FTC SAFEGUARDS RULE CERTIFICATION FOR TITLE AND ESCROW PROFESSIONALS
Become Your Organization's Certified Safeguards Qualified Individual
The CSQI program teaches you the FTC Safeguards Rule from the text of the regulation itself, then gives you the templates, checklists, and working documents to run a compliant information security program all year. Pass the exam and earn the CSQI designation.
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Self-paced online. Built for title agencies, escrow and settlement companies, and the professionals who serve them.
The Rule Assigns This Role to Someone. Make Sure They're Ready.
The FTC Safeguards Rule (16 CFR Part 314), the data security regulation under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, requires every covered settlement service provider to maintain an information security program and to designate one person to administer it: the Qualified Individual.
In most title and escrow operations, that designation lands on an owner, an operations manager, a compliance officer, or an escrow manager. It comes with real responsibilities: overseeing the written information security program, managing service provider risk, coordinating incident response, and reporting in writing to owners or a governing board.
The CSQI program prepares that person. Every module is built around the actual text of the Rule.
Everything the Qualified Individual Role Requires
Ten Modules of Video Instruction
Built around the actual text of the FTC Safeguards Rule, covering every element of a compliant information security program.
The Compliance Program Guide
A comprehensive guide to develop and maintain your company's GLBA Safeguards Rule compliant program.
One-Page Study Sheets
A study sheet for every module, so the material stays with you after the video ends.
Fill-In Templates and Checklists
A risk assessment workbook, a WISP framework, and the working documents a Qualified Individual uses all year.
The Certification Exam
Pass it and you earn the CSQI designation to put behind your name.
Ready to take on the role?
JOIN THE WAITLISTWhat You'll Learn, Module by Module
Module 1: Understanding the Regulatory Landscape
GLBA, the FTC Safeguards Rule, who is covered, and where your responsibility begins.
Module 2: The Qualified Individual Role
The designation, its responsibilities, and what regulators expect from the person holding it.
Module 3: Conducting Risk Assessments
Identifying and evaluating the risks to customer information, documented in the risk assessment workbook.
Module 4: Developing Your WISP
Building the written information security program, element by element.
Module 5: Access Controls and Authentication
Limiting who can reach customer information, and implementing multi-factor authentication.
Module 6: Data Protection
Encryption and safeguarding customer information at rest and in transit.
Module 7: Service Provider Oversight
Selecting, contracting with, and monitoring the vendors who touch customer data.
Module 8: Security Awareness Training
Building a security-aware staff and meeting the Rule's training requirement.
Module 9: Monitoring, Testing, and Incident Response
Testing your safeguards, watching for trouble, and responding when it comes, including FTC breach notification.
Module 10: Reporting and Program Maintenance
Written reporting to owners or a governing board, and keeping the program current year after year.
The CSQI Designation
CSQI stands for Certified Safeguards Qualified Individual. It tells regulators, underwriters, auditors, and clients that the person administering your information security program passed an exam on the FTC Safeguards Rule and holds the working knowledge the designation implies.
Complete the ten modules, pass the certification exam, and the designation is yours to use behind your name and on your company's compliance documentation.
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Sam Farris brings over 32 years of sworn law enforcement service and years as Chief Compliance Officer for a real estate settlement service providers, where the Safeguards Rule was his daily responsibility. He investigates wire fraud, builds Safeguards-compliant programs for title and escrow operations, and teaches from what that work reveals.
Farris Consulting Group is an Arizona Department of Real Estate approved school (#S24-0011) and licensed private investigation agency (AZ PI #1800546 and 1800547).
Built for the People Who Get Assigned This Role
Owners and Operations Managers
of title agencies and escrow companies
Compliance Officers
at settlement service providers
Escrow Managers
designated as their company's Qualified Individual
Consultants
who serve title and escrow clients and want credentialed Safeguards expertise
No prior information security background is required. The program starts at the regulation and builds from there.
Questions, Answered
What format is the course?
Self-paced online video. Watch on your schedule, from any device.
What does the exam involve? Can I retake it?
The exam includes 100 Questions, passing score is 80%, and you an retake the exam 3 times.
Do I need a technical background?
No. The program is written for compliance, operations, and management professionals. Every technical safeguard is explained in plain language, mapped to the text of the Rule.
Shouldn't our IT provider just be the Qualified Individual?
No. The Qualified Individual administers the information security program: conducting the risk assessment, overseeing the WISP, managing service provider risk, and reporting in writing to owners or the board. That is a governance role, and it belongs inside your company with someone accountable to your leadership. Your IT provider builds and maintains many of the safeguards, which is precisely why the oversight duties shouldn't land there: the QI evaluates and monitors the work IT performs, and nobody can objectively audit their own work. Keep IT as a resource the Qualified Individual directs, and put the designation with an owner, operations manager, escrow manager, or compliance officer. This course prepares that person.
Get Qualified. Get Certified.
Federal regulation already requires your company to have an information security program and a Qualified Individual to administer it. The CSQI program prepares you to hold that role with confidence, and to prove it with a designation.
$2,499
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Sector editions for tax professionals and auto dealers are in development. Waitlist members hear about those first.
