Quick CPE Guide
What are CPE credits?
Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits are points you collect through participating in activities that are relevant to your certification and contribute to your professional knowledge and skills development. During your certification year, you build up CPE credits by attending events, completing courses, or performing other professional development activities. At the end of your certification year, you report the CPE credits you’ve earned to re-certify for your next certification year.
CPE credits are required for Practitioner, Expert and Certified Officer re-certification, because they demonstrate that you’re keeping your professional competence up to date.
How can I earn CPE credits?
You can earn CPE credits by performing professional development activities in any field that is relevant to your certification.
Examples of professional development activities are:
- Attending webinars, training sessions, conferences and other professional events;
- Reading books, articles, whitepapers, research papers and other professional documents;
- Writing books, articles, whitepapers, research papers and other professional publications;
- Lecturing/teaching, speaking at conferences and holding workshops.
“Relevant to your certification” means:
Professional development activities are relevant to your certification if they relate to your field or a neighbouring field.
For example: If you are an Information Security Practitioner, you can earn CPE credits by developing your knowledge and skills in information security,
data protection, IT security, ethical hacking or business continuity.
You can’t earn CPE credits by performing your regular job activities.
How many CPE credits are required for re-certification?
The minimum number of CPEs required is determined by the type of certification you hold:
- Foundation certificates: There are no CPE requirements. Foundation qualifications don’t expire.
- Practitioner certificates: To re-certify, you need to complete at least 20 CPE credits yearly.
- Expert certificates: To re-certify, you need to complete at least 40 CPE credits yearly.
- Certified Officer certificates: To re-certify, you need to complete at least 40 CPE credits yearly.
How do I calculate my CPE credits?
You can only earn CPE credits for professional development activities that are relevant to your SECO certification.
Main categories of activities and the number of CPE credits you can earn for each of them:
- Attending webinars, trainings, seminars and conferences: 1 CPE credit for each hour of attendance.
- Reading books, articles, whitepapers and research papers : 1 CPE credit for each 150 pages read.
- Writing books, articles, whitepapers and research papers : 1 CPE credit for each A4 page written, with a maximum of 5 CPE credits/publication.
- Lecturing/teaching and speaking at conferences, workshops and other events: 1 CPE credit for each hour of activity.
- Developing or updating SECO course materials: 1 CPE for one hour’s worth of course material.
- Listening to podcasts or attending (online) events without registration: 1 CPE credit for every three hours of activity.
What if I fail to submit the required amount of CPE credits?
If you don’t submit your CPEs, you will be de-certified. You won’t be entitled to use your SECO certification title, and you’ll lose your digital badge .
But don’t worry, this won’t happen. We’ll do our best to remind you of CPE submission deadlines. And you can always contact us for advice if you have difficulties collecting your CPE credits.
What if I have multiple certifications?
If you hold more than one credential (for example, you are Information Security Practitioner and IT Security Practitioner-certified), the CPEs you report for one credential will be automatically counted toward all of your active credentials. You only have to report your CPE activities once.