The British Computer Society has introduced a pilot certification scheme for government information assurance professionals in order to help public sector employers choose the right specialist with the right skills and expertise for the job.
The full Information Assurance Specialist Certification scheme, developed for the Communications Electronics Security Group, GCHQ‘s information assurance agency, will be launched early next year. It covers six roles that have been defined by CESG: security and information risk advisor, security architect, accreditor, IA auditor, IT security officer and communications security officer.
Certification, which is open to both government employees and contractors, is available at three levels; practitioner, senior practitioner and lead practitioner.
A spokesperson from the BCS, which positions itself as the Chartered Institute for IT, said: "The scheme aims to demonstrate that IA professionals have the skills and experience required to carry out their role effectively and deliver a consistently high standard in IA. It also provides those working in IA with a clearly defined career development path."
The aim of introducing the certification was to help public sector employers to employ the right specialist with the right skills and expertise for the job, the spokeserson added.
"The public sector is accountable to Parliament for protecting a vast array of sensitive data supporting many public services. The sophistication of the threats to that data, the complexity of the information systems and the high potential business impacts of data loss, leave the public sector increasingly dependent on information assurance specialists to manage information risks," CESG said in a document published earlier this year describing the certification scheme.
