About the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
The PECB Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) programme prepares you for the strategic leadership role of building and running an organisation’s information security programme. Delivered fully self-paced and online, it covers the full remit of a modern CISO — governance and compliance, risk management, security architecture, controls and incident management, and building a lasting security culture.
Rather than a single technical discipline, this programme takes the executive view: aligning security with business objectives, leading teams and programmes, and measuring and continually improving security posture. It suits senior security professionals stepping up to, or already in, a CISO-level role.
Course Information
What You Will Learn
Course Curriculum
- Core information security concepts
- The CISO’s role and mandate
- Governance and the security programme
- Aligning security with business objectives
- Building a security compliance programme
- Information security risk management
- Security architecture and design
- Policies and standards
- Selecting and operating security controls
- Incident management
- Change management
- Operational security
- Building a security-aware culture
- Monitoring and measurement
- Metrics and reporting to leadership
- Continual improvement
- The five competency domains
- Revision and exam technique
- Booking and sitting the PECB exam
Get the Full Syllabus as a PDF
Curriculum, exam format & everything included — sent straight to your inbox.
All You Need to Know
This programme suits senior security professionals and leaders, including:
- Aspiring and current Chief Information Security Officers
- Information security managers and heads of security
- Senior IT and risk professionals moving into security leadership
- Consultants advising organisations on their security programme
A fundamental understanding of information security management is recommended before enrolling.
The PECB Certified Chief Information Security Officer exam covers five competency domains — from the fundamentals of information security and the CISO role, through compliance, architecture and operations, to security culture and continual improvement. Completing the training earns 31 CPD credits.
What Our Learners Say
Completing the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) course was a turning point for my career — it gave me the credibility and the technical grounding in information security leadership that my role really needed.
The pacing suited a busy schedule, and the focus on information security leadership meant I could start applying what I learned before I'd even finished the course.
What stood out about this Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) training was how practical it was — real case studies, not just theory. I walked away confident about information security leadership and ready to apply it immediately.
Solid, well-organized training. The path to strengthen our information security posture was clearly explained, and the practice materials before the exam made a real difference to my confidence.
This course sharpened skills I already had and filled in the gaps around information security leadership. My manager noticed the difference within a month of me completing the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) certification.
Career Opportunities After This Training
A chief information security officer owns an organisation's entire security strategy — governance, risk, budget and team leadership. The PECB CISO course prepares experienced professionals to step into this executive role.
Hiring Companies
Average Salary
A security director leads security operations and teams, translating business goals into a protective strategy. The CISO course builds the leadership, governance and risk skills the role requires.
Hiring Companies
Average Salary
A VP of information security sets enterprise security direction and reports risk to the board. PECB CISO training develops the strategic and financial acumen expected at this level.
Hiring Companies
Average Salary
Frequently Asked Questions
A leadership-level credential proving you can design and run an enterprise information security programme as a Chief Information Security Officer — covering governance, risk, strategy, budgeting and team leadership.
Senior security professionals, security managers and IT leaders preparing to move into a CISO or head-of-security role.
The exam is an essay-type, open-book paper of roughly 3 hours. You need the passing score set by PECB (generally around 70%). After passing you receive a 'Certificate of Exam Success', and the full certification is issued once you also meet PECB's professional-experience requirements.
Both target security leadership. The PECB CISO course is fully self-paced online and rooted in PECB's management-system approach; EC-Council's CCISO has its own five-domain model and experience requirements for the exam.
PECB certifications are valid for three years. You keep yours active by earning Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits and paying the annual maintenance fee.