From ISACA Bangalore

Two day conference with a panel of industry experts on 'Risk Governance'

The two day ISACA, Bangalore Annual Karnataka Conference on 'Risk Governance'  held at ITC Royal Gardenia on 23 & 24 July 2010, continued its engaging discussions on the subject with the audience via numerous sessions by prominent speakers. Chief Guest Dr.K Subramaniam (President, Cyber Society of India; Prof & Director, IGNOU;Advisor to Comptroller & Auditor General of India) delivered the key note address at the conference tomorrow on "Risk Assurance & Cyber Governance: The need of enterprises of tomorrow. " He stressed upon the need of human and humane governance in today's merging world of techonolgy where privacy is the first casualty. Proposing the 'threat model'  as a possible counter measure he emphasised the need for security  and risk governance in the constantly changing environment of today. 

The day also saw an engrossing round table panel discussion on  "Vision for a secure Indian Cyberspace". The discussion generated a consensus on the wish list of information security, compliance and governance concerns of the industry. This list drawn up post the panel discussion, with industry and government experts, will be sent to the Pime Minister's office as a memo for consideration and action.  

Other prominent speakers who addressed the session were Shantanu Ghosh (VP,India, Symantec); Ajay Cherian ( Brand Speacialist, IBM India/South Asia) , Robert Stroud ( VP, ISACA , International & VP , CA Technoligies); Maheshwaran S ( Senior Consultant, Websense, SAARC Region); Aseem Jakhar (Independent Security Research); Rajesh Balakrishnan ( Operations Risk Manager, Thomsun Reuters); Akash Mahajan ( Founder-Headstart Netwrork) ; Pratap Reddy ( IPS, Director Cyber Security, NASSCOM); Pijush Kanti Das ( President, Corporate Affairs, Sify Technologies).      

The conference kicked off on 23rd with key speakers from the industry addressing various aspects of the phenomenon. Prof Nara Srinivasan, (Professor of security and risk director, ECU – Emirates Center, Edith Cowan University, Perth) and Prof Sadagopan (Founder Director – IIIT-B) were the first speakers of the day who addressed the audience on the subject at hand.

Prof Nara Srinivasan's presentation looked at the current challenges facing IT Governance and compared findings of several recent studies in trying to understand issues facing CIO's and CEO's in the same arena. Peppered with case studies his presentation drew focus on the research in the area and drew analysis on a global arena. He also touched upon corporate governance reforms and security related reforms in the field in a global context. Prof Sadagopan also stressed upon the fact that information security should be viewed holistically and not from a narrow perspective of tools and technologies as IT is impacting every one across the spectrum it is even more important now to engage the larger civic society.

The session was followed by other eminent speakers like Randeep S Chhabra (IBM India / South Asia-Business Manager) , Dr.S.Satchiadananda ( Founder & CEO – Srichid Techonologies ); Maheshwaran S , Senior Consultant, Websense , SAARC Region) ; Mukund Durange ( CEO – eGestalt India) ; Sri Lakshmi ( GM & Practice Head , Wipro) ; Jayaraj Puthanveedu ( VP-APAC Regional Head, Northern Trust Bank) ; Premnath (Array Networks) ; Nishith Seth ( Managing Director, Substratal Solutions). The day ended with Abhay Bhargav ( CTO – we45 Solutions ) and Chandra Prakash Suryawanshi ( Director , CPA , iRisk Advisor) engrossing the audience in more intersting aspects of governing risk within their systems.
ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association ):

As an independent, nonprofit global membership association, ISACA engages in the development, adoption and use of globally accepted, industry-leading knowledge and practices for information systems. ISACA helps its members achieve individual and organizational success, resulting in “a greater trust in, and value from, information systems.” Its members and certification holders are qualified and skilled professionals who make a difference. The nonprofit, independent ISACA® is a global leader in IT governance, security, control and assurance. Founded in 1969 as the EDP Auditors Association, ISACA® is the single, leading international source for information technology controls. ISACA® is dedicated to serving the needs of IT governance professionals.

ISACA provides practical guidance, benchmarks and other effective tools for all enterprises that use information systems. Through its comprehensive guidance and services, ISACA defines the roles of information systems governance, security, audit and assurance professionals worldwide. The COBIT, Val IT and Risk IT governance frameworks and the CISA, CISM and CGEIT and CRISC certifications are ISACA current set of brands respected and used by these professionals for the benefit of their enterprises
For more details on ISACA visit (www.isaca.org)