Increasing awareness of the knowledge held within its platform is the main target of ISACA Malta’s newly appointed board, according to the local chapter’s president Vladimiro Comodini.
Formerly known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, ISACA is a global provider of knowledge, certifications, advocacy and education on information systems security and management. Originally established in the US in 1967, it has more than 100,000 members in 180 countries.
In Malta, the chapter has also embarked on a mission to increase membership from its current 130 to 200. Set up in 2005, the non-profit Malta Chapter gives members access to rich content such as white papers and journals.
Current members include professionals working with financial and accountancy institutions, consultancy firms, and IT houses. Membership is, however, open to any management position within organisations whose business is reliant on IT, including auditors and non-IT professionals such as business owners who tend to view IT as “a black box”.
ISACA identifies challenges and implications facing the international IT sector, and invests research into the issues before initiating a global discussion on its platform and across its wide-reaching channels.
“ISACA research focuses on three main areas: risk, information security, and assurance,” Mr Comodini said. “We do not focus on a system to control risk, for example – rather the methodologies and the issues people should be aware of. Our mission is not software- or content-specific. Our mission is to increase awareness of information security and corporate governance.”
ISACA has just authored and released COBIT 5, the fifth-generation framework for good IT governance. A half-day conference on February 27 will serve to introduce COBIT 5 to Malta; it is available in two versions – for SMEs and corporations – and serves as a standard to bring organisations up to speed with the latest practices.
COBIT supports IT professionals and business leaders meet their IT government and management responsibilities, mainly in areas of assurance, security, risk and control, and value delivery.
Mr Comodini, an auditor and IT professional, promised proceedings at ISACA events are not laden with jargon and theory. Its recent event on illegal hacking demonstrated how businesses of all sizes were at risk of falling prey to intruders every day. IT practitioners were on hand to illustrate the methods hackers used in a bid to make participants aware of the risks businesses ran if the necessary safeguards were not in place.
“Our audiences change slightly from one event to another,” Mr Comodini explained. “However, we try to disseminate knowledge in the most straightforward way possible. The new board intends to carry on the initiative started by our predecessors to hold one-to-one meetings with authorities and businesses about the importance of certification.”
ISACA furthers professionals’ IT skills with four designations, including the Certified Information Systems Auditor. Around 80 of the Malta Chapter’s members are CISA-certified.
ISACA Malta also identifies a topical IT issue for its biennial full-day conference which is scheduled for this May in its efforts to share knowledge.