April 2, 2014 - ISACA, a global association of 110,000 IS security, assurance, governance and risk professionals, has implemented web-enabled credentials called open badges for individuals who have earned the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) and/or Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certifications.

The open badges are secure digital representations of the ISACA credential—the certified individual's achievement, enhanced with a standardized set of metadata that, when clicked, lead to verification of the certification, qualifications and the process required to earn it. The badge can be embedded on a résumé, emails, personal web sites, and social and professional networking web sites, including Facebook and LinkedIn.

Displaying an open badge across several platforms offers employers and others single-click access to verify and evaluate the individuals' achievement.

"ISACA credentials are in demand by employers worldwide, and we are glad to offer our certification holders the opportunity to utilize open badges to demonstrate their accomplishments," said Allan Boardman, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, CA (SA), ACA, CISSP, international vice president of ISACA and chair of ISACA's Credentialing and Career Management Board. "Open badges offer an efficient method for current and potential employers to validate a certification, and also give certification holders a simple and effective opportunity to tell their professional story and enhance their recognition."

ISACA partnered with Pearson to base the open badges on a new open standard for communicating learning called Mozilla Open Badges. Badges can be claimed, stored and transmitted on Pearson's Acclaim web site. Certification holders will receive an email from Acclaim to opt into open badges for no charge.

The CISA credential, established in 1978 as a standard of achievement for information systems audit, has been earned by more than 106,000 individuals since inception. The CISM designation, designed for experienced information security managers, has been earned by more than 23,000 professionals since it was established in 2002. More than 5,800 IT governance professionals have earned CGEIT since its inception in 2007. CRISC, introduced in 2010 for risk and control professionals, has been earned by 17,000 individuals.

All four credentials are among the highest-paying IT certifications in the Foote Partners IT Skills and Certifications pay Index™ for 1 October 2013 – 1 January 2014, with CGEIT in particular gaining value throughout that quarter. In addition, a study by Global Knowledge lists CRISC, CISM and CISA as the top three highest-paying certifications for 2014.