If you’re interested in brushing up your Japanese and learning more about information security, I recommend taking the Information Security Management Examination–情報セキュリティマネッジメント試験. This exam is often abbreviated as SG.
The Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), Japan (IPA, 情報処理推進機構) administers this exam. The IPA belongs to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).
The exam is multiple choice and consists of 60 questions. The exam lasts 2 hours. The first part of the exam covers the basic knowledge. The second half has you solve a few longer ISMS related problems.
For example, the exam may ask you to help set up a ISMS in a company. You then have to determine risk levels for the company’s information assets.
Other questions might involve cybersecurity incidents. The exam asks you how to deal with a incident happening right now. You then have to make suggestions on how to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The exam is in Japanese, but luckily you don’t have to write. You can take the exam at computer-based test (CBT) centers that work with the IPA. The best thing about the exam is that it’s much cheaper (JPY7,500) than a comparable CompTIA+ exam.
No at-home examination is available, but I see that as a strong point. Online exam proctoring is creepy. CBT centers provide ear-plugs when you take the exam. This is a nice little gesture.
Since you can take the exam any time, the CBT rooms aren’t crowded. I took the FE exam in 2021 as a CBT exam, when it took place only 2 times a year. The exam room was noisy and crowded.
Why did I take the exam? I needed to brush up my cybersecurity Japanese. The exam authors localize many words and the industry as a whole uses many localized terms. I can’t count on just turning everything into Katakana when I don’t know the corresponding word in Japanese. Also, 脆弱性, 機密性, 攻撃, and 脅威 sound cool.
I didn’t necessarily learn a lot of new things about cybersecurity from a technical point of view. But, it did teach me a lot about how organizations create policies and processes to guide information security on a large scale.
A bit ironic is that to study for this exam in earnest, you would have to pay ISO to access ISO/IEC 27001 and 27002 and their JIS equivalents. Makes you think.
My own career in cybersecurity has always involved working as an outside consultant on well-defined technical projects. Some of these projects involve penetration testing and secure development. I’m frequently embedded in smaller teams, working on new products. In my everyday activities, I don’t hear about process-based information security. This exam made this topic a bit more approachable for me.
As for passing the exam: taking practice exams helps. Japan has fully embraced standardized testing. Countless companies specialize in helping you prepare in a standardized way. Standardized testing wasn’t a thing for me back in Germany, even in University.
When I studied for the JLPT N1 in 2018, I learned how to become efficient at test taking. This even includes figuring out how to get to the exam venue.
On the day before, I practiced taking the subway to the exam venue to make sure I don’t mess up changing lines. I somewhat admire my past self for being so determined.
Since the exam is now offered on-demand, there aren’t a lot of mock exams provided by the IPA. In the past they would just publish all exams that they administered. These exams come with the correct answers, so you can test yourself at home before you take the exam.
The IPA uploads past exams (from the days of paper-based exams) and mock exams here.
Luckily, the IPA still
publishes past exams
for all their other paper-based exams. If you want to pass more of their exams,
take them sooner than later. Use wget --mirror, you won’t regret it.
A third-party interface for practicing exams is 情報セキュリティマネジメント試験ドットコム. This site is useful, but seeing a friend use that site without an ad-blocker was shocking.
I like to buy books from 技術評論社, a Japanese publisher specializing in IT related topics. Their guides are well-written, and the SG exam book is good as well.
If you pass the exam, you receive an official looking certificate by the METI. 10/10 would take again.