Cengage Group completed its $191 million acquisition of Infosec Institute on March 1, 2022. From the outside, it looks like the new owner has been quietly hollowing the place out ever since.
A 2024 Glassdoor review titled “Avoid Infosec Marketing. It’s a sinking ship” spells it out. The reviewer counted ten different marketing leaders at director level or above leaving in the years after the buyout, some quitting and some cut in layoffs. Both the HR and IT departments were outsourced.
Ten marketing heads churning through in that span tells you how steady things really are behind the scenes. That’s the same company asking you to hand over a few thousand dollars and trust them with your CISSP prep. I sat through their boot camp before any of this was public. The instability I felt in that room now has a paper trail.
Since then Cengage itself has said the quiet part out loud. On its February 2026 earnings call, the CFO said Infosec was “down year-on-year” and that Cengage was “managing costs” in the business. I pulled the exact quotes and sources together in what Cengage’s 2026 earnings calls said about Infosec.
Common 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 Infosec was folded into its Workforce Skills division alongside ed2go.
Is Infosec Institute still a good choice for CISSP training?
In my experience, no. Leadership has churned since the Cengage buyout, and my own boot camp went nothing like what was advertised. So I’d point you toward a provider with a current, verifiable ISC2 partnership instead. I keep a running list of what actually worked for me on my better choices page.
How do I confirm a CISSP boot camp is an official ISC2 partner?
Don’t take the provider’s word for it. Go straight to ISC2’s official site and check their list of authorized training partners yourself. When I finally did that mid-boot-camp, the company I’d paid wasn’t on it.
What should I use to study for the CISSP instead?
A domain-by-domain plan paired with scenario-based practice questions did more for me than any boot camp. The full breakdown of the books, question banks, and apps I used is in my story, where I walk through what helped and what didn’t.
Did the Cengage acquisition actually hurt Infosec Institute?
Current and former employees suggest it did. The 2024 Glassdoor review above describes ten marketing leaders leaving in a few years. It also says both HR and IT were outsourced. That fits the complaints former customers have posted publicly. Cengage’s own February 2026 earnings call also described Infosec as “challenged” and said costs were being managed down.
Part of my full Infosec Institute review roundup. It covers every complaint, the pass-rate claims, and better ways to prepare for the CISSP, all in one place.
