On the Education Front, attendance in monthly educational events has seen a bit of a slump from last year, consistent with the current slump in the economy / marketplace. As employers scale back on training budgets and paid time-off, it is important to keep them cognizant of the exceptional value of our monthly educational events, which are an easy and manageable way of progressing towards CPE requirements throughout the year.

Event Recap

November Educational Event

November’s educational event, Security in a Borderless World, provided an overview of the next generation fraud threats facing large organizations. Utilizing real data, the speaker forensically reviewed how bad actors are using automated kits to exploit numerous corporate programs in order to compromise corporate security, infect customers, and defraud legitimate programs, without detection. The session left attendees with the ability to be able to make specific recommendations across multiple departments to address low visibility, high impact, existing/emerging threats, based on proven results.

December Educational Event

December’s educational event, Securing Online Commerce, provided an overview of the trends and drivers for ecommerce adoption, other considerations that come into play such as integration with 3rd parties, SaaS, external hosting, social networking and cloud computing providers, and associated security & privacy risks. The speakers discussed approaches organizations can consider to effectively and efficiently address these emerging risks/threats, as well as the associated audit considerations.

Future Events

Janurary Educational Event

January’s educational event, Spotlight on Electronic Discovery: What Every Audit Professional Needs to Know, is aimed at giving the audience a better sense of how to prepare for or minimize litigation that involves electronic evidence. The goal of the presentation is to impart practical strategies, review risk management protocols, and best practices for conducting Electronic Discovery by covering applicable state and federal law and the process itself. No prior eDiscovery knowledge required.

Member Appreciation Event

Don’t forget, our annual Member Appreciation Event is coming up this Thursday, December 15th. You are cordially invited to join us for an evening of food, drink, networking and Chapter recognitions. Come mingle with the Chapter and walk away with some great gifts. Attendance includes (2) free beverages (soda / beer / wine / spirits - cash bar thereafter), appetizers all night, something sweet at the door, and entry into our wine raffle. We will also be recognizing the individuals who have recently passed the CISA / CISM / CGEIT exams, or who have obtained their CISA / CISM / CGEIT / CRISC certification.

All Registration types: $20 after 12/08

*** Note: $20 registration fee applies to ANYONE who attends as a “walk-up” guest, regardless of chapter affiliation**

2011 Events

For the remainder of the year, we are committed to putting member feedback into action, and are again looking into once again hosting an event in the East Bay (BART accessible, of course), as well as hosting a joint event with another professional organization, such as the IIA. Two of this year’s remaining events are slated to be Half- or Full-Day events, and we are hoping to offer members an excellent way to earn CPEs at bargain prices. Based on the results of the chapter’s recent membership survey, we will look to provide sessions covering the following topics in 2011:

• Cloud Computing
• Changes to PCI (from version 1.2.1 to 2.0)
• Moving from SAS 70 to Service Organizations Control (SOC) reports
• IT Governance (for the Real World)
• Information Security Update e.g. Top 5 risks in an IT Environment

As events and dates become finalized, we’ll be sure to keep you informed every step of the way. We hope you join us at our next event...

Thej Mehta
Education Program Chair - SF ISACA