Cyber Security

Cyber criminals have in the past few years made international headlines by bypassing cyber security protocols in prominent organization thereby exposing stakeholders to massive vulnerabilities. Firms are committed to continually investing in specialty information technology areas even in times of economic uncertainty towards warding off attacks from hackers and viruses. For individuals seeking to progress careers in information security it is highly advised that one joins at least one of the numerous professional organizations committed to advancing the field. They are an excellent means for keeping in touch with prevailing cutting edge topics and networking with other information security experts. The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) is one such professional organization with a huge membership, holds international conferences, and bears robust personal applications for its members to take advantage of.

The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA)

This is a community of international cybersecurity experts committed to management of technology risks, facilitating individual growth of members, and safeguarding critical infrastructure and information (ISSA, 2017). Established in 1984, ISSA is a nonprofit entity with global appeal created for the sole purpose of sustaining symbiotic associations amongst the world’s information security professionals (Rouse & Bacon, 2015). It advances the sharing of current information security management practices through a number of avenues. These include networking security professionals, publications, and educations forums such as international conferences (ISSA, 2017). It membership encompasses experienced and fresh experts working in various fields like finance, governance, healthcare, and so on.

The ISSA mission statement appraises its quest to remain an esteemed forum for collaborations and networking, availing knowledge sharing, and education through different career lifecycles, and a respected voice on information security agendas at local and international levels (ISSA, 2017). It seeks to remain influential in the development of government legislation, public opinion, technology and education through objective professionalism that facilitates sound decision making. It core values include respect, excellence, and integrity in the way its members  interact with all stakeholders.

Its fundamental objectives revolve around promotions of skills development and education in information security (ISSA, 2017). It proactively encourages free information exchanges as well as communicating current events in the industry to its members. It also makes efforts towards impressing upon the significance of security controls relative to enterprise business management.

Conference

Amongst the numerous activities ISSA undertakes is the organizing of international conferences. In 2015, ISSA held its annual international conference in Las Vegas, Nevada (Bunker, 2015). It offered a forum for great minds to share equally insightful ideas on cyber security. One clear notion progresses in this international meeting was that all members as well as visitors ought to focus on a pragmatic attitude concerning security. The different speakers emphasized that by embracing the reality, all have to work in tandem to attain solutions relative to the information security shortcomings witnessed across the board.

In an attempt to consistently bring about incremental inputs to improve security solutions, experts underscored the need for members to adopt metrics in the professional engagements to be applied in the measurement and quantification of cyber security (Bunker, 2015). Being in a position to measure as well as quantify, it can allow specialists to continuously generate improvements given that there are no universally applicable scenarios. To appraise risk posture, professionals at the event were encouraged towards gaining holistic understandings relative to every business attribute and the specifics of information handled (Bunker, 2015). This is a significant approach that proactively enables organizations to identify weak links, areas demanding investments, and how to optimize on security dollars.

It also delved widely on the internet of things as well as the uptake in mobile devise usage for critical business purposes. Small and medium size enterprises raised concerns that they experience huge challenges in keeping up with the recommended levels of vigilance and security oriented investments (Bunker, 2015). However, it was evident that participation in the conference awarded unique opportunities for such entities to confidently seek collaborations with various security experts.

Personal Applications

From an individual standpoint, becoming a member of ISSA presents one with opportunities to appreciate the unique work ethic and levels of professionalism exhibited by different security experts (Rouse & Bacon, 2015). As a professional organization keen on furthering information security skills development and education, it understands the significant impacts free information exchanges have towards one’s career development goals and by extension, the capacity by firms to have strong cybersecurity systems.

There is a distinctive code of ethics which ISSA encourages its members to subscribe to (Rouse & Bacon, 2015). While professionals affiliated to ISSA are working with organizations, they are expected to continuously emphasize on how critical security controls are to enterprise business management. As a member, one is expected to carry out every specialized endeavor relative to applicable laws and best ethical ideals. It also encourages for the adherence to highest practices as well as standards. People often tend to participate in activities that may result in conflict of interest thereby compromising own as well as an organization’s reputation.

ISSA compels its members to desist from such actions to ensure professional obligations are dispensed honestly and diligently. It is therefore of great importance to IT experts to associate with such professional bodies towards not only gaining professional networks but also being able to commit to a high level of integrity in the dispensation of responsibilities.

References

Bunker, G. (2015). Reflections on ISSA Conference 2015. Clear Swift. Retrieved from https://www.clearswift.com/blog/2015/10/29/reflections-issa-conference-2015

Information Systems Security Association. (2017). About ISSA. Information Systems Security Association. Retrieved from http://www.issa.org/?page=AboutISSA

Rouse, M. & Bacon, M. (2015). ISSA (Information Systems Security Association). TechTarget. Retrieved from http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/ISSA-Information-Systems-Security-Association

References