Professional Development More Important Than Ever for IT Security

IT security professionals need to continually upgrade their skills to keep up with the changing world of security, says one expert. Do security pros need to take a refresher course in security?

According to an article on the TMCnet.com website, John Gehrlein, a certified protection professional (CPP) and president of the ASIS Professional Certification Board says a refresher course is exactly what today’s security directors need. Over time, he says, skills can get stale and issues can change, and keeping up-to-date is part of a security director’s responsibilities.

“Professionals from all fields – doctors, lawyers, engineers and computer programmers – all set aside some period of time at the beginning of every year to evaluate what changed last year as well as what fundamentals need reviewing,” the article says. That’s exactly what Gehrlein says security pros should be doing as well.

Gehrlein says professional development can take the form of both information and formal educational activities. Some examples of informal education include reading newspapers, networking, and talking to other security directors.

Security directors can also benefit from formal education, Gehrlein says, including studying for certification tests or taking courses offered by security associations. He also outlines the different certifications and what they entail, including CPP, Physical Security Professional (PSP) and Professional Certified Investigator (PCI).

Ideally, security pros will combine both informal and formal activities to “ensure that a security department possesses the skills necessary to protecting a company's people and property in a changing world,” the article says.