Are you confused about how one gets the ISO 27001 Lead Auditor certification? Grab my hand and come along, let’s walk this confusing path together.
I decided to pivot in my career and get into the GRC realm, particularly the auditing side of it. So after doing a bit of digging and asking the AI oracle for life advice (as one does), it appeared that getting the ISO 27001 Lead Auditor was the sensible thing to do.
Great! So what is required to get the certification? You have to complete a training course, pass the certification exam, provide proof of previous experience, and pay your fees. Et voilà, one obtains the certification, so far so good!
Choosing a credentialing body#
You see? Compared to any of my previous certifications, this one is a bit special. You can obtain the certification from different recognized credentialing bodies (yes, plural). Based on my research, IRCA/CQI, PECB, and Exemplar Global are the popular ones. So how do you pick one? In my case I went with PECB for several reasons:
- I could do the four-day training online.
- They offer other other certifications I may be interested in down the road, making maintenance fees and continuing professional development submissions easier (and possibly cheaper!?).
- Their website was the easiest to navigate.
Obtaining the certification package#
Alright, so now I had picked the credentialing body. But this is not over yet. I found I could purchase the training materials and exam voucher directly through the PECB Education portal or through authorized training partners like Smatica, CertiBanks, BC Academy, or Mindset Cyber. I went with CertiBanks. Why? It was considerably cheaper at the time. At the end of the day, these partners give you access to the same PECB training materials and exam voucher regardless of who you buy from. Yes, the website may not be the prettiest, but the package was identical across the board: access to the online training, study materials, and an exam voucher with two attempts.
Accessing the resources and materials#
Once I purchased the package through CertiBanks, I had to register with PECB and forward my user ID back to CertiBanks via email. After a couple of hours, I got an email confirming the training package was active, and just like that, poof, the course appeared in my dashboard.
Alright then! I hope this has been useful.It was certainly confusing to me. Now that I have access to the materials, the hard part begins… the cramming session!