Virginia Tech's Flex Vaughn and Jennifer Altman are being recognized for their commitment to protecting the university's information security.

Vaughn and Altman have earned the Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSP) certification. The CISSP is governed by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium and is recognized as the gold standard in information security. 

Vaughn is the manager of information security and compliance and Altman is the public safety information systems manager. Both work in the in the Information Technology department within the university's administrative services division.

The division, which includes Business Services (including Parking and Transportation, Mail Services, and Printing Services), Facilities Services, Emergency Management, Environmental Health and Safety, Human Resources, and the Virginia Tech Police Department manages a large volume of information for the university.

"As business processes become more and more intertwined with technology, it is critically important that our information technology professionals have a strong working knowledge of how to protect our data," said Malcolm Beckett, director of information technology for the administrative services division. Vaughn, Altman, and Beckett are three of a very small number of Virginia Tech employees who have earned the CISSP certification.

The CISSP certification is the ideal credential for those with proven deep technical and managerial competence, skills, experience, and credibility who seek to design, engineer, implement, and manage their overall information security program to protect organizations from growing sophisticated attacks. 

To complete the certification, Vaughn and Altman each had to obtain references, possess significant verified experience, and pass a six-hour exam demonstrating skill mastery in:

  • Security and Risk Management
  • Asset Security
  • Security Engineering
  • Communications and Network Security
  • Identity and Access Management
  • Security Assessment and Testing
  • Security Operations
  • Software Development Security

Vaughn has a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech. Altman has a bachelor's degree in computer science and technology and a master's degree in science education from Radford University.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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