Transition of CTL qualifications

The CHECK scheme standard has always required CTLs to pass specific examinations provided by CREST and The Cyber Scheme (and previously the Tigerscheme). However, now that the UK Cyber Security Council (UK CSC) has created a specialism for Security Testing and launched the ‘Chartered’ and ‘Principal’ Professional Titles, the NCSC is changing their approach for CHECK.

By 31 March 2025, all CHECK Team Leaders must have achieved a UK Cyber Security Council Security Testing Title at the ‘Principal’ level or higher.

Yes: to Principal level, at a minimum.

By 31 March 2025, all current CHECK Team Leaders will need to hold a Professional Registration Title from one of the Licensed Bodies approved by Council for the Security Testing specialism. The ‘NCSC-approved’ exam will no longer be sufficient: instead, NCSC will recognise one of the relevant Council Professional Registration Titles in the Security Testing specialism. All CHECK Team Leaders will need to have undertaken and passed Part A (technical) and Parts B-E (soft skills) in Security Testing, to the minimal level of Principal.

The process will be to apply for an appropriate Security Testing title through one of the Council’s approved licensed bodies. The title process will cover the technical examination (Part A) and an additional soft skills assessment (Parts B-E).

This application process will require you to submit an application form and undertake a mandatory exam (Part A, unless this is already passed and remains valid). It is then followed by either a peer-review interview or a written independent attestation. You can choose which Licensed Body to make your application with, regardless of which organisation you took your examination with.

New or recently-qualified CTLs (with less than three years’ experience) generally map to the Principal title. More experienced CTLs tend to map to Chartered title, particularly when they have more than five years’ experience.