ISACA issues governance and assurance guidance for Big Data

Big data can save big money. A recent McKinsey report found that value gained from data in the US health care sector alone could be more than US $300 billion every year. But traditional tools aren’t enough to manage these extremely large amounts of fast-changing information. To help enterprises use big data effectively, global nonprofit IT association ISACA issued guidance today on how to manage the chaos and address the business benefits and challenges.

“Enterprises are investing significant capital to develop and deploy big data analytics to obtain an early competitive advantage,” said Richard Chew, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, senior information security analyst at Emerald Management Group and a co-author of ISACA’s new white paper, “Big Data: Impact and Benefits.” “While big data can reap big rewards, it also poses significant risk, including misleading data and unexpected costs. It is critical for enterprises to put in place a governance program to ensure that information remains accurate, consistent and reliable.”


One of the challenges posed by big data is that it has turned enterprises into competitors in some arenas and cooperative partners in others. Consider Netflix and Amazon, whose video streaming services compete, while Netflix uses the Amazon.com cloud infrastructure to support its streaming.


While the need for governance of big data environments is clear, big data governance is still at an early stage of maturity.


"Several issues present challenges pertaining to big data. SCADA systems, social media and financial institutions present enormous amounts of data to sift through and manage,” said Genemar Arthur Lazo, MSBA, CISA, CGEIT, CRISC, CISSP, CEH, manager of vendor evaluation at Walt Disney Studios and research chair for the ISACA white paper. “In addition, the lack of presentation of the data in meaningful data sets and the inaccuracies of real-time data are daunting and challenging. Frameworks such as COBIT help facilitate the balances for managing risk and reward when working with big data for enterprises."


Marc Vael, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, international vice president of ISACA, said, “For many organizations, big data is about understanding which data they are capturing first, setting clear priorities in terms of business criticality, taking actions based on results and finding a big data coach to guide them whenever needed.”


Vael concluded, “Big data is about the fact that your data is precious and thus needs to be handled intelligently by future proof processes and systems and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. I recommend that every organization look at this opportunity whilst accepting the fact that the volumes will keep on growing.”
 

First of its kind research, in partnership with Canalys, offers deep insights into some of the...
According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, worldwide data center capex is...
Managed service providers (MSPs) are increasing their spending by as much as 70% to meet growing...
Coromatic, part of the E.ON group and the leading provider of robust critical infrastructure...
Datto’s Global State of the MSP: Trends and Forecasts for 2024 underscores the importance of...
Park Place Technologies has appointed Ian Anderson as Senior Director, Channel Sales, EMEA.
Node4 has passed the ISO 27017 and ISO 27018 audits, reinforcing its dedication to data security,...
Park Place Technologies has acquired Xuper Limited, an IT solutions provider based in Derby, UK.