In the US, there was a relatively recent regulation of IT security in the form of Department of Defense Directive 8570. This directive requires IT security folk

In the US, there was a relatively recent regulation of IT security in the form of Department of Defense Directive 8570. This directive requires IT security folks who work on DoD contracts to have a certification from one of the major certification authorities (think CISSP). Personally I'm not a fan of required certification for a number of reasons, but at least the DoD is trying to improve the quality of contractors working in IT security.