Welcome to the Canberra Chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.  In April 1985, a handful of Canberra IT professionals formed a local chapter of the EDP Auditors Association.  The organisation is now known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and the Canberra Chapter currently has more than 200 members.

ISACA is a global, not-for-profit organisation for information technology governance, control, security and audit professionals.  There are more than 55,000 members in more than 140 countries around the world.

This year has been an extremely busy year for the Canberra Chapter. Membership continues to grow - with 212 members.  We are aware of the large number of new members in the Chapter and are keen to ensure all members achieve the benefits they are expecting.  The Board is always open to new ideas for events, training, and research activities. So please, talk to any of the Chapter Board Directors if you have some suggestions.

Our 2007 highlights have included

·        ISACA CACS Conference in Auckland – a smaller yet successful conference attended by a number of Canberra Chapter members

·        Website award – our website received a bronze award for 2006.  (This was received at the President’s Council Meeting in March 2007.)

·        K. Wayne Snipes Chapter Recognition Award – this was received for the best medium sized chapter in the Oceania region. (This was received at the President’s Council Meeting in March 2007.)

·        CISA and CISM exams - workshops for June and December conducted successfully.  Most participants passed the June exams. The December exams are to be held on Saturday 8^th December.  Good luck to all those sitting the exam – 7 CISM exam sitters and 9 CISA exam sitters.

·        Professional Updates.  The Canberra Club played host to our Professional Update meetings this year.  Topics covered included:

o         CISA/CISM information session

o         Information Security Standards

o         Project Gateway reviews

o         Enterprise architecture

o         Information and records management

o         Better practice in IT at the ANAO

o         COBIT future directions

o         Governance, risk and compliance

·        IT Audit (advanced) training course – unfortunately this course had to be postponed from late November 2007 (possibly to a date in January 2008). This has taken some effort in organising and we have finally found a presenter and material to present thanks to Amy Fox, one of our Board Directors and also Stephen Callaghan from the ISACA Brisbane Chapter.

The Year Ahead

Recent discussions at the Board meetings confirmed the view that we should continue to focus on education and related events for 2008.  Our members are keen to have informative Professional Updates covering IT security, IT audit and some IT governance related topics. 

We are also aware of the demand for more IT Security related training and education.  A real focus on IT security will occur during 2009 with hopefully some strong offers of assistance from some of our current members. These will be planned for 2008. 

IT Governance Certification - (CGEIT) has just been announced by ISACA International.  Yes, this means another exam to study for and coordinate.  This will keep us on our toes as Board members into the future. A grandfathering provision is available.

Planning for a regional CACS conference in 2009 has commenced as well as future COBIT training. Max Shanahan is the chair of the CACS09 organising committee comprising Scott Waters and myself.

A number of new Board members should provide ongoing assistance and support for the Canberra ISACA members.  I look forward to working with these new Board members throughout 2008.

I will be stepping down as President at this AGM, but will remain involved in the Board as the Immediate Past President. 

Diana Adams