The Holistic Information Security Practitioner (HISP) certification course was launched by eFortresses, Inc in March 2005. Since the launch of this unique certification course there has been a growing need to establish an independent certification organization to manage the certification aspect of the HISP, so as to foster industry acceptance through vendor neutrality. The HISP Institute was not established until January 2007, but the founding members of the HISP Institute have been providing oversight to the HISP certification program since May 2005, meeting regularly via conference calls to provide guidance on how to take the HISP certification to the next level, in an advisory capacity to eFortresses, Inc. The level of commitment of this advisory board was such that in 2006 alone, 10 monthly conference calls and 2 networking events were held.

In December 2006 the decision was reached to separate the responsibility for managing the training and certification aspect of the HISP, up until then eFortresses, Inc managed both the training and certification aspect of the HISP program.

In January 2007, HISP Institute (HISPI) was incorporated as an independent certification organization, with the responsibility of managing the certification aspect of the HISP.