Dear members,
A turbulent year 2021 is ending. The pandemic continues to have a firm grip on the world and has repeatedly tested our flexibility and resilience - both professionally and privately.
The threat situation for companies also intensified once again in 2021. The consequences of the supply chain attack on SolarWinds, the countless cyber-attacks on Microsoft Exchange Server or even the current vulnerability in the Java library Log4J are just examples of the many challenges faced by IT departments in addition to all the strategic and operational issues.
Our head organisation ISACA Global also had to deal with challenges of a technical nature in modernising its IT in 2021, which some of you had to experience painfully - from problems in conducting certification exams to the limited functionality of ISACA's member portal. The resulting volume of support requests has unfortunately also led to unsatisfactory response times from ISACA Global, whereupon many of you have turned to our chapter office in Berlin seeking help.
I would therefore first of all like to thank Anett Bolanz and Valentina Breise in our office, who have worked tirelessly for your interests at ISACA Global and have tried to speed up the processes within the scope of their limited influence. We on the chapter board have also urged ISACA Global to do better and are confident that the quality of service will again meet our standards in 2022.
On 21/22 September, due to the pandemic, our IT GRC Congress 2021 was again held as an online event, with exciting presentations and insightful exchanges with the speakers in the chat rooms. We were very pleased with the large number of participants and the positive feedback. Next year there will be another IT GRC Congress, then already for the third time with our cooperation partner dpunkt.verlag. You should make a note of 27/28 September 2022 in Mannheim as the date and venue.
As part of the congress programme, the ISACA Germany Thesis Award 2021 was presented. This year's winner is Michaela Link, who wrote her master’s thesis on the "Importance of IT-GRC in the digitalisation of large companies".
This year's general meeting also took place on the evening of the first day of the congress. I am very pleased that we were able to win Matthias Kraft as the new board member for the expert groups, after Dr Karl-Friedrich Thier unfortunately did not run for this position again due to the high time commitment. At this point, I would like to express my special thanks to Karl-Friedrich for his performance as a volunteer and the trusting cooperation in the past years. All other board members stood for re-election and were confirmed in their offices.
Two virtual event series were successfully established in 2021: The English-language OneInTech Roundtables and the lecture series "Innovation & Tech Talk". The latter events are also recorded and can be viewed afterwards via the YouTube channel of the ISACA Germany Chapter.
The new five-day "Cyber Security Expert" certificate course from our 2021 training programme got off to a very successful start. We are pleased about the lively response to this hot topic. You can find the complete seminar programme for 2022 on our website.
Based on the work of our expert groups, a number of publications have been released this year, including the guide "IT Compliance" by the specialist group IT Compliance, the completely revised new edition of the study "Cloud Governance in Germany" by the specialist group Cloud Computing in cooperation with PwC Germany and the guide "Cyber Security Check OT" by the specialist group Cyber Security, which is tailored to industrial automation and control systems.
The membership development of our chapter has known only one direction for years - upwards - and this positive trend has continued in 2021: 3,520 members in December 2021 again mean an increase of more than 200 people compared to the previous year. The ISACA Germany Chapter thus continues to be one of the ISACA chapters with the largest membership worldwide.
Every ISACA chapter thrives on the active involvement of its members. Whether it is the board of directors, specialist groups or speakers - we are all involved on a voluntary basis. We therefore look forward to your suggestions and ideas. Only from the active participation and cooperation of our members can new formats emerge that constantly expand our range of topics and offer you the widest possible range of continuing education opportunities, professional exchange, and networking.
Finally, as in every year, I would like to express my sincere thanks on behalf of the entire board to all members who have made an indispensable contribution to the success of the ISACA Germany Chapter through their voluntary work, their expert contributions, e.g. for the magazine "IT Governance", and their extraordinary commitment, e.g. in the expert groups or as speakers.
I wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a successful and above all healthy New Year 2022!
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