ISC2 Certification Renewal Policy Negative Impact Paying Members

[jangle83]

I am just about to reach the renewal date of my CISSP. I've paid all my dues and done well above my minimum for CPEs. My network accounts at work require that I have a CISSP, and those accounts will deactive on the day my certification expires. Not only is it going to make me look bad, but its going to make ISC2 look bad too because they can't provide reasonable service to their members. ISC2 is very diligent to get their money from us, but can't bother to renew our certifications before they expire. Please tell me that someone at ISC2 is fixing this. What a shame.

[jangle83]

Just to clarify, ISC2 will not begin the renewal process to generate an updated certificate until after the original one expires. Meanwhile most of their customer base only gets the certification because its required for their job. Talk about being out of touch with members. Meanwhile they jack up the membership fee. 

[Brewdawg]

I'm confused what you mean by "My network accounts at work require that I have a CISSP, and those accounts will deactive on the day my certification expires."  

What accounts will expire?

[jangle83]

My employer's policy is that all network admins need to have an active certification in accordance with DoD 8570. The day that certification expires, your admin account is disabled.

[Brewdawg]

Ok.  That helps explain it.  Never seen that restriction before.  So your employer has a direct monitor of your certification status?  Or you have to provide them a new certificate every 3 years?  Seems crazy to tie your network admin account status to an external company generating a certificate.

What happens if you have multiple certifications under the DoD 8570 with different renewal dates?  Does your account disable with each one?  

[jangle83]

I only have CISSP -- which satisfies the requirement  -- however, when your account is set up, the expiration is set to when that certificate expires. Not uncommon in federal circles. Considering federal standards drive much of ISC2 business, I'm surprised they seem as careless about their renewal process.

[Flyslinger2]

I couldn't even start my current job unless I had provided a valid cert #. My CPE progress is monitored as well. 

As I posted in the long thread about the recent rate increases, ISC2 has tapped into another bubble created by the Feds-much akin to the housing and college loan bubbles.  We are really fortunate that ISC2 hasn't significantly raised the annual fees because of that. We have no recourse.  The only "bargaining" chip is negotiating for yet higher salaries to offset whatever increases in cost raising the fees will create.

[amandavanceISC2]

@jangle83 Thank you for your note. Please know, all membership renewals are processed on the first business day following the three-year expiration date, as long as the member has met their AMF and CPE requirements for renewal. We cannot process renewals prior to the expiration date as some members meet the three-year requirements in the first year of the three-year cycle. If we were to renew those members, their cycles would not be three-year cycles. To confirm, even though it says expiration date, your certification does not actually expire unless you have not met the requirements. Even then, members still have a 90-day grace period before the certification will go into suspension status. If you would like me to send you an email confirming that you have met your requirements for the current three-year cycle and confirm if you will renew on the first business day following that, please send a request to me at avance@isc2.org. 

Best Regards,

Amanda Vance

[jangle83]

Thanks for providing that info Amanda. If there's any way to pass along to decision makers at ISC2, many certification holds need to get certified to be considered for a job or to keep their job. In many ways the certification is like a license. Maybe like a commercial drivers license. If the DMV doesn't renew my commercial drivers license until after its expired, am I qualified to drive during that gap? Maybe the DMV says there's a grace period, but that introduces risks to the driver and to the company that's employing them. How does the driver or the employer know that the license is still valid after expiration unless they have a piece of paper indicating so? If ISC2 believes that their certifications (licenses) are valuable then they need to renew them before they expire.

[rslade]

> amandavanceISC2 (Moderator) posted a new reply in Member Support on 02-05-2019

> If we were to
> renew those members, their cycles would not be three-year cycles.

Translation: there ain't no reason for it, it's just our policy ...

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