MUSCAT -- ISACA Muscat Chapter held a function at the College of Banking and Financial Studies Auditorium recently to felicitate the toppers and successful candidates of the CISA and CISM examinations held in 2007. This was followed by a presentation on 'Cyber Insurance - A tool to manage IT cyber risks', by D Balasubramanian of the Information Technology Authority, Oman (ITA).
Itticheria Joshua, President of the ISACA Muscat chapter, welcomed the Chief Guest Dr J Retnakumar, Resident Manager of New India Assurance Company Limited, and the Guest of Honour, Dr Ashraf Nabhan al Nabhani, Dean of the College of Banking and Financial Studies. Joshua, in his welcome address, commended the efforts made by the CISA and CISM students in keeping themselves professionally updated. He made a special mention of the role played by the CISA and CISM co-ordinators and the volunteer faculty in conducting CISA and CISM classes.
Muralidhar Venkatesan, Secretary of the ISACA Muscat Chapter, introduced the Chief Guest. The top rankers for the CISA June 2007 examination are Manoj Mohanan Nair (OMZEST, Rank I); Naresh Kumar (Bank Dhofar, Rank II); and Shahid Nadeem (Central Bank of Oman, Rank III). The top rankers for the CISA December 2007 examination are Sagar Bhattacharya (OMZEST, Rank I), Mubeen Khan (Moore Stephens Chartered Accountants, Rank II) and Naveen R Purnachandra (BankMuscat, Rank III).
The first rank for the CISM December 2007 was shared by Said Abdullah al Mandhari (ITA) and Kazi Samie Ahmed (Omantel). The second rank went to Sangeetha Sridhar (ITA). The third rank was shared by Badar Ali al Salehi (ITA) and Raja Waseem Anwar (Higher College of Technology). The Chief Guest presented the certificates to the rank holders and the successful candidates. The Guest of Honour presented certificates and mementos to the faculty.
D Balasubramanian, in his technical presentation on 'Cyber Insurance - A tool to manage IT Cyber risks', highlighted the fact that over 40 million unauthorised intrusion attempts are made per day. Whilst the widespread use of security software and firewalls successfully block a very high percentage of these unwelcome attempts, cyber risk is an issue that cannot be ignored, he noted.
He warned that that existing electronic equipment policies do not cover cyber crimes or loss of data, but just the cost of hardware. These are rather insignificant compared to the costs and impact of the loss of data, and the loss of reputation. It is being increasingly recognised that organisations are responsible for securing their data. Penalties for loss of data, especially sensitive data, are quite severe, he added. S Ramamoorthy, Vice- President of the Chapter, congratulated the successful candidates and thanked the members for attending the seminar in large numbers.
By Staff Reporter
© Oman Daily Observer 2008
