RiskUKApril2017

Status Symbol: The Chartered Security
Professional and Standards of Excellence
The concept of
chartered
professionalism traces
its roots back many
centuries, in fact to
the years following
the Norman invasion
of 1066. Now,
in the 21st Century,
being ‘Chartered’ is
more relevant than
ever in terms of both
winning and securing
public trust. Peter
Speight examines the
importance of
Chartered Security
Professional status for
today’s practitioners
Recently, a security manager whom I’ve
known and worked with for some years
now, namely Mike Topham, was keen to
discuss pursuing the journey towards Chartered
Security Professional (CSyP) status. Mike – who
has held a number of security management
positions – contacted me as he wished to know
more about the whole subject of CSyP.
For my part, I fully expected a relaxing cup of
coffee or two and a general conversation with a
couple of questions about CSyP thrown in, but
Mike’s keen determination to learn as much as
possible was obvious from the outset. Indeed,
Mike asked several questions, all of them
pertinent and very much to the point.
Why would anyone want to attain this
standard? What will it achieve for the practising
security professional? How will customers
benefit? Who should apply and why? What does
the individual have to do if they pass muster?
We had a great meeting and jointly agreed
that Mike should carry out some detailed
research of his own into CSyP in order to gain a
feel for the ‘What?’, ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’
Mike is right in his assessment that, as we
head into the next few years, every aspect of
the security environment in which we all now
live whether in a local, national or global
business context or as an individual has
become more complex, technically challenging
and generally more unstable than ever before.
The sheer magnitude and range of threat
types, from the technical vulnerability of
information and systems through to fraud and
terrorist activity and on to the local protection
of people, premises and business assets
demands the exponential development of the
security sector. The emergence of fully riskbased
methodologies along with this general
growth has been accompanied by the
development of many intelligent tools, both
technical and academic. The security landscape
refuses to stand still, then, even for a moment.
In this maelstrom of activity, the burning
question for customers has been where to turn
in order to ensure that those engaged to advise
on these matters are somehow up to the job
and the best available. If there was a bridge to
be built or the legal defence of a corporation to
be conducted there would be a need for a
proven group of professionals (ie engineers or
lawyers) to transact such work. Their industries
or commercial business sectors are chartered,
with a Register of Chartered Professionals
available as guidance.
Until relatively recently, the security business
sector had no such listing despite the growth of
complex security threats. Thankfully, matters
have changed much for the better.
Strategic competencies
CSyP is a professional certification in security
established to show the attainment of strategic
and higher operational level competencies in
the discipline. The Security Institute operates
the Register of Chartered Security Professionals
on behalf of The Worshipful Company of
Security Professionals and it’s expertly
managed by the Chartered Security
Professionals Registration Authority.
The criteria for joining the Register of CSyPs
is founded to a large degree on the UK
Standard for Professional Engineering
Competence. Advice was also sought from the
Foundation for Science and Technology and The
Engineering Council. The final version of the
criteria for becoming a CSyP is, to an extent,
based on the criteria for Chartered Engineers.
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