ISSMP
Information Systems Security Management Professional
ISC2 specialization for security management. Requires CISSP. Focus on Leadership, Risk Management, Security Operations, and Compliance Management. For CISOs and senior security executives.
› Quality score
Four-axis SecProve rubric, each 0–10. SecProve editorial assessment — each axis carries a written justification so you can push back on any single call without dismissing the whole score.
› Market signals
public, citable inputs to the recognition score› Built for these roles
› Exam format
Linear, 125 questions, 3 hours, 700/1000
30/60/90 day waits for retakes 1/2/3 in a rolling 12-month window.
› Recertification
60-140 CPEs per 3-year cycle, $135/year AMF
› 3-year cost of ownership
Excludes study materials, training, retake risk, and lost-wage opportunity. Use as a floor estimate.
› NICE Framework work roles
The NIST NICE work-role IDs this cert maps to. NICCS lookup.
› Core domains covered
The 3 domains this cert is centrally about. Passing the exam demonstrates working knowledge of each.
Cyber risk quantification, board communication, security program development, budget & ROI.
Risk frameworks (NIST RMF, ISO 31000, FAIR), policy development, audit, regulatory compliance, third-party risk.
IR playbooks, memory/disk/network forensics, chain of custody, malware analysis.
› Prerequisites
Active CISSP + 2 years experience in the respective specialization
› Progression
requiredrecommendedWhere this cert fits in the typical learning path. Required edges are vendor-gated; recommended edges reflect de facto industry progression.
No de facto priors typically expected.
No certs require this one.
No follow-on certs reference this one yet.
› Study materials
Curated starting points. Not exhaustive — vet each against your learning style and the current exam version.
- Official (ISC)² ISSMP CBK Reference — Wiley/ISC2
- Boson ExSim-Max for ISSMP
› Version & lifecycle
› Salary signal
Senior security manager / director, US, 7+ years. Requires active CISSP.
Robert Half Salary Guide + Glassdoor 'Security Manager' aggregations · 2024 · US base only · p25–p75 range
› How it compares
ISSMP is the ISC2 management concentration; CISM is the standalone ISACA equivalent — both target the same role.
↔ Compare side-by-side› Careers that commonly pursue this cert
Lead security strategy, communicate risk to the board, and build security programs. Executive-level cybersecurity leadership.
› Common exam traps to study
Cybersecurity cert exams reuse the same 25 distractor patterns over and over — category confusion, RTO vs RPO, IDS vs IPS, MD5 vs SHA-256, and more. Once you can name the trap, you stop falling for it. Each archetype page covers what it is, the specific pairs candidates confuse, and how to avoid it.
See this cert’s domains highlighted on the interactive map, or compare it against the rest of the catalog.