Staying Certified

[John]

I have over 20 years industry experience and recently (Apr 2017) received my CISSP.  One thing that struck me in my seminar week was the number of people (almost half) who lost their certification due to lack of CPEs.  Don't let this happen to you.  Seriously.  The last thing you want is to have to fork out the money to take the test all over again.

CPEs are important.  They provide evidence that you are an active participant in the infosec community.  They're easy to earn, but don't shrug them off or take them lightly.  Earning CPEs will make you better at your job:

• - Attend a conference.  I can't stress this enough.  Almost every region in the US has a weekend conference within a few hours drive.  Do it.  For about $150 and the cost of beers and hotel room, you can not only earn a ton of CPEs, you'll learn real stuff from practitioners and have the opportunity to meet your peers.  Again, do it.  I'll definitely be at THOTCON and DerbyCon, maybe Black Hat/DEF CON, so if you don't know anyone hit me up and you won't be there alone.
• - Subscribe to the (ISC)2 Twitter feed.  Heck, if you're not on Twitter, you're not getting the latest infosec news.  (ISC)2's Twitter feed provides pretty good news and a lot of opportunities to earn CPEs.
• - Subscribe to InfoSecurity Professional magazine.  Hey, you paid for this.  Use it.  Answer the quiz and get 2 CPEs.  That's 12 easy CPEs a year.
• - Be social.  (ISC)2 has a ton of local chapters out there who host tons of small events.  You get credit for these.  For the small annual fees many of the chapters charge, it's worth it.
• - Be anti-social.  (ISC)2's website has links to lots of webinars where you get credit for learning.  Not as interesting as going to live events and sharing a beer with someone, but better than watching Elf for the 47th time on Netflix.

If you or your chapter has cool ways to earn CPEs, feel free to post up.

[SteveLavoie]

When I got my SSCP in March 2017, I was worried about getting all 20-type of CPE.... now I am in November, and I have 70 A CPE...

Dontvworry, keep learning and record each activity as soon as finished. This way, it is always going up.

[CraginS]

Courses, conferences, chapter meetings, and vendor presentations are all great. However, I recommend setting a practice of watching or listening to one free Type A webinar or podcast a week, which will absolutely guaranty you meet your minimum 40 CPE per year, with room to spare. Use the courses, conferences, and chapter meetings as networking & educational gravy, and the vendor presentations for free meals (literally!). 

If you claim you cannot devote an hour a week to online professional education, you should re-think your commitment to the concept of professional.

There are innumerable top notch, high value, free resources for podcasts and webinars, including (ISC)2, ISSA, SANS, OWASP, CMU SEI-CERT, etc. 

[Pcooke2002]

My understanding is CPEs cannot be used in multiple certs. I hope to add csslp to my cissp and ccsp (70 CPE/year) soon. So probably 100 CPEs per year.
I believe CPE earned can only apply to 1 cert at a time. Once you get 4+ certs that can be a lot of A and B CPEs

[JaredOfOz]

Hi PCooke2002,

When I obtained my second ISC2 certification I was worried about that too, however straight from the official guidelines ((ISC)² CPE Policies & Guidelines (rev 10, April 21, 2015), p.15):

"

Multiple Credentials

If a member holds more than one (ISC)² credential, the CPEs he/she submits will automatically be counted toward all of his/ her active credentials. Members should not enter CPE activities in their record (member database) more than one time.

The member should select ‘Multiple Domains for his/ her CPE submission when submitting Group A credits. The CPE credits will be applied as Group A credits to each credential when the member holds multiple credentials.

"

So (thankfully, and logically really) any Continuing Professional Education in a security related field counts as a CPE for all your certifications.  So you can go nuts and obtain dozens of them! 😉 

[Pcooke2002]

Hi Jared
When I submit new CPEs they are only added to 1 of my certs. I may be doing it wrong

[BigBruce]

Hi Pcooke2002,

The CPEs count towards all certifications that have that domain. I have my CISSP and HCISPP. If I do a purely healthcare CPE, it wouldn't count towards my CISSP and If I do a Security Engineering CPE it doesn't count towards my HCISPP. However there are many overlapping domains, and The InfoSec magazine ones count for all certs as a type A.

[sdel95]

Hello Stu1

"The CPEs register automatically after a few days, if you've added your ISC member number to the BrightTalk website."

I have not seen a place in BrightTalk where you can put you ISC² ID for CPE automatic registering. I have called BrighTalk support, and they have told me that they do not take care of CPE, but it is up to the organizer of the webinar to manage this.

I do not know how I can get CPE credential. Could you tell me more in detail what you have done ?

Thks very much

Stéphane

[Stu1]

Hi Stephane

Sorry, I wasn't clear. When you register for the webinar itself on the brighttalk website, some of the webinars prompt you to enter your ISC number during registration. I don't believe there's anywhere to enter it under your Brightalk profile and have it automatically applied to all the webinars you watch. I've noticed the CPE tracking is a bit hit or miss, the webinars hosted by ISC2 generally track automatically, but webinars by other vendors do not always track, and you have to enter those manually on the ISC2 website.

Hope that helps

Stuart 

[sdel95]

hello stuart. Yes it help ! Thank you so much
stephane

[Jerry]

Back when CPEs were expensive and hard to find, it was a struggle to keep up. At one point (years ago), I considered letting it lapse because my company didn't care about it. I had to pay for everything myself. The only reason I kept at it was the terror of taking that exam again. Thank goodness that it is easier to find CPE material and report the CPEs. I learn just as much with continuing education, but the process of keeping my CISSP current is so much easier now.