing given the nature of what we all do for a living. "It's a feature, not a bug!"

[Narsil]

In February this year, this blog post stated the archive of the magazine would remain.

https://blog.isc2.org/isc2_blog/2023/02/isc2-members-at-the-center-of-cybersecurity-content-2023.htm...

Yet with the rebrand of the website this link now appears useless as it redirects to an Insights page where the magazines are no more. 😞

"What will happen to the legacy issues of InfoSecurity Professional? 

The existing issues of InfoSecurity Professional are not going away. They are accessible at https://www.isc2.org/InfoSecurity-Professional. "

[John-GFY]

So, Is there a link we can follow to take this bi-monthly exams for CPEs. 

[John-GFY]

Let's be honest. It stinks.

[Churchy]

With "more than 500'000 members, candidates and associates", there will be a good 50 millions dollars annually worth of services and profits! this number is growing all the time, but the service is deteriorating.

Taking an offline PDF is extremely valuable, I even used to take paper "backups". 

If you want to evolve to dynamic content, the quiz also should evolve be able to rate consumption of any article your clients WANTED to read rather than as stream of incoherent and un-curated blogs, quizzes could earn partial points that sum up to whole points with enough article quiz results. 

I cannot even fid the quiz, and I lost all the results of the quizzes I took in July 2023.

Bring back the PDF or enable export of our own magazine PDF of selected "blogs" (maybe make us an offline mobile content app) and make the quiz line up with your content strategy.

We all pay you an incredible combined sum for these credentials, it isn't unreasonable to expect that you are qualified to deliver a decent service in line with expectations...

[John-GFY]

Where's the link to the old magazine PDFs? Clicking on the link you provided takes me to the Insights 'blah-g', which is not where I want to be. 

[gidyn]

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@Narsil wrote:

This further reduction in member benefits feels like very much like another backward step for (ISC)2 as an association, following on from this last year: https://community.isc2.org/t5/Member-Talk/Member-Perks-Program-Discontinued/m-p/49028

7 months on still waiting to hear an update on: "We are looking into alternative programs to invest in so that we can provide relevant and helpful benefits to enhance the value of your membership."

Likewise a noticeable drop-off in webinars since the previous long-time facilitator left (ISC)2:
https://www.isc2.org/News-and-Events/Webinars/APAC-Webinars

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They need the money to give out a million free CCs