Infosec Institute’s parent company is now saying in public that the business is shrinking. On Cengage Group’s February 19, 2026 earnings call, CFO Dean Tilsley told investors that Infosec was down year on year and that Cengage was cutting costs to match.
What did Cengage say about Infosec in February 2026?
Here is the full passage from the fiscal third quarter 2026 call, quoted from the published transcript:
“The smaller InfoSec and Milady businesses remain challenged due to federal headwinds impacting enrollment. In line with expectations, they are down year-on-year with the near-term outlook still looking challenged. We are, therefore, managing costs within these businesses to reflect this expectation.”
Dean Tilsley, CFO of Cengage Group, Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings call, February 19, 2026. Read the transcript
The rest of Cengage’s Work segment was growing that quarter. On the same call, ed2go revenue was up 24% and Career and Technical Education up 14% year on year. Infosec was one of two businesses in the segment singled out as going the other way.
“Managing costs” means less money going into the business. If you’re about to pay for a boot camp, that matters: the instructors, labs and support staff you’re paying for sit inside a unit its owner says it is trimming.
What happened in the next quarter?
The Globe and Mail summarized Cengage’s fiscal fourth quarter call on July 8, 2026. According to that summary, Infosec faced “a roughly $4 million headwind driven mainly by a partial U.S. government shutdown that disrupted enrollments,” which contributed to a 4% drop in Work segment EBITDA for the quarter. Management said it expects Infosec to rebound.
The Globe and Mail, “Cengage Learning Earnings Call Highlights Digital Momentum”
To be fair to Cengage, it blames federal spending and the shutdown rather than course quality, and it says a rebound is coming. I can’t check either claim from the outside. I wouldn’t put a few thousand dollars of my own money into a training business while its owner is cutting its costs.
Is the Infosec brand going away?
Possibly. On the February call, CEO Michael Hansen said Cengage is “unifying all businesses under a single Cengage brand.” He didn’t name Infosec, so I wouldn’t read too much into it yet. If you buy a course today, though, ask who will be supporting it a year from now.
How does this fit with what employees have said?
It matches the 2024 Glassdoor review I wrote about in my post on the Cengage acquisition, which described heavy turnover in Infosec’s marketing leadership after the $191 million buyout in 2022. One anonymous review is easy to dismiss. A CFO telling investors he’s managing costs down in the same business is harder to wave away.
Sources
- Cengage Group Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings call transcript, February 19, 2026: finance.biggo.com
- The Globe and Mail, “Cengage Learning Earnings Call Highlights Digital Momentum,” July 8, 2026: theglobeandmail.com
- Cengage Group, “Cengage Group Completes Acquisition of Infosec,” March 1, 2022: cengagegroup.com
Part of my full Infosec Institute review roundup: every complaint, the pass-rate claims, and better ways to prepare for the CISSP, all in one place.
