Salary Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

For a long time CEO, CFO, and COO — chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer — formed an unimpeachable trinity of chief officers for your average corporation. You might occasionally see a CMO (chief marketing officer), and the dawn of the information age brought the CIO (chief information officer) into the fold.

More and more, however, there’s a new face in the crowd, one whose task of securing information has become increasingly important: CISO, or chief information security officer.  One of the foremost certifications for top-level security managers is EC-Council’s Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO) credential. The CCISO was No. 6 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list.

Here’s what the salary picture looks like for CCISO holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $152,890
Median Annual Salary: $156,250
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 26.3 percent
Very Satisfied: 15.8 percent
Satisfied: 31.6 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 21 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 5.3 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $101,610
Median Annual Salary: $85,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 14.6 percent
Very Satisfied: 28.9 percent
Satisfied: 28.2 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 14.3 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 13.9 percent

The largest single body of CCISO holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (57.6 percent), but we also heard from credential holders in 10 other countries: China, Colombia, India, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Per the Salary Survey norm, CCISO-certified women are scare — 96.7 percent of our CCISO survey respondents are men. And while we did hear from some relatively youthful credential holders, CCISO is largely a late-career achievement: 39.4 percent of those surveyed are between the ages of 45 and 54, while a further 24.2 percent are between the ages of 55 and 64, and 9.1 percent are between the ages of 65 and 74. The outliers are the 18.2 percent of CCISO-certified “youngsters” who are between the ages of 35 and 44, and the 9.1 percent who are between the ages of 25 and 34.

Precisely 79 percent of the CCISO holders to participate in the survey have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of formal education completed by most CCISO holders is either a bachelor’s degree (18.2 percent of respondents), master’s degree (42.4 percent), doctorate (6.4 percent), associate’s degree (9 percent), or professional degree (3 percent). The rest of those surveyed either departed the realm of formal education after completing high school (5.8 percent) or completed some level of post-high school technical training (15.2 percent).

A perfect 100 percent of CCISO holders who participated in the survey are employed full-time. For most, that means working either between 41 and 50 hours per week (42.4 percent of respondents), more than 50 hours per week (27.3 percent), or for the standard 40 hours per week (also 27.3 percent). The rest put in between 31 and 39 hours per week (3 percent).

The COVID-19 pandemic stirred up a whole lot of things, including a whole lot of workplaces. So it’s perhaps not surprising that 63 percent of CCISO holders report spending their entire work schedule at home, putting either more than 40 hours per week from home (51.5 percent of those surveyed) or 40 hours per week from home (12.1 percent). The rest are spending at least some of their working hours in a more traditional workplace setting, working from home either between 31 and 39 hours per week (3.2 percent of respondents), between 21 and 30 hours per week (5.9 percent), between 10 and 20 hours per week (6.1 percent), or for fewer than 10 hours per week (21.2 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of CCISO holders who participated in the survey are at the senior manager level (27 percent of those surveyed). The rest, in descending order, are either directors (24.3 percent of respondents), managers (19 percent), executives (16.2 percent), senior specialists (10.8 percent), or specialists (2.7 percent).

A telling 73 percent of the CCISO holders we heard from are IT veterans, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of their certified skills for more than a decade. The rest have been plying their certified skills for either between 3 and 5 years (10.8 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (5.4 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (10.8 percent).

Finally, here’s the view of CCISO holders on key questions from the survey about how certification impacts job performance:

At my current job I use skills learned or enhanced through certification:
Several times a day: 64.9 percent
Several times a week: 24.3 percent
Several times a month: 5.4 percent
Occasionally: 5.4 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 46 percent
Agree: 37.8 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 16.2 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 45.9 percent
Agree: 40.5 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 10.9 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: 2.7 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 37.9 percent
Agree: 43.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 16.2 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: 2.7 percent

PAST CCISO DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2019

2017

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