What are Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and why do you need them?

What are Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and why do you need them?

A Continuing Education Unit (CEU), also known as Continuing Education Credit (CEC), is a vital measure in ongoing education programs, helping professionals maintain their licenses. Staying ahead of cybercriminals requires continuous learning in this ever-evolving industry. CEUs are mandatory to keep certifications current and maintain professional status.

Read more about how each vendor deals with recertification.

CompTIA Certifications

CEUs required for the CompTIA Certifications:

• CompTIA A+ certification requires 20 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA Network+ requires 30 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA Security+ requires 50 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA Linux+ requires 50 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA Cloud+ requires 50 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA PenTest+ requires 60 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA CySA+ requires 60 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training
• CompTIA CASP+ requires 75 CEUs – See Pre-approved Training

It’s also important to understand Intent Levels. Your highest certification automatically renews all the ones below it when you complete the highest certification. If you have the CompTIA A+ and the Security+ certifications, you only need to renew the Security+ to renew both of them. Just be aware that if your A+ expires first, then you will need to renew your Security+ certification before the A+ expires, after which they will both be concurrent. Here is the CompTIA website with more Continuing Education information.

Here are some ways you can get CEUs for CompTIA Security+:

• Completing the CompTIA Security+ certification training course (including the exam) for the automatic full qualification. The course itself provides the entire 50 CEUs necessary;
• Earning any more advanced non-CompTIA security-related certification (such as CISSP, CEH, CHFI, and many more) for 50 CEUs which can all be applied to the Security+ for instant re-qualification;
• Attend Intellectual Point’s CCNA training course and get 36 CEUs.
• Being an active member of an IT Association, which can generate up to 6 CEUs per three-year cycle;
• Being an IT board/chapter participant that can create nine CEUs for you per three-year cycle;
• Attending a 2-hour webinar or our Free Digital Natives Monthly Meetup, which will provide 2 CEUs;
• Attending a conference (again, to a maximum of 10 CEUs over the three-year cycle), providing 1 CEU per hour;
• Completing up to 50 hours of training courses, providing 1 CEU per hour;
• Completing a college course, with 3–4 credit hours, will earn you 10 CEUs, to a triannual maximum of 40 CEUs;
• Completing an American Council on Education (ACE) accredited course, with 3–4 credit hours, will also earn you 10 CEUs, to a triannual maximum of 40 CEUs;
• Work experience, gaining three CEUs per year, for a total of 9 CEUs over the three year period, requiring only that you list your activities that relate to IT Security on company letterhead and get it signed by your boss;
• You can make another big contribution to our industry by completing a CompTIA Exam Development Workshop as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) gaining an instant 50 CEUs;
• If you publish a relevant industry book, that is good for another 40 CEUs.

As you can see there are plenty of ways to obtain the necessary CEUs, and some of them cost nothing at all. Once you earn those 50 credits, you are all done!

Many of the required CEUs are derived from the Training courses, so let’s talk about those now. CompTIA provides a list of pre-approved courses. These are not requisite to obtaining the certification or to qualify for the credit.

If you select from the approved list, you should always check to make sure that programs on the list are still acceptable for the qualification. The approved list contains 28 vendors, trainers, and certification authorities. The best way to ascertain that your course or activity qualifies for CEU credit is to go to CompTIA’s CEU assessment site and answer the five easy questions.

Once you complete activities to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs), just submit the activity details and upload the required documentation to your account. Submit here

More information about the CompTIA Continuing Education Program

Cisco Certifications

Certifications:

• Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise

All certification levels will have a three-year recertification requirement. Certified individuals will be able to recertify by completing continuing education activities, taking exams, or a combination of both.

• Take an Exam
• Attend Cisco Live training session
• Author content
• Complete online training courses
• Complete instructor-led training
• Three-year recertification requirement

Certification cycle

More information about Cisco Continuing Education

EC-Council Certifications

ECEs required for the EC-Council Certifications:

• EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) requires 120 ECEs over 3 years
• EC-Council Certified Blockchain Developer – Ethereum (CBDE) requires 120 ECEs over 3 years
• EC- Council Certified Blockchain Professional (C|BP)  requires 120 ECEs over 3 years
• EC-Council Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO) requires 120 ECEs over 3 years
• EC-Council Certified Network Defender (CND) requires 120 ECEs over 3 years
• EC- Council Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (C|TIA) requires 120 ECEs over 3 years
• EC-Council Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) requires 120 ECEs over 3 years

Only IT security-related events are qualified for ECE schemes such as IT seminars, reading IT security books, publishing a paper on IT Security related topics, and anything that updates your knowledge on IT Security not only from EC-Council.

What are the events that qualify the ECE scheme?

1. 1. Volunteering in the public sector – 1 credit per hour
   2. Association/Organization Chapter Meeting (per Meeting) – 1 credit per hour
   3. Author Article/Book Chapter/White Paper – 20 credits
   4. Author Tool – 40 credits
   5. Authoring Book – 100 credits
   6. Contribution to the exam development 40 credits- 100 credits
   7. Certification/ Examination – 40 credits
   8. EC-Council Examination (ECE) – 120 credits
   9. EC-Council Survey 20 credits
   10. Education Course – 1 credit per hour
   11. Education Seminar/Conference/Event – 1 credit per hour
   12. Higher Education – 15 credits per semester hour
   13. Identify New Vulnerability – 10 credits
   14. Presentation – 3 credits per hour
   15. Reading an Information Security Book/Article Review/Book Review/Case Study – 5 credits
   16. Teach New – 21 credits per day
   17. Teach Upgrade – 11 credits per day
   18. Review board- 80 credits

CEH Renewal

You must earn 120 ECE credits every three years to renew your CEH certification. There are certain ECE program requirements to meet this CEH renewal requirement. You must earn 40 ECE credits for each year and you must pay $80 annual EC-Council membership fee as well.

Audit Requirements

More information about EC-Council Certification Re-Certification Program

ISACA Certifications

CPEs required for the ISACA Certifications:

• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) requires 120 CPEs over 3 years – See Requirments
• Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) requires 120 CPEs over 3 years – See Requirements
• Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) requires 120 CPEs over 3 years – See Requirements

Qualifying Professional Education Activities for CISM

Activities that qualify for CPE include technical and managerial training. This training must be directly applicable to the management, design, or assessment of an enterprise’s information security or the improvement of those skills (www.isaca.org/cismjobpractice) to ensure a proper balance of professional development is attained. CPE hours related to management skills must be relevant to the management of information security. CPE hours are not accepted for on-the-job activities unless they fall into a specific qualifying professional education activity. Training in basic office productivity software, such as Microsoft Word or Excel, does not qualify as CPE. Specific activities have annual CPE hour limits. CPE can be reported in quarter-hour increments. The following categories of qualifying activities and limits have been approved by the CISM Certification Committee and are acceptable for CPE.

• ISACA professional education activities and meetings (no limit)
• Non-ISACA professional education activities and meetings (no limit)
• Self-study courses (no limit)
• Vendor sales/marketing presentations (10-hour annual limitation)
• Teaching/lecturing/presenting/fully accredited university research
• Publication of articles, monographs, and books (no limit)
• Exam question development and review (no limit)
• Passing related professional examinations (no limit)
• Working on ISACA Boards/Committees (20-hour annual limitation per ISACA certification)
• Contributions to the information security profession (20-hour annual limitation in total for all related activity for CISM reported hours)
• Mentoring (10-hour annual limitation)

Calculating CPE Hours

One CPE hour is earned for each fifty (50) minutes of active participation (excluding lunches and breaks) for qualifying ISACA and non-ISACA professional educational activities and meetings. CPE hours can be earned in quarter-hour increments and can also be reported in quarter hours (rounded to the nearest quarter-hour). For example, a CISM who attends an eight- hour presentation (480 minutes) with 90 minutes of breaks will earn seven (7.75) continuing professional education hours.

Annual CPE Audit

More information about (ISC) Continuing Education

(ISC)2 Certifications

CPEs required for the (ISC)2 Certifications:

• Certified Authorization Professional / Risk Management Framework (CAP/RMF) requires 60 CPE’s over 3 years
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) requires 120 CPE’s over 3 years
• Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) requires 90 CPE’s over 3 years
• Certified Secure Systems Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) requires 90 CPE’s over 3 years

More information about (ISC) Continuing Education

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certifications

CEUs required for the AWS Certifications:

• Amazon Web Services Certifications are valid for 3 years and require you to periodically demonstrate your continued expertise through a process called recertification.

Recertification for the Foundational-level certification

More information about AWS Recertification

Splunk Certifications

Splunk Certifications

• (Big Data) Splunk Core Certified User & Tableau
• Splunk Enterprise Certified Architect
• Splunk Core Certified User
• Splunk Core Certified Power User
• Splunk Certified Developer