Colley plans to develop (ISC)2 beyond Europe

John Colley plans to extend the reach of infosecurity certification body (ISC)2 across Europe and into the Middle East and Africa, as well as develop links with academia and improve member events, in his new job as full-time managing director of the organisation in this region.

Colley, who was appointed on 15 June, said he wants to increase membership in countries with fewer than 200 certified professionals. “If we get above 200, it becomes self-perpetuating,” he said of a country, as (ISC)2 certifications become recognised.

In Britain and other European countries where the organisation is well-established, Colley said he wants to develop the quality of member events and increase awareness of the Systems Security Certified Professional (SSCP) award, intended for those with less experience than Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSP).

“I’m very keen to work much more closely with academia than in the past,” he added. “We’ve done it on an ad hoc basis in the past. There are quite a lot of universities in the UK which run infosecurity courses, or have infosecurity interest in a course.”

One way may be for members of the profession to give guest lectures, extending the organisation’s schools programme, he said. “I think (ISC)2 is in an ideal position to act as a catalyst between the workforce and academia in making some of these things happen.”

Colley, who is the first (ISC)2 staffer in this position to come from the profession, has previously worked as group head of information security at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and head of information security at ICL, and more recently as a consultant for financial services firms including Barclays.

Opinion article by John Colley: Security professionals need to improve people (and business) management skills before IT skills