Readers of this series of articles have seen the progression of steps taken in the implementation of 1 particular element of governing and managing enterprise IT (GEIT): managing security, as defined in COBIT 5’s APO13 Manage security process.

ISACA released the latest version of the COBIT framework and I can tell you without hesitation that this latest structure is one of the best governance and management frameworks to date for the enterprise governance of information and technology (EGIT).

The cybersecurity skills gap has been a reality for organizations for several years and will be for the foreseeable future. The inability of organizations to close that gap is exacerbated by rapid evolution in the workplace.

The COBIT 5 Foundation course helps students prepare for a multiple-choice exam. However, the answer options offered on the exam are not the only choices the learner should be making.

Most people, including many readers of this article, live in cities. Revolutionizing cities may seem like it is not an IT or technical issue, but smart sustainable cities are important for IT professionals.

For the first time in modern history, our civilization is on the verge of a new concept in monetary transactions with cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency could be hugely disruptive to many industries and could completely change money transfer services industries, but trust must be the cornerstone before it can gain wide acceptance and be legitimized.

The upsurge of digital transformation has made information and technology (I&T) crucial in the support, sustainability and growth of enterprises.

There comes a point in any long-term initiative when the issues have been identified, the mitigation plans developed, the appropriate work products defined, and those products and plans have been implemented.

The COBIT 5 Foundation course helps the student prepare for a multiple-choice exam. However, the answer options offered on the exam are the not the only choices the learner should be making.

No governance of enterprise IT (GEIT) initiative can be accomplished without careful attention to the work products and the project plan. They are the elements that deliver tangible results from GEIT.

With cloud usage growing exponentially, are we asking enough questions about cloud security for organizations to make informed risk management decisions?

Underlying the implementation of a number of governance of enterprise IT (GEIT) initiatives are information governance and information management issues such as big data, analytics...

The FirstRand Group is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the largest financial institutions in South Africa and the holding company of First National Bank (FNB), a retail and commercial bank.

If you are a security practitioner, you do not need me to tell you how bad malware is. We all have war stories of critical system outages, angry users and other disruptions to the well-oiled machinery of our enterprise’s technology that occurred because of a particularly nefarious malware incident.

Even best-in-class frameworks need to be half as inspiring as a good novel—and twice as inspiring for practitioners to read and use them! As a COBIT trainer, I use the following tips on how to capitalize on COBIT...

There is an old saying about the importance of planning: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” While the saying has become almost a cliché from years of use, it is essentially true.

The amount of data being produced, processed, communicated and stored is larger than ever before. 1 Most people are well aware that information about them is typically held by a variety of organizations ranging from governments to private organizations.

Who are the biggest targets for hackers and cybercriminals? You are. Intruders are finding the holes in your network, your devices, your applications—and they are accessing your data.

Social engineering is on the rise. Organizations are nearly 3 times more likely to get breached by social attacks than via actual vulnerabilities, according to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report.

COBIT 5 in an organization is an ambitious aspiration and a noteworthy endeavor. It demonstrates the maturity, willingness and commitment to improve.

This article is the second in a 6-part series that looks at the practical application of a governance of enterprise IT (GEIT) framework. This article focuses on planning the resolution of the issue identified in part 1.

In the mid-20th century, rural China lacked basic healthcare services. This occurred for a variety of reasons, but the end result was obvious: without basic healthcare services, the ability to treat simple illnesses or educate the population on proper hygiene or family planning was limited or nonexistent outside of large urban areas.

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) published the System Audit Standard and the System Management Standard in 2004. Despite significant changes to the IT environment after that date, no updates to these materials were published.

This article is the first in a 6-part series that looks at the practical application of a governance of enterprise IT (GEIT) framework. The starting point is discussed in this article—forming an awareness that a problem exists and how to approach it.

Unauthorized access, unsigned applications (malware) and unsecured email. What can help prevent these top 3 cyberthreats impacting organizations today? Public key infrastructure (PKI). PKI enables a trusted environment by authenticating and ensuring the integrity of data and users.

Good practices are as good as those who practice them. As a COBIT trainer, I recommend the following tips which can help COBIT users become “good” COBIT 5 practitioners.

The IT service desk plays a significant role in the day-to-day operations of any organization. When it functions well, all other activities perform well.

Compliance is a journey, not a destination—an ongoing, multistep process. It is not boxes to check off—check it and forget it—but milepost markers along the way to ensure that compliance is consistent, such as ensuring that device inventories and configuration standards are kept up to date.

Many organizations simply do not have the luxury of maintaining an in-house incident responder or incident response staff. This leaves the organization with 2 options...

By now, most have at least heard of something called the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If not, you may be in for a big surprise.

Governance and management of enterprise information technology (GEIT) is the practice of applying enterprise resources (enablers) to the creation and delivery of value to enterprise stakeholders.

This is the continuation of a series of articles published in COBIT Focus beginning in September 2017. The first article 1 discussed the approach for mapping COBIT 5 with the Project Management Institute (PMI’s) standards and publication...

Compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) begins on 25 May 2018, giving us almost 6 months to finalize GDPR preparations. Doing nothing is not an option.

Daily news headlines scream high-profile information security failures and consequences—Hacked! Attacked! Ransomware!—reinforcing that the severity of risk posed to sensitive information is unprecedented. Security threats can put your organization and your customers’ sensitive information at risk, costing you in customer loss, diminished trust in your brand and regulatory fines.