June / July are the months when attendance at chapter meetings takes a dive. This did not stop us from having a program last month. June 2008’s CPE program was on I.T Security – Business Perspective.
We began this year with the ASIA Pacific CACS 2008 conference. The conference was a runaway success. Our Board is able to maintain the momentum set at the conference by having rich and varied topics like Data Leak Prevention, Cyber Insurance, Enterprise Risk Management and the recent one on IT Security- Business perspective during the last six months. We even did one half-a-day program on Enterprise Risk Management Software.

Members are again reminded about ISACA’s third certification – CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise I.T). The maiden exam will be held in December 2008. ISACA provides a Grand fathering opportunity for experienced members. This is available till October 31, 2008. Those who can meet the requirements can send their application at the earliest. This certification program recognizes those with professional knowledge, personal skills and business experience to maximize I.T’s contribution to an Enterprise’s success.

I will be attending ISACA’s Global Leadership Conference at Toronto, Canada which will be held on the 24th and 25th of July 2008. I will stay on to attend the International Conference which follows the Global Leadership Conference. Two of our Board members, the Mr. Muralidhar Venkatesan, Secretary and the Mr. Antony Isaac, CISA Coordinator who would be in Canada at that time would be joining me at the Global Leadership Conference. It would be a great honor to receive the 2007 K. Wayne Snipe’s Award for the Best Medium Chapter in Asia. This is the second time our chapter is winning this award. Since 2005, Muscat, Oman

features in ISACA’s annual awards list. This by itself is a great achievement for our chapter.
We are already in the second half of the year. We need to end the year with more programs. More members should appear and qualify in the three certification exams CISA, CISM and CGEIT.
We also need to review our Chapter Bylaws. I had written to members in this regard. Bylaws should be aligned to the current needs of chapter.
One of the benefits of membership is the opportunity to network with other professionals. Ours is a unique association where we have professionals from diverse fields and varied organisations. We have a common forum to meet and share ideas, knowledge, and experiences while building lasting professional relationships.
I remember one young lady who wished to appear for the CISA exam who asked me about the benefits of membership. As I write this I recognize how true my statement was that the “benefits of membership cannot be measured – it only has to be experienced”

Itticheria Joshua
CISA, CISM, CA, CIA
July 15, 2008