certified information system auditor

mohamed ismail
CISA – Domain 1 – The Process of Auditing Information Systems

There are 7 areas that you need to understand in Domain 1.

1) Management of the IS Audit Function

1. Need to know about the audit charter and what it contains

2. Need to know the steps to perform audit planning. In the CISA review manual
, and commit those steps to memory
3. Take an ink pen and write on your hand “Gain an understanding of the business’s
mission, objectives, purpose and processes.” IMPORTANT this shows up in about 3-
4 questions on the exam.
4. Read through the section on “Effect of Laws and Regulations on IS Audit Planning,
paying particular attention to the Basel II Accord .

2) ISACA IT Audit and Assurance Standards and Guidelines

1. Memorize S1, S2, S4, S9, and S10. Standards S12 thru S16 are recent additions to
CISA and you should have a close intimate acquaintance with S12, S13 & S14.
2. Memorize G5, G10, G18, and G19. Guidelines G41 and G42 are recent additions to
CISA and ROSI is receiving a lot of press. So be familiar with the concept of Return
on Security Investment and how to calculate it. For example, let’s say you spend
$500,000 of anti-virus software for your enterprise and your boss wants justification
for why he/she should continue to spend that kind of money when there hasn’t been
any virus infections in the last year. You respond with, “You’re absolutely right,
there hasn’t been any virus infections in the last year. However, two years ago when
we did have a virus infection it cost the company $15,000 in additional overtime to
clean up after the virus infection. Our incident response team says we’re blocking
about 500 to 700 virus a day, so if we say just 1 virus a day gets thru and multiplying
it by the cost to recover $15,000 that comes out to about $5.4 million dollars in
overtime savings alone.” I think your boss will be impressed with your ROSI.

3. You should have an understanding of ITAF (Information Technology Assurance

Framework) particularly section 3000 on IT Assurance Guidelines

3) Risk Analysis

1. Know the definition of risk

2. Know the remediation methods (Accept, Mitigate, Transfer, Avoid)

4) Internal Controls

1. Know the difference between Preventive, Detective, and Corrective controls

2. Understand how CobiT fits into ISACA’s idea of supporting IT governance and
management
3. Understand the difference between IT control objectives and Internal control
objectives

5) Performing an IS Audit
 1. Know the definitions of Auditing and IS Auditing – they’re different
2. Know the different types of audits, read closely integrated audits and forensic audits
3. Know the different phases of an audit, in other words memorize

4. Understand the concept of risk based auditing including inherent, control, and
detection risks.
5. Be able to give examples of both compliance testing and substantive testing
6. Sampling is a section in the Review Manual that you just have to memorize, that’s it,
memorize

6) Control Self-Assessment

1. Your role is as a facilitator

7) The Evolving IS Audit Process

1. Integrated auditing means you work with the financial auditor on an audit which is
based on RISK
2. Understand the difference between continuous monitoring and continuous auditing

The first domain is a basis for understanding the whole area of Certified Information Systems
Auditor, and without a grasp of the basic fundamentals you cannot be successful in the other
domains.