Who is ISACA?
ISACA Vancouver is one of over 200 chapters around the world comprising a global membership of over 145,000 professionals, the largest IT-related association in the world. ISACA includes, but is not limited to, professionals working in cybersecurity, risk, privacy, audit, and accounting and can be found at employers large and small or even sole practitioner firms.
Our mandate is to:
• lead the development of professionals in information technology audit, risk, governance, privacy, and cybersecurity within the business and academic communities of British Columbia;
• promote industry best practices among its members; and,
• raise awareness on cybersecurity and privacy topics within B.C.’s business and government communities.
The chapter is run by ISACA volunteer members who meet monthly and elect a Board at their annual general meeting.
A primary focus of ISACA Vancouver is to deliver local educational seminars and workshops targeted towards both professional and student members. Additionally, the Chapter operates outreach programs for mentorship, certifications and training, increasing diversity in the workforce. Along the way in its mandate, ISACA Vancouver was recognized for ISACA Global Awards in recent years, for both SheLeadsTech program which promotes the immense potential and accomplishments of women in ISACA’s fields of interest, for Excellence in chapter executive leadership, and for the BC AWARE Campaign.
BC Aware: an idea that grew from good to great
In recent years, ISACA Vancouver developed the annual, three week-long, BC Aware Campaign which focused on facilitating conversations in and out of the boardroom. BC Aware is designed to engage professionals - CIOs, CISOs, and CFOs among them - to address the cyber & privacy skills gap in both industry and government, and to bring evolving risks in this area to the top of the executive agenda. Growing in stature each year, the BC Aware Campaign has spawned an increasing number of events around it.
BC Aware Day, the marquee event within the Campaign, is a one-day conference that brought world class speakers, and technology vendors to invigorate a large, diverse, and inclusive segment of the local cybersecurity community. Past keynote presenters included Brian Krebs, cybersecurity author and journalist with the Washington Post; Elizabeth Denham, U.K. privacy commissioner; Kevin Mitnik, world’s most famous hacker and co-founder of KNOWBE4; as well as current B.C. information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy.
Among BC AWARE’S most successful spin-off events were Sector Days which, this year, have comprised the build-up towards #VIPSS21. Over the years, BC’s most important industry sectors have been represented in this initiative including retail, healthcare, local government, energy, mines and resources, financial services, and application development.
Once grass roots, now VIPSS
BC Aware is now reaching a new stage of its evolution as the Vancouver International Privacy & Security Summit, presented by Reboot Communications.
