Accredited under ISO 17024:2012 Standard, IAPP is one of those rare vendors which offer an extensive certification suite for information privacy area. And given the fact that data today is the most valuable currency, professionals capable of assessing risks and applying effective methods to protect data are essential to any organization that cares about its security.

The Best IAPP Offerings

Thus, the IAPP offers candidates a comprehensive certification program that covers Practicing Privacy (CIPP), Operationalizing Privacy (CIPM), and Engineering Privacy (CIPT). You can learn more about them below.

#1 - CIPP

CIPP stands for Certified Information Privacy Professional and is a certification dedicated to educating individuals to have a strong clutch over the crucial data privacy practices used in their respective regions.

As the rules and legal implications vary, IAPP offers this qualification based on different regions. Presently, there are four live versions of this certification.

CIPP/A - It covers the key data privacy practices adopted in the Asia region, mainly in Singapore, Hong Kong, and India.

CIPP/US - It mentors the test-takers on the data privacy policies applicable in US regions.

CIPP/E - The data privacy policies adopted in the European region are covered in this version.

CIPP/C - The focus of this version is on the use of information privacy within the Canadian context.

All these certification versions help a candidate to showcase unmatched expertise in the implementation of data privacy laws & regulations. Mastery over jurisdictional laws, regulations, and enforcement models is another impressive takeaway of this qualification’s owner.

Ideal For - CIPP will be provided as a real game-changer for those who are handling the legal, human resources, compliance, information management, and data governance-related tasks at their work sphere.

Career Prospects - If the words of ZipRecruiter are being believed, the CIPP certified professionals can easily make an average salary of $77,137 per annum. As you understand, this figure can attain the mark of $176,500 with the increase of expertise and skills.

Career Path - Take a much-needed career jump with CIPM, after the CIPP designation. The focus of this certification is on the management aspect of the data privacy policies.

#2 - CIPM

CIPM or Certified Information Privacy Manager is the second most notable offering of IAPP. It’s the live evidence of the superiority that one has acquired in the privacy program administration. Moreover, bearers of this certification are perfect for performing end-to-end management, establishment, and management of a privacy program in a given ecosystem.

Certified specialists are outfitted enough to implement the privacy regulation work in day-to-day operations. The deep understanding related to the company vision, structuring a data protection team, and development of frameworks is tested and proved by this certification.

Ideal For - CIPM can reap distinguished benefits for the individuals bearing the responsibility of risk management, audit, accountability, audit, and privacy analytics on a daily basis.

Career Prospects - The industry has tons of opportunities to offer for CIPM certified professionals as Privacy Manager. This job role gets counted as one of the highest paying ones. Moreover, PayScale.com helped us to figure out that a Privacy Manager can earn an average salary of $95k per annum. But, that’s not it. The same source states that the top earners are making $126k annually. Hence, the future of these CIPM certified specialists is bright and promising for sure.

Career Path - Take a step ahead and enjoy unmatched standing in the industry with Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP). This certification will take the existing data privacy career to the next stage. A comprehensive understanding of privacy program management and key data protection practices can be verified via this additional designation.

#3 - CIPT

CIPT or Certified Information Privacy Technology is the most respected excellence to bag in the privacy in technology realms. At the same time, certified professionals are considered as dependable resources to enforce the regulations related to data capturing, storing, and use cases.

Some of the most famed privacy technology skills that one can earn after completing the certification journey successfully are:

• Designing privacy-friendly products well embedded with data protection skills.
• Comprehending the perks and challenges of the current privacy technologies and figuring out a way to incorporate them into the system in the right manner.
• Designing a data protection strategy for various kinds of interference.
• Designing system and software solutions to be doubly sure about data privacy.

Ideal For - IT pros who are handling the responsibility of ensuring the right implementation of information technology, software engineering, privacy by design, and information security can use CIPT certification as a viable means of career enrichment and an early increase in salary.

Career Prospects - The hard work and efforts invested in earning the CIPT certificate will reap gratifying perks as an industry will welcome certified professionals as Privacy Engineer. The average salary in this job role is $124,112 per annum, says ZipRecruiter.

Career Path - This step is the last stage of the IAPP certification process. But that doesn't mean we should stop there. If you have done it before, you also have the opportunity to qualify for FIP by completing all the requirements.

And do not forget that IAPP certificates are valid for two years from the date of receipt. During this period, you must maintain your certification with Continuing Privacy Education Credits (CPEs).

Exam Overview

IAPP is out of those rare vendors which keep the same kind of exam format for all of its certifications. Other than the test objectives, the rest all the exam details are the same for CIPP, CIPM, CIPT certification. Here is a quick overview of the format that IAPP follows.

All the accreditation exams are 2.5 hours long and feature 90 questions out of which, only 75 tasks are scored. For the first-timer, the exam fee is $550 which is non-refundable. For each re-take, one has to pay $375 afterward.

The exam is obtainable worldwide. There are over 6,000 computer-based testing centers for IAPP certification exams through Pearson VUE that is bearing the responsibility of conducting the exams across all these centers.

Concerning the passing grade, the performance of the test-takers is assessed on a scale of 100 to 500. Regardless of the exam taken, scoring 300 is must come up with flying colors.