Industry body the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP) has launched full membership of the organisation, open to all associate members who wish to achieve its “gold standard” endorsement.

There will be three stages to the process, which is intended to be rigorous to ensure only the most suitable applicants are accredited, according to IISP chief executive Nick Coleman, a former head of IBM security services.

Accreditation involves an initial application review to ensure candidates have the relevant knowledge, a peer-level interview to test their experience, and finally an oversight committee will ensure the whole process as been executed to the right level, Coleman explained.

The IISP is also planning to move to an electronic infrastructure, so its members will be able to share information and to network with each other freely and easily. "They will be able to share things with each other and we will be the facilitator rather than the driver," said Coleman.

Coleman added that the IISP also has plans to roll-out an accreditation system for training courses and qualifications, so that its members can decide which are most suitable for their career path. "Our plans to align with the government's own accreditation scheme are also going well," he said.

John Colley, co-chair of the European Advisory Board of rival security certification body ISC2 argued that the IISP may face administrative problems processing all applicants for full membership in a timely manner. "It's quite a labour-intensive process," he added. "If they don't process them relatively quickly, people will question what value they're getting from it."

Colley also said that the job market for information security professionals is lacking in experienced individuals, due to the high demand for staff. "We think firms are responding to the need for more experience by bringing in less experienced staff and training them up internally," he added.