Peter H Gregory’s Study Guides Available For 2023 Top-Rated Certifications

Gregory’s best-selling books cover five of the top ten certifications ranked by salary

January 23, 2023

SEATTLE, Washington – Peter H Gregory’s best-selling certification study guides cover several of the highest-ranked certifications in the 2023 Salary Survey 75 list, including the #1 and #3 spots. Gregory’s books cover five of the top ten paying IT certifications, according to Certification Magazine, which just released its 2023 Salary Survey 75, the top 75 IT certifications ranked by U.S. salaries. The survey covered over 1,200 vendor and non-vendor certifications in IT, IT Security, and privacy.

The top certifications in the survey with best-selling study guides written by Peter H Gregory include:

• #1: CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) from ISACA. U.S. salary $156,390. Study guide: CRISC Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control All-In-One Exam Guide, 2^nd edition, co-authored with Bobby Rogers and Dawn Dunkerley.
• #3: CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) from ISACA. U.S. salary $148,680. Study guides: CISM Certified Information Security Manager All-In-One Exam Guide, 2nd edition, CISM Certified Information Security Manager Practice Exams, 2nd edition, and CISM Certified Information Security Manager Bundle, 2nd edition.
• #6: CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) from ISACA. U.S. salary $145,240. Study guide: CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor All-In-One Exam Guide, 4th edition.
• #7: CDPSE (Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer) from ISACA. U.S. salary $144,910. Study guide: CDPSE Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer All-In-One Exam Guide.
• #9: CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) from (ISC)². U.S. salary $140,230. Study guides: CISSP For Dummies, 7th edition, co-authored with Lawrence Miller; CISSP Guide to Security Essentials, 2nd edition.
• #54: CIPM (Certified Information Privacy Manager) from IAPP. U.S. salary $96,093. Study guide: CIPM Certified Information Privacy Manager All-In-One Exam Guide.

“I am pleased that these certifications have made such a strong showing,” says Peter H Gregory, who has published over fifty books since 2000. “This success would not be possible, however, without strong support from McGraw-Hill Professional over the past thirteen years with the publication of the first edition of the CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor All-In-One Exam Guide.”

Gregory has written a total of sixteen titles for McGraw-Hill Professional since 2009, including CRISC Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control All-In-One Exam Guide, second edition, co-authored with Bobby Rogers and Dawn Dunkerley. Gregory’s other notable books include CISSP For Dummies (first published in 2002, now in its 7th edition), CISSP Guide to Security Essentials, second edition, The Art of Writing Technical Books, Chromebook For Dummies, and Solaris Security. “All of my published books have fueled my passion for helping IT professionals successfully pursue IT security and privacy careers,” Gregory adds. “The skills that my readers learn enable them to better understand how to protect their organizations’ sensitive information and critical systems.”

About Peter H Gregory

Peter H Gregory is a career information security and privacy leader. He is the author of over fifty books on information security and emerging technology. Visit him at peterhgregory.com.

For interviews with Peter H Gregory, please contact: peter.gregory [at] gmail.com

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You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference Peter H Gregory and include his web address, www.peterhgregory.com.

Peter H Gregory’s Study Guides Available For Top-Rated Certifications

January 4, 2022

SEATTLE, Washington – Peter H Gregory’s top-selling certification study guides cover several of the highest-ranked certifications in the Salary Survey 75 list, including the #1 and #2 spots. Certification Magazine has just released its Salary Survey 75, the top 75 IT certifications ranked by U.S. salaries. The survey covered over 900 vendor and non-vendor certifications in IT, IT Security, and privacy. The survey also includes a “Simmering Salaries” list of certifications where certification holders’ salaries increased at least 7% in 2021.

Top-selling study guides written by Peter H Gregory include:

• #1: CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) from ISACA. U.S. salary $154,870. Study guide: CRISC Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control All-In-One Exam Guide, 2^nd edition, co-authored with Bobby Rogers and Dawn Dunkerley, available for pre-order at Amazon and released in March 2022.
• #2: CDPSE (Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer) from ISACA. U.S. salary $150,230. Study guide: CDPSE Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer All-In-One Exam Guide, published in 2021.
• #4: CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) from ISACA. U.S. salary $150,040. Study guide: CISM Certified Information Security Manager All-In-One Exam Guide, published in 2018. Practice questions: CISM Certified Information Security Manager Practice Exams, published in 2019. Both of these books are available together as a bundle.
• #10: CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) from ISACA. U.S. salary $135,760. Study guide: CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor All-In-One Exam Guide, 4^th edition, published in 2019. Practice questions: CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor Practice Exams, published in 2020. Both of these books are available together as a bundle.
• #11: CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) from (ISC)². U.S. salary $135,560. Study guide: CISSP For Dummies, 6^th edition, published in 2018. CISSP For Dummies, 7^th edition, available for pre-order and released in March 2022. CISSP Guide to Security Essentials, 2^nd edition, targets higher education institutions.
• “Heating Up” – CIPM (Certified Information Privacy Manager) from IAPP. U.S. salary $104,110. Study guide: CIPM Certified Information Privacy Manager All-In-One Exam Guide, published in 2021.

“I am pleased that my titles’ certifications have made such a strong showing,” says Peter H Gregory, who has published over forty books since 2000. “This success would not be possible, however, without strong support from McGraw-Hill Professional over the past thirteen years with the publication of the first edition of the CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor All-In-One Exam Guide.”

Gregory has written a total of twelve titles for McGraw-Hill Professional since 2009, including CRISC Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control All-In-One Exam Guide, second edition, co-authored with Bobby Rogers and Dawn Dunkerley, available for pre-order and expected to be available in late March 2022. Gregory’s other notable books include CISSP For Dummies (first published in 2002, now in its 7th edition), CISSP Guide to Security Essentials, second edition, Chromebook For Dummies, and Solaris Security. “All of my published books have fueled my passion for helping IT professionals successfully pursue IT security and privacy careers,” Gregory adds. “The skills that my readers learn enable them to better understand how to protect their organizations’ sensitive information and critical systems.”

About Peter H Gregory

Peter H Gregory is a career information security and privacy leader. He is the author of over forty books on information security and emerging technology. Visit him at peterhgregory.com.

For interviews with Peter H Gregory, please contact: peter.gregory [at] gmail.com

# # #

You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference Peter H Gregory and include his web address, www.peterhgregory.com.

Hard copy vs online verification

Today, in an online forum, someone asked why ISACA still uses paper based certification applications instead of moving to online verification. The person argued that other organizations had gone to an online verification system.

My response:

I can understand why this is still a paper-based process. Moving it online would provide many opportunities for fraud. While I believe that 99.9% of CISA/CRISC/CISM applicants are honest, a purely online system would provide an easier opportunity for someone lacking the necessary background or experience to fabricate it – including verifiers. How could you prove that the verifiers are genuine?

Maybe, someday, if we ever get to a reliable online identity system that provides a solid tie between a real person and an online identity, I think that ISACA should stick with the paper model.

I am sure that ISACA has had this discussion, and will continue to have it from time to time.

Insights into CRISC certification quality

I spent the previous Friday+weekend at ISACA HQ in Chicago at a workshop. The objective: to examine about 360 candidate exam questions for the CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) certification.

There were about 30 of us that worked in three independent groups that consisted of a facilitator (Richard Norman, a security manager in the UK), a scribe (Kim Cohen, the Certification Exam Development Manager at ISACA), and 8 risk management experts from many different organizations including Bank of America, Caterpillar, Premera Blue Cross, and Verizon Business.

We had our work cut out for us. Each group had about 120 exam questions to examine, discuss, edit, and ultimately determine whether it’s a good question based on many different quantitative and qualitative measurements. Oftentimes our discussion of the question became a discussion about how a security or risk management practices (including what companies should be doing and what they are actually doing). Richard, our facilitator, and Kim, our scribe, kept us on task and on pace.

The hard work began long before the three day weekend. Going back to May 2013, we each began our training on writing certification exam questions for ISACA, and over a four or five week period we each wrote a total of twenty exam questions.  Anyone who thinks this is an easy task does not understand the rules and the discipline required for the task. It is quite difficult.

I’ve been trained by two other certification organizations in exam question writing, but ISACA has really upped the game.  The rigor and quality that ISACA puts into certification exam question development is impressive. There are several levels of review, by different teams, on each question, by vetted subject matter experts, before it sees the light of day. And the analysis does not stop after the exam question has been finalized and approved. Analysis on how test takers answer the question continue throughout the life of the exam question.  It is no wonder that CRISC won the Certification of the Year Award from SC Magazine.

ISACA has been in the certification business longer than just about anyone in information technology. ISACA itself started in the 1960s, and the CISA certification began in the 1980s; tens of thousands of security and IS audit professionals have earned the CISA certification, and it remains one of the top IT security certifications today.

Which security certification should you earn next?

A reader who recently received his CISA certification asked, “Which certification should I earn next: CEH or CRISC?”

I see this question a lot, so I’d like to answer this in two different ways.

Sometimes when someone asks which certification they should earn next, sometimes I wonder if that person is asking others to choose their career direction for them.

In this case, the person wants to know whether CRISC or CEH is the right direction. If this person were asking me personally, I would respond with these questions: what aspects of information security interest you? For which aspects do you have good aptitude? What kind of information security job do you want to be doing in five years?

In the case of CEH and CRISC, these two certifications could not be more different from each other. One is a hands-on certification that has to do with breaking into systems (and helping to prevent adversaries from doing same), and the other has to do with risk management, which is decidedly hands-off.

Now for my second answer: you choose. Both are well respected certifications. Which one aligns with your career aspirations?

Another thing – for anyone who is just trying to figure out the next cert to add after their name – stop asking that question and do some other things first.

1. Assess your experience.
2. Figure out where your experience can help you go next.
3. Determine your aptitudes. Meaning: what are your talents.
4. Decide what you want to be doing in five years, ten years.
5. Only after you have answered 1-4 can you then think about certifications. They should reflect your knowledge and experience.

Knowledge and experience come first. Certifications are a reflection of your knowledge and experience, not a forecast of future events.

– from my posting to the CISA Forum