President's Message

On behalf of the chapter's Board of Directors, I welcome you to the 2003-04 chapter year. The auditing profession is faced with a lot of scrutiny today because of recent events in the corporate governance arena. This, coupled with the economic downturn, has made training for auditors challenging due to budget cuts and new travel restrictions because of enhanced security from terrorist threats.

First, I'd like to thank the outgoing Board of Directors for their dedication and hard work last year. The chapter is financially sound and has a healthy membership base. We will work with you to increase participation in our programs and seminars this year. The upcoming year also marks the 25^th anniversary of the chapter. Throughout the year, our programs will incorporate celebration of this great milestone in the chapter’s history.

The goal of the 2003 – 2004 Board of Directors is to provide quality and productive program for ISACA members and our colleagues in other associations. We hope to provide members with thought provoking meetings, continuing education and an opportunity to share ideas and networks with our colleagues. To accomplish this objective, we need your help to make this year a success through your support and participation at chapter events.

The results of the informal survey on meeting format, time and topics formed the basis for this program schedule for 2003-2004. The Board is pleased to present you the tentative schedule and topics for 2003-04. Our program offerings this year will include different formats – evening meetings, full day seminar and a two-day spring seminar. We will also continue the tradition of hosting our meetings in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Lansing to accommodate the geographical spread of our members.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you.

Sincerely,
Michael Sekoni, CFSA, CIA, CISA, AIS

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Meeting Announcement

Security and Control of Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory and Clients
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Location: Holiday Inn-West, 7501 W. Saginaw Hwy, Lansing
Cost: $24 for Western Michigan ISACA members, $27 for non-members
Speaker: James Placer, Security Analyst, ISG

Many companies have recently implemented Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 or are in the process of doing so. Is your company using best practice techniques for securing your systems? Our speaker, James Placer, will present Windows system hardening suggestions, Active Directory security suggestions, and security best practice guidelines. In addition, he will also suggest how tools can be used to view your security settings against your standards.

See the Events & Program page for additional information.

Register by September 10! Contact Mark Takacs by email or phone (616-774-7000) for more information.

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News From the Wild

From the International Office

Certification Update – More than 900 information security professionals have applied for CISM certification under the grandfathering provision. A steady stream of applications continues to be received weekly. If you qualify under the grandfathering provision, please apply to become a CISM. The grandfathering provision ends December 31, 2003. For more information on the CISM exam and the grandfathering please visit www.isaca.org/cism.htm.

ISACA Unveils new Web Site – Beginning August 18, 2003, ISACA will reveal its newly designed web site. The redesign was undertaken as part of the implementation of e-commerce on the site. As a result of the e-commerce addition, the idea to revamp the rest of the site developed and was implemented in an effort to make the entire web site more effective, attractive, and user-friendly, and to provide increased functionality to members. Please be sure to take time to visit www.isaca.org and experience all the site now has to offer.

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Coming Attractions

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Thanks and Kudos

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Last updated 01/01/2006

Control Bits and Audit Bytes is a publication of the Western Michigan Chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). The purpose of this publication is to disseminate useful and timely information on automated systems control and security issues to Chapter members and selected practitioners of computer systems audit and security. Articles, submissions, and advertisements are the responsibility of the submitter, and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, or practices of the Western Michigan Chapter. Materials submitted for publication in Control Bits and Audit Bytes must be received by the Newsletter Editor no later than the submission deadline published in the newsletter. If no submission deadline is published, the default deadline is approximately three weeks prior to the next scheduled meeting of the Western Michigan Chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.