PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J.—To expand their investment in educating industry stakeholders on how to make payments and identity more secure, the Smart Card Alliance has announced the launch of a new training center in Crystal City, Va.
The Alliance explained that the National Center for Advanced Payments and Identity Security will be a permanent facility for live, interactive educational activities hosted by the Alliance. It will offer workshops, educational courses, briefings, symposiums, and training and certification testing for the Certified Smart Card Industry Program (CSCIP) and Certified System Engineer ICAM PACS Training and Certification Program (CSEIP).
The programs will be available to both Smart Card Alliance members and non-members, the Alliance stated. For those unable to attend in-person events, certain activities will be live streamed and/or recorded, and archived as part of an online resource library hosted by the Alliance
“Education is fundamental to improving the way the industry manages security. With this new facility, the Smart Card Alliance will be able to greatly expand education and collaboration programs aimed at improving security across multiple markets and subject areas, including payment security, identity security and privacy protection, through both face-to-face and online events and assets,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.
The center has been established through a grant from Heartland Payments Systems in support of the mission to better protect consumers’ privacy, and advance the security of payments and identity through education programs on best industry practices and advances in security technology, the Alliance explained
In addition to being held at Smart Card Alliance conferences, the following training and certification exam sessions will be held at the new training facility:
- CSCIP – A program that recognizes professionals who undergo training to gain advanced levels of technical knowledge and understanding of usage models for the smart card industry, and is the smart card industry’s only standardized certification program, the Alliance explained.
- CSCIP/Payments – An extension of CSCIP training that recognizes professionals who undergo training to gain advanced knowledge of payments usage models for the smart card industry.
- CSCIP/Government – An extension of CSCIP training that recognizes professionals who undergo training to gain advanced knowledge of government-related identity and security usage models for the smart card industry.
- CSEIP – A program that provides advanced training for integration engineers on how to set up and test E-PACS to align with mandated certifications required under the federal government’s physical access control system procurement specifications.
More information on the Smart Card Alliance’s training and certification programs can be found at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/activities-leap-cscip/.