Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control

Identify the universe of IT risk to contribute to the execution of the IT risk management strategy in support of business objectives and in alignment with the enterprise risk management (ERM) strategy.

• Collect and review information, including existing documentation, regarding the organization’s internal and external business and IT environments to identify potential or realized impacts of IT risk to the organization’s business objectives and operations

• Establish an IT risk register to help ensure that identified IT risk scenarios are accounted for and incorporated into the enterprise-wide risk profile.

• Identify potential threats and vulnerabilities to the organization’s people, processes and technology to enable IT risk analysis

• Identify risk appetite and tolerance defined by senior leadership and key stakeholders to ensure alignment with business objectives

• Develop a comprehensive set of IT risk scenarios based on available information to determine the potential impact to business objectives and operations

• Collaborate in the development of a risk awareness program, and conduct training to ensure

that stakeholders understand risk and to promote a risk-aware culture

• Identify key stakeholders for IT risk scenarios to help establish accountability

Analyse and evaluate IT risk to determine the likelihood and impact on business objectives to enable risk-based decision making.

• Analyse risk scenarios based on organizational criteria (e.g., organizational structure, policies, standards, technology, architecture, controls) to determine the likelihood and impact of an identified risk

• Ensure that risk ownership is assigned at the appropriate level to establish clear lines of accountability

• Identify the current state of existing controls and evaluate their effectiveness for IT risk mitigation

• Communicate the results of risk assessments to senior management and appropriate stakeholders to enable risk-based decision making

• Review the results of risk and control analysis to assess any gaps between current and desired states of the IT risk environment

• Update the risk register with the results of the risk assessment

Determine risk response options and evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness to manage risk in alignment with business objectives.

• Consult with risk owners to select and align recommended risk responses with business objectives and enable informed risk decisions

• Assist control owners in developing control procedures and documentation to enable efficient and effective control execution

• Consult with, or assist, risk owners on the development of risk action plans to ensure that plans include key elements (e.g., response, cost, target date)

• Update the risk register to reflect changes in risk and management’s risk response

• Consult on the design and implementation or adjustment of mitigating controls to ensure that the risk is managed to an acceptable level

• Validate that risk responses have been executed according to the risk action plans

• Ensure that control ownership is assigned to establish clear lines of accountability

Continuously monitor and report on IT risk and controls to relevant stakeholders to ensure the continued efficiency and effectiveness of the IT risk management strategy and its alignment to business objectives.

• Define and establish key risk indicators (KRIs) and thresholds based on available data, to enable monitoring of changes in risk

• Monitor and analyse key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify changes or trends related to the control environment and determine the efficiency and effectiveness of controls

• Monitor and analyse key risk indicators (KRIs) to identify changes or trends in the IT risk profile

• Review the results of control assessments to determine the effectiveness of the control environment

• Report on changes or trends related to the IT risk profile to assist management and relevant stakeholders in decision making

• Report on the performance of, changes to, or trends in the overall risk profile and control environment to relevant stakeholders to enable decision making

• Facilitate the identification of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to enable the measurement of control performance

• Laws, regulations, standards and compliance requirements

• Business goals and objectives

• Industry trends and emerging technologies

• Contractual requirements with customers and third-party service providers

• Enterprise systems architecture (e.g., platforms, networks, applications, databases and operating systems)

• Business processes and initiatives

• Project and program management

• Third-party management

• Business continuity and disaster recovery management (DRM)

• Data management

• Management of IT operations

• Hardware, software and appliances

• Emerging technologies

• The system development life cycle (SDLC)

• Methods to identify risk

• Principles of risk and control ownership

• Risk scenario development tools and techniques

• Characteristics of inherent and residual risk

• Risk identification and classification standards, and frameworks

• Exception management practices

• Risk events/incident concepts (e.g., contributing conditions, lessons learned, loss result)

• Risk assessment standards, frameworks and techniques

• Elements of a risk register

• Risk appetite and tolerance

• Information security concepts and principles, including confidentiality, integrity and availability of information

• Risk analysis methodologies (quantitative and qualitative)

• Systems control design and implementation, including testing methodologies and practices

• Organizational structures

• The impact of emerging technologies on design and implementation of controls

• Organizational culture, ethics and behaviour

• Requirements, principles, and practices for educating and training on risk and control activities

• Organizational assets (e.g., people, technology, data, trademarks, intellectual property) and business processes, including Enterprise risk management (ERM)

• Key Risk Indicators (KRIs)

• Organizational policies and standards

• Risk monitoring standards and frameworks

• Business process review tools and techniques

• Risk monitoring tools and techniques

• Analysis techniques (e.g., root cause, gap, cost-benefit, return on investment [ROI])

• Risk reporting tools and techniques

• Capability assessment models and improvement techniques and strategies

• IT risk management best practices

• Data analysis, validation and aggregation techniques (e.g., trend analysis, modelling)

• Key Performance Indicator (KPIs)

• Data collection and extraction tools and techniques

• Control types, standards, and frameworks

• Control monitoring and reporting tools and techniques

• Control assessment types (e.g., self-assessments, audits, vulnerability assessments, penetration tests, third-party assurance)

• Business processes

• Project and program management

• Information security, including technology certification and accreditation practices

• Business continuity and disaster recovery management (DRM)

• Third-party management, including service delivery

• IT operations management

• Data management

• The information systems architecture (e.g., platforms, networks, applications, databases and operating systems)

• The system development life cycle (SDLC)