Press Release

IT companies increasingly invest in security training and assessment for staff, new study finds


BLOOMINGTON, MN, March 13, 2017 – IT workers are increasingly embarking on security training and exams – and employers are opting to pay for most of it – according to a new survey.

A survey of 6,605 IT professionals who took a certification exam in the USA in the last 12 months, carried out by computer-based testing company Pearson VUE, found that there has been a 48 percent increase in those taking security training, and a 60 percent increase in those taking security exams compared with the company’s previous annual survey.

More than half of the respondents (53 percent) had their training funded by employers and only a quarter (26 percent) paid for it themselves. When asked to identify any exams they intended taking over the following year, security certifications were the most popular choice (40 percent), followed by networking (31 percent) and servers (22 percent).

The majority of those surveyed had experienced professional benefits from their employers’ investment, with over 6 in 10 (61 percent) stating that obtaining certification had a positive impact on their professional profile and almost a third (30 percent) saying that successfully achieving a certification impacted their lives immediately.

"Our research shows IT employers in the USA are taking security seriously, with an upward trend in them paying for security training and assessment. Employers’ investment in staff training and certification indicates that they see this as a way to benefit both their staff and their business,” said Bob Whelan, managing director of Pearson VUE. “Many employees are immediately benefiting from training and certification, which could explain why nearly 90 percent intend obtaining a further certification in the next 12 months.”

The survey was completed in June 2016 and yielded 29,770 completed responses from around the world.

To download the report, visit the website.


Media contact

Damien Fletcher
+44 (0)20 7010 2582
damien.fletcher@pearson.com