ISC-Squared Finally Begins Move Away from Pencil&Paper Testing

Ed Tittel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:21:13 +0000

It’s funny how information sometimes shows itself to those who care to look for it. Now with over 60,000 CISSPs certified world-wide, and with surely two or three times that many professionals across all of its half-dozen certifications, I’ve always found it interesting that the (ISC)² (pronounced “Eye-Ess-See squared”) continues to require its certification candidates to show up at physical testing centers on specific dates to take proctored exams using old-fashioned mark-sense forms with a pencil, instead of making a deal with Prometric or Pearson VUE to start doing cert exams the way all the other big programs do them–by computer download to a graphics test engine at an affiliated testing center. This opens the doors to many more exam takers, and will surely lead to a further increase in the size of their certified population.

The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium logo

In a press release entitled “Pearson Vue and (ISC)² Sign Exclusive Contract to Deliver Computer-Based Information Security Exams Worldwide” two very interesting nuggets of information present themselves for consideration. First, the two organizations will work together to release an exam at Prometric VUE testing centers “sometime in 2010.” Second, (ISC)² will begin “…phasing in its other credential exams over the next three years,” with the first exam up being the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP).

Presumably that means by the end of 2012, the CISSP and the SSCP will also be avaiable in computer-based format at a nearby Prometric VUE testing center. Congratulations to the (ISC)², and welcome to the 1990s. It’s about time!

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ISC-Squared Finally Begins Move Away from Pencil&Paper Testing