Security Now Podcasts and CPEs

mog27

How do you guys prove that you viewed podcasts such as Security Now? There is no quiz to pass. Do you just keep track of the date, length, topic, etc? Do you take a screenshot of the completed podcast? (In case you get audited).

JDMurray

There are a few ways of getting CPEs that can't be easily verified, such as self-study, reading a security book/magazine, listening to a security podcast/webcast, attending a vendor presentation, etc. Perhaps if you claimed self-study for a certification you could send along a copy of the testing center's paperwork as proof. For many webcasts you need to sign up to attend or download on demand, but podcasts are typically downloaded anonymously, so probably for these cases the (ISC)2 would never audit.

I'm interested if anyone has been asked for proof by the (ISC)2 after submitting CPEs for any of these reasons.

bigdogz

I have "Loads 'O CPE's" and I track them in 3, 3 ring binders. 1 for each year and all certs that require CPE's. I actually get more compliments on my CPE tracking then my certifications.
I do claim the Secuity Now podcasts. Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson are a great team. Sometimes SpinRite is promoted a little too much but I have had some folks who did purchase it. It can be performed on USB and solid state drives.

What I do write or document for the purpose in case of audit is the descripion in iTunes. In most cases it is very detailed which is good if I want to go back and listen to something. I have verified through (ISC)2 that they will only accept CPE in 30 minute increments about couple of years ago. In addition, if the podcast is 1 hour 45 minutes, I claim 1.5 CPE's. I cannot use the extra minutes from another podcast to fill the gaps from a previous podcast.

I track: cert for CPE, date, amount of CPE claimed, length, and topic. There are a great deal of Q&A episodes and this is where I document the questions and the name if available as well.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
bigdogz

ssehg

It is hard to keep track of webcast/podcast,unless , you keep a excel or some other tools to track.

JDMurray

I just enter my CPEs at www.isc2.org as soon as I get them and then shove the associated paperwork into a file folder. On the rare chance that I do get an email from the (ISC)2 asking for verification of what I claimed, I just pull the paper, scan it, and email it off to the (ISC)2. That process has worked well for me for many years. There's something to be said for not taking more time to perform a task than the task is worth.

pinkydapimp

Hey guys. I just realized i need to grab 20 group a CPEs before february. If i watch about 20 hours of webcasts or listen to podcasts during my commute between now and then, will that suffice? Can i pick any podcast/webcast thats related to the CISSP domains? Does the website need to say they count as CPEs? Can anyone recommend any in particular? Is there a limit to the amount of CPEs i can use from podcasts/webcasts? What about security conferences, about how many CPEs do those accrue? Thanks in advance.

JDMurray

It looks like info about reading magazines, attending Webinars, and listening to podcasts is in this doc: CPE Guidelines (login to www.isc2.org required)

As always, the only official source for the answers to certification questions is the certification provider itself, so please don't make decisions based solely on the opinions and conjecture of inhabitants of the Internet.