Cisac-2008 -conference Of Information Security Audit And Control

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 18, 2008 -
New Delhi. CISAC 2008 ended with the conclusion that there is a lot to be done in order to improve alignment between IT Governance and Corporate Governance. CISAC 2008 was two day conference on Information Security Audit and control organized by ICAG (Indian Chapters Advisory Group) under aegis of ISACA New Delhi chapter in Hotel Shangri-la. The conference ended with the release of IT Governance Global Status Report 2008 by Mr Avinash Kadam, International Vice President, ISACA HQ. Mr KVSS Prasad Rao, Chairman, National Technical Research Organization, Govt of India, and Ex-officio Secretary to the Govt of India; Mr Anupam Kulshrestha, DG IT Audit & Training, iCISA, Office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India; Dr Gulshan Rai, Director, CERT IN, ED ERNET India, Ministry of IT; Mr Mritunjay Kapur, MD Protiviti Consulting Pvt. Ltd.; Mr Anantha Sayana, Head Corporate IT L&T Ltd, and Mr Jacob Paul, Principal Consultant, Satyam Computers were other key speakers of the conference. ISACA New Delhi chapter is one of the nine Indian chapters of ISACA, a recognized worldwide leader in IT governance, control, security and assurance. Indian Chapters Advisory Group or ICAG represents all the ISACA chapters in India (presently nine with two more coming up).

The theme of the conference was "Enterprise Risk Management and IT Governance" and topics like- IT Governance as part of corporate governance, ERM framework and methodology, Information security governance, etc were extensively discussed during the conference. Releasing the IT Governance Global Status Report 2008 Mr Avinash Kadam said,"The report very clearly underlines the non-IT aspect of the IT Governance which is Insufficient IT staff availability, service delivery issues, and difficulty proving the value of information technology (IT) and these factors continue to plague executives at organizations not only in less developed countries but in developed countries too. So the problem should be understood as a global problem not as an individual organization's problem. Here comes the need to align the IT Governance more with the corporate governance." He further added that IT governance and its effective application is the responsibilities of the board of directors and executive management and should be valued as one of the critical success factors in their corporate governance model. Concluding the conference Ms Kusum Gulati, President ISACA New Delhi chapter thanked all the stakeholders for their support and further added, "People in India are not used to rudimentary practices of internet. This needs to be addressed very urgently in order to manage and protect the information assets while delivering the required services and meeting stakeholders expectations. ISACA supports professional education and research activities relating to IT Governance in India and other 140 countries. ISACA New Chapter understands and recognizes the need of a common platform to discuss and answer the above organizational challenges and CISAC 2008 was just one step in this direction."  

The IT Governance Global Status Report 2008 is a follow-up to ITGI's 2003 and 2005 surveys and tracks IT governance trends over the past four years. Several important business developments relating to IT are identified in the report, including:
•93 percent of respondents said that IT is somewhat to very important to the overall corporate strategy—an increase of 6 percent from 2005
•IT is always on the board agenda, according to 32 percent of respondents—up from 25 percent in 2005
•18 percent of respondents said the IT department always informs the business about potential business opportunities, up from 14 percent in 2005
•Awareness of the Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) framework for IT governance has surpassed 50 percent, nearly doubling since 2005
•Use of COBIT has doubled (from 8 percent in 2005 to 16 percent)
 
Areas for improvement include alignment—36 percent of respondents reported that alignment between IT strategy and corporate strategy is average, poor or very poor. Additionally, implementation of IT governance-related activities varies around the globe. The percentages of organizations that are in the process of implementing or have already implemented IT governance practices in different regions are:
•South America, 27 percent
•Asia, 44 percent
•Europe, 50 percent
•North America, 50 percent

The ITGI Global Status Report is based on the findings of a worldwide survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 23 countries from July 2007 until October 2007. Interviews were conducted in the native language of the interviewee by telephone or mail. Researchers contacted CIOs and CEOs from contact databases of PwC and ITGI. The total number of interviews conducted was 749, of which 652 were from a random sample of organizations. The total results reported are at the 95% confidence level with a margin of error of +/ 4%.

About ISACA
With more than 65,000 members 140 countries, ISACA (www.isaca.org) is a recognized worldwide leader in IT governance, control, security and assurance. Founded in 1969, ISACA sponsors international conferences, publishes the Information Systems Control Journal, and develops international information systems auditing and control standards. It also administers the globally respected Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) designation, earned by more than 55,000 professionals since 1978; the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) designation, earned by 7,000 professionals since 2002; and the new Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) designation.

About ITGI
The IT Governance Institute® (ITGI) (www.itgi.org) was established by ISACA in 1998 to advance international thinking and standards in directing and controlling an enterprise's information technology. ITGI developed Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT), now in its fourth edition, and offers original research and case studies to assist enterprise leaders and boards of directors in their IT governance responsibilities.

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