what is a cissp certification

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is an independent information security certification granted by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, also known as (ISC)². It is a globally recognized, vendor-neutral standard that attests to an IT security professionals technical skills and hands-on experience implementing and managing a security program. To earn CISSP certification, candidates must meet requirements for work experience, education, and professional credentials. The CISSP exam is a six-hour exam consisting of 250 questions that certifies security professionals in ten different areas, including access control systems and methodology, business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning, physical security, operations security, and telecommunications and networking security. CISSP certification is recommended for experienced cybersecurity practitioners, including chief information security officers, IT managers, security analysts, security architects, and network architects. As of March 2023, there are 159,679 (ISC)² members holding the CISSP certification worldwide.