Is this online certification program legit?

May 8, 2006 8:09 PM

Anyone have experience with online certification through CBTDirect? Is this on the level or a total scam?

A friend asks: "Hey anyone know anything about these clowns? I had a really high-pressure sales call from them today, thus I am 99% sure that I'm not interested in what they are offering (which is a $4500 online CBT allegedly geared at achieving CISSP certification)

All I can seem to find other than their pervasive adwords/banners and their smug self-serving self promotion on their own pages is this.

Anyone? Bueller?"

posted by Gucky to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

If it looks like crap and stinks like crap...guess what? Not to mention that they come from Clearwater. It's scam central.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 9:48 PM on May 8, 2006

Scientology Scam Central.
posted by evariste at 1:05 AM on May 9, 2006

Their website certainly seems legit, but my theory is this: if they are using high pressure sales tactics, and they are significantly cheaper than their competitors (I don't know if this is the case - I have no idea what this kind of certification costs), then it's probably too good to be true. If they are NOT significantly cheaper than their competitors, then I would suggest using their competitors, since they appear to be less jerkish.
posted by antifuse at 3:57 AM on May 9, 2006

You shouldn't need it, even if they were legit. If you already have a background in information security (and you need a minimum of 3 years in the field to certify as a CISSP), then you don't really need a "bootcamp" to pass the exam.

I earned the CISSP certification last year, so here's my advice: read the official ISC2 study guide and the Shon Harris books cover to cover, take the practice exams on cccure.org, and sit for the exam. Total outlay for preparation: about two hundred bucks + a lot of coffee consumed while reading the books.
posted by deadmessenger at 8:45 AM on May 9, 2006

I am from Clearwater and resent the Clearwater statement. I also worked for this company for a while answering customers complaints and a lot of those complaints were from people who really were not motivated to do online learning and saw this as a quick way of landing a job. Not to say that some of the sales people who I met weren't sleazy, but not all of them were.

But I think the more important question would be, are you really comitted to online training? Its hard stuff to do.
posted by Number27 at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2006