Infosec Institute Reviews: Is the CISSP Boot Camp Worth It? (2026)

My short answer is that I don’t think Infosec Institute’s CISSP boot camp is worth the money in 2026. I sat through their boot camp myself. I’ve also read years of the same complaints on Reddit, Trustpilot, PissedConsumer and even Glassdoor. This page pulls those reviews together in one place, with links to every source. You can decide for yourself before you hand over a few thousand dollars.

Common questions, answered with sources:

My verdict: 2 / 5. Overpriced, and shakier since the Cengage buyout.
What people report liking

  • Instructors who know the material (when you get a good one)
  • Recognizable brand name
  • An “exam pass guarantee” on paper
What keeps coming up

  • Outdated, error-filled courseware
  • A “pass guarantee” that’s hard to actually collect
  • Rude, unresponsive customer service
  • Pass-rate claims nobody can verify

Is Infosec Institute worth it?

In my experience, no, not at boot-camp prices. I paid for the intensive experience their site advertises. What I got felt thrown together. The practice questions didn’t match the real exam, and explanations were missing. The room was full of people who all felt the same unease I did. Plenty of former customers describe the exact same thing. If your employer is paying and you go in with low expectations, you may get value from a strong instructor. If it’s your own money, I think you can do better for less.

Is Infosec Institute a scam, or just overpriced?

Let me be precise, because the word matters. Infosec Institute is a real, established training company, not an illegal operation. Cengage owns it now. So in the strict sense, it isn’t a “scam.” But a lot of people feel scammed. The reason is the gap between the marketing and the delivery. The company advertises a “93% pass rate,” “hands-on labs,” and “the most-awarded” training. Customers repeatedly report the opposite. That gap is where the anger comes from. My own take is that it’s an overpriced product propped up by claims it doesn’t consistently live up to.

Is the 94% pass-rate claim believable?

This is the one that bothers me most. I’ve seen Infosec’s marketing quote a 93%, a 94%, and a 95% pass rate at different times. To me, a number that keeps changing is a marketing dial, not a measured statistic. No one ever shows the methodology behind it.

Meanwhile, the reports from students run the other way. One boot-camp attendee documented that every single person in his class failed the first exam. He said the advertised pass rate simply never materialized. A CISSP subreddit user wrote that they took the boot camp and failed the exam twice despite the “95% pass rate” promise. They concluded you’re better off studying on your own. Every data point you can actually verify points down. So I don’t buy the headline number.

How Infosec’s “Exam Pass Guarantee” actually works

The guarantee sounds great until you try to use it. Here is how one reader described the process after it was emailed to me:

“I was promised a free exam voucher and retake, but Infosec made it nearly impossible to use. They refused to give me the voucher until I scored 90% or higher on their practice test. Once I finally hit that score, they took about 30 days to send the voucher, which left me with barely any time before their 90-day deadline to take the real exam. Because of the delay, I missed the window for the ‘free retake’ they advertised.”

reader report, forwarded from r/CISSP

Read that sequence again. You have to clear a 90% gate. Then you wait about 30 days for the voucher, all inside a 90-day clock. That structure makes the “guarantee” hard to ever collect. It works more like an obstacle course.

What real customers say (with sources)

These are public reviews other people posted, not my words. Each one links to the original so you can verify it.

“Called INFOSEC to assist a team member in getting their promised exam voucher. The customer service rep was rude, dismissive, and even insulting. When I asked to speak with a manager, they abruptly disconnected the call.”

Trustpilot review, date of experience July 10, 2025. Read on Trustpilot

“I took their bootcamp. Despite the 3 month limit and 95% pass rate advertisement, I failed the exam TWICE. Trust me. You are better off to study the exam yourself. But other books. Cheaper to study yourself.”

u/Elegant_Brief on r/cissp, April 2024. Read on Reddit

“Dated cheesy graphics, poor sound quality, sexist language and graphics “IT guy”, monotonous The Office style videos… I did not have to pay and felt ripped off.” (On their security awareness training.)

PissedConsumer review, May 7, 2020. Read on PissedConsumer

“Avoid Infosec Marketing. It’s a sinking ship.” The reviewer counted ten marketing leaders at director level or above leaving after the buyout, with HR and IT outsourced.

2024 Glassdoor employee review. Read on Glassdoor

More reports: outdated, error-filled courseware

Beyond the headline complaints, the most common theme in reviews is that the training materials feel stale and sloppy for the price:

“I did infosec boot camp for CISSP (work paid for it). It was very underwhelming, the instructor got his CISSP back in 2002 and has been only teaching since. The course material was outdated and the instructor was monotonous when speaking.”

u/tebdjduzv on r/cissp, April 2025. Read on Reddit

“We also received practice questions that were very outdated”

u/cloudprepared on r/cissp, May 2020, on the Infosec boot camp their company used. Read on Reddit

“My organization has paid for NUMEROUS cyber-related/IT training courses for me over the past eight years, and this was, no doubt, the worst training course I’ve ever taken. The PowerPoint slides in the training videos have SO many spelling errors and some of the audio doesn’t even match up with the slides on the screen.”

PissedConsumer review of the online CCENT/CCNA “Quad Four” course, January 30, 2019. Read on PissedConsumer

More reviews from around the web

The same pattern shows up well beyond this site. Here’s what other public review platforms report. Each one is linked so you can read it in full.

Glassdoor (employees): InfoSec Institute averages about 2.9 out of 5, with only around 35% of employees saying they’d recommend it. Recent one-star reviews carry titles like “Giant mess” and “Stop – terrible company!!!”, and employees describe post-Cengage “rounds of layoffs every so often.”

InfoSec Institute reviews on Glassdoor

PissedConsumer: Individual customers rate Infosec Institute about 1.9 out of 5, though that average rests on only five rated reviews. Complaints center on billing, unresponsive support, and outdated materials. One July 2024 report came from a customer who couldn’t get a refund after an accidental enrollment.

Infosec Institute reviews on PissedConsumer

Independent review roundups echo the same issues: instructors “reading PowerPoint slides verbatim,” materials “not aligned with current exam requirements,” and one student who received “an Amazon book instead of proprietary materials.” One roundup highlights a telling split. Corporate buyers rate it around 4.5 on G2. Individual students sit near 1.8 on PissedConsumer. The people spending their own money are the least satisfied.

MyEngineeringBuddy: Infosec Institute review

First-hand boot camp reviews: Students have written detailed accounts of Infosec Institute’s own boot camps. One is a CEH boot camp reviewed on Reddit. It describes an inflated pass-rate claim, a “book” that’s just the instructor’s PowerPoint, buggy labs, and being pushed toward brain dumps. Another is an Intense School MCSA boot camp where only one exam passed out of 44.

Third-party ratings above are current as of August 2026 and change over time. Follow each link for the latest.

What changed after the Cengage acquisition

Cengage Group completed its $191 million acquisition of Infosec Institute in March 2022 (Cengage press release). It folded Infosec into the company’s Workforce Skills division alongside ed2go. From the outside, it looks like the new owner has been steadily hollowing the place out since. The Glassdoor review above describes heavy leadership churn and outsourced departments. That’s the same company asking you to trust it with your certification prep. If the people behind the product keep leaving, it’s fair to ask what happens to the product.

Better ways to prepare for the CISSP

Here’s the constructive part. My goal is to help you pass, not to trash one company. What actually worked for me was a domain-by-domain study plan paired with scenario-based practice questions, not a pricey boot camp. Two practice-question tools I’d recommend over Infosec’s:

  • Boson CISSP has well-crafted questions with explanations that tell you why each wrong answer is wrong.
  • Quantum Exams has hard, scenario-based questions that train you to think like a security manager.

And before you pay anyone, verify their ISC2 partnership yourself at isc2.org. Don’t take the marketing’s word for it. More of what worked for me is in my guide to Infosec Institute alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns Infosec Institute now?

Cengage Group, a large education-technology company, owns Infosec Institute. Cengage completed the $191 million acquisition in March 2022 and folded Infosec into its Workforce Skills division alongside ed2go.

Is Infosec Institute legit or a scam?

It’s a real, established company, not an illegal scam. The problem most customers describe is the gap between what’s advertised and what actually gets delivered. Infosec advertises high pass rates, hands-on labs and an exam-pass guarantee.

Does Infosec Institute really have a 94% pass rate?

Infosec’s site advertises a 93% pass rate across its programs. It publishes no methodology behind it. Students report being quoted 94% and 95% at different times. Multiple boot-camp attendees report failing, including one who says his entire class failed the first exam. I don’t consider the figure verifiable.

How does Infosec’s exam pass guarantee work?

Readers report you must score 90%+ on their practice test before they release the exam voucher. Then you wait roughly 30 days for it. All of this happens inside a 90-day deadline. That can make the “free retake” nearly impossible to actually use.

What should I use to study for the CISSP instead?

A domain-by-domain plan plus scenario-based practice questions did more for me than any boot camp. I’d point you to Boson and Quantum Exams for questions. Always confirm any provider’s ISC2 partnership directly at isc2.org.

About the author

Terry is the person behind Infosec Institute Sucks. He earned his CISSP and has spent years working in cybersecurity. His boot-camp experience didn’t come close to what the marketing promised. So he started documenting his own story and collecting other people’s reviews, with sources. He wants future candidates to make an informed choice instead of an expensive mistake. He still studies the CISSP material and shares what actually worked. More about Terry →

This article reflects my personal experience and opinions, together with publicly posted reviews written by other people, each linked to its original source. “Infosec Institute,” “Cengage,” and other names are trademarks of their respective owners. This is an independent consumer-opinion site and is not affiliated with them.

Sources