CISSP: Decertification notice

CISSP is despite its detractors the undisputed king of InfoSec certifications. 6 years ago I wrote a blog post about "how to get ready fast for the CISSP exam". In order to get this certification you need to invest a good amount of time, to have experience in the field and money". The same does apply to maintain it once you have it.

Some days ago I did receive a mail from ISC2 as the below:

Subject: (ISC)? Decertification Notice 

02 Nov 2017
Member ID:	388018
Certification:	CISSP
Expiration Date:	31 Jul 2017
Termination Date:	01 Nov 2017
Dear Jose Casbas,
The purpose of this notice is to provide information regarding the status of your (ISC)2 certification.
According to our records, your CISSP credential was terminated effective 01 Nov 2017 because of Unpaid Annual Maintenance Fees.
Because the CISSP is a federally-registered certification mark, you may no longer use the CISSP designation in any form. For example, you may not use CISSP after your name, on printed materials and you may not display the certificate itself, wear the CISSP lapel pin or imply in any way that you are presently certified. Continued use of the CISSP designation is unauthorized and an infringement of the CISSP mark.
To be certified again, you must sit for, and pass the examination again. However, in order to do so, you must pay any outstanding AMF and late fees before registering for the exam. You may also be subjected to a $35USD reinstatement fee upon successfully passing an exam and requesting reinstatement of your credential.
If you have any comments or questions, do not reply to this email. Please email [email protected].
Sincerely,
(ISC)2 Member Services

The process to do the payment and submit the CPEs regularly is a bit painful. If you don´t take care of it you will receive a notification like the above. Personally I found it quite rude, and the fact that you need to sit for, and pass the examination again to be certified got me puzzled.

I decided to look in Twitter and I found some dudes proud to receive such notification and even some felt liberated. Personally I thought is a pity to lost something you have dedicated effort and it has proven value on your career, hence I decided to send an email to the mentioned address asking for a soft solution. And I got it.

Advice: After receiving such notification, you have two weeks buffer to call them directly and to redeem your fees through the phone. There is no need to sit and pass the examination again.