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Compare certifications

Pick up to 3 certifications and compare them side-by-side on cost, exam format, recertification, salary signal, quality, and domain coverage.

EC-Council · leadership
CCISO
Certified Chief Information Security Officer

Executive leadership — governance, program mgmt, finance, and strategic planning for security.

Official page
ISACA · leadership
CISM
Certified Information Security Manager

Security program management, risk, governance, and incident governance. The manager / CISO-track signal.

Official page

Cost

Exam fee
CCISO$999
CISM$760
Annual maintenance fee
CCISO
CISM$45/yr
3-year cost of ownership
CCISO$999
CISM$895

Exam mechanics

Pass mark
CCISO72% (scaled)
CISM450/800 (scaled)
Retake policy
CCISO$999 fee · 30d wait
CISM$575 fee · 30d wait · 4/yr cap
Study time
CCISO80–160 hrs
CISM100–200 hrs
Validity
CCISO3 yrs
CISM3 yrs
CPE / yr
CCISO40 CPEs
CISM40 CPEs
Delivery
CCISOonline proctored
CISMtest center

Salary signal (US base)

Range
CCISO$180K – $320K
CISM$130K – $190K
Median
CCISO$225,000
CISM$155,000
Premium %
CCISO
CISM+11%
Role context
CCISOCISO / Deputy CISO, US, 10+ years. Very wide range — depends on company size.
CISMInformation security manager / director, US, 5+ years.

Quality (4-axis rubric · 0–10)

Schema quality
CCISO3.5
CISM9.0
Practice evidence
CCISO1.0
CISM1.0
Maintenance
CCISO3.0
CISM8.5
Market recognition
CCISO3.5
CISM9.0
Average
CCISO2.8
CISM6.9

Recognition & lifecycle

Recognition
CCISOGlobal · US
CISMGlobal · US · EU · UK · DACH
ISO 17024 accredited
CCISO
CISM
DoD 8140 baseline
CCISO
CISM
Holders worldwide
CCISO4,000
CISM70,000
Current version
CCISO2024 BoK (2024-01)
CISM2022 job-practice analysis (2022-06)

Domain coverage

A1Governance, Risk & Compliance
CCISO● core
CISM● core
A11Detection Engineering & Threat Hunting
CCISO·
CISM⚠ gap
A12Data Security, Privacy & Protection
CCISO○ touched
CISM○ touched
A13Supply Chain Security
CCISO·
CISM○ touched
A18Security Leadership
CCISO● core
CISM● core
A25Security Architecture & Engineering
CCISO○ touched
CISM○ touched
A4Application Security
CCISO·
CISM⚠ gap
A5Cloud Security
CCISO·
CISM⚠ gap
A7Incident Response & Forensics
CCISO·
CISM● core
A9Penetration Testing & Red Teaming
CCISO·
CISM⚠ gap
B1AI-Powered Threat Detection
CCISO·
CISM⚠ gap
C1Adversarial Machine Learning
CCISO·
CISM⚠ gap
C7AI Governance & Risk
CCISO○ touched
CISM·

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