The Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP) has officially applied to the Privy Council for a Royal Charter.
Amanda Finch, general manager of the independent not-for-profit body, told Infosecurity that the Royal Charter is “something that I, and the board, feel is needed for the profession.”
“As the stakes are getting increasingly higher, organizations will want to hire people that have a chartered status,” said Finch. “In the same way that when you go to a doctor, you don’t want to see someone who will give you snake oil – you want to see a qualified doctor.”
Finch declared that Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, outlined his expectation that by 2020, the information security industry should offer a Royal Charter for qualified industry professionals. “There is a lot of support for this,” she added.
An application for a Royal Charter takes the form of a Petition to The Sovereign in Council. Charters are granted rarely and a body applying for a Charter would normally be expected to meet a number of criteria.
“There can only be one Royal Charter [for an industry],” argued Finch, “and to get that, you need to be uniquely positioned to represent the profession and financially sound. It’s a rigorous process,” she said, stressing that IISP are well positioned to be successful in its application. “We’d like to migrate a lot of our members into chartered members.”
The IISP is hoping to hear back about the status of their application within the next few months.