The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2, the non-profit international leader in educating, qualifying and certifying information security professionals worldwide and currently celebrating the Year
of the Information Security Professional, today announced it has developed a new Certification and Accreditation Professional (CAPCM) credential in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and has begun offering certification exams.

The first exam was held on July 13, 2005 for State Department and other invited government employees. There are now 40 CAP credential-holders, among them Hord Tipton, CISSP-ISSMP, CAP, chief information officer for the U.S. Department of the Interior and Jane Norris, CISSP, CAP, chief information security officer for the U.S. Department of State. Public exams for the CAP credential will begin in late September.

In response to requirements laid out under the U.S. Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), the federal government is now putting more focus on the need for certification and accreditation (C&A), the formalized process used to assess the risks and security requirements of an information system and to determine whether that system's security needs are being met. C&A ensures that information systems have adequate security to handle the level of risk involved.

 "Our U.S. Government Advisory Board reviewed this issue and agreed that the C&A area has now become a mission-critical function for the  security of government operations," said Rolf Moulton CISSP-ISSMP, interim president and CEO of (ISC)2. "We felt the time was right for (ISC)2 to develop a credential to support it."

To qualify for the CAP credential, a candidate must have two years of direct experience in C&A, pass the CAP exam and subscribe to the (ISC)2 Code of Ethics. Ideally, a candidate should have general technical, general systems and database/systems development/network experience, as well as knowledge of or skills in any of the following areas:

* IT Security
* Information Assurance
* Information Risk Management
* Certification & Accreditation
* Systems Administration
* Information Security Policy
* Auditing
* National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Documentation