CISA Domains and their Difficulty

It's no wonder that technology has become an important part of our lives; consequently, its use has grown exponentially in the current business world. If you are desperate to explore new things and love to be in the IT industry, then Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is one of the great career options you can have. This article will discuss what is CISA and what all are the things you must know about CISA domains. Also, learn how to get on track to earn the CISA certification course. 

Preparation for this CISA exam may take almost four to eight months based on a person's knowledge and experience level. IT professionals who wish to get a CISA accreditation should complete the CISA course covering all the five domains called modules. You have to finish reading all these five domains before being considered eligible to take the CISA certification exam.

What are CISA Domains?

You can get the Certified Information Systems Auditor certification by learning cyber security training courses. This validates your skills and knowledge for governance, cybersecurity, control, assurance, security, information, and systems auditing. 

CISA has five domains, and all these CISA 5 domains also include subdomains. These CISA exam domains refer to how the CISA exam content has been organized. In this article, you can learn about those 5 domains of CISA. Learn more CISA domains with our cyber security training courses. 

CISA Exam Syllabus: The 5 Domains (Overview)

ISACA defines five CISA domains on which you will be examined: 

• Domain 1 - Information System Auditing Process (21% of exam) 
• Domain 2 - Governance and Management of IT (17% of exam) 
• Domain 3 - Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Imp. (12% of exam) 
• Domain 4 - Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience (23% of exam) 
• Domain 5 - Protection of Information Assets (27% of exam) 

The CISA exam domains are graded on a scale of 200 points to 800 points. Therefore, you need to get 450 or more points to qualify for this exam. The time allocated for the exam will be four hours. A total of 150 multiple choice questions are given, covering five main job practice areas in IS control, security, and auditing. All the five domains are explained below.

1. Auditing Process of Information Systems

Domain 1 of 5 ISACA CISA domains consists of the IT auditing basics and how to offer audit services that align with the required best practices for controlling and protecting the information systems. 

The domain covers the implementation and development of a complicated IT audit method. In this domain, you would also have to prove that you know how to apply these standards and regulations in a practical work environment. 

Candidates are also expected to study the ISACA IT Assurance standards and Audit rules, tools, techniques, and rules. This process of auditing information systems will let you know about the audit services organization, following ISACA's perspective of IS audit regulations. It also includes the motto of helping organizations control and protect their information systems. 

The important works of this domain also include risk based IS audit technique execution by following the IS audit grade. It should also ensure that the vital details areas are audited perfectly. It is important to know how to organize particular audits to tell if the information techniques are secured and are also controlled. You should also know how to organize audits concerning IS audit levels to meet the planned audit objectives. 

Another major point is the capability to communicate about the output of the audit and to have suggestions for the stakeholders through audit reports and audit meetings. It is very vital to get interchange when required. You should also know about research audits to understand whether the management system made ideal changes or not and that too promptly. 

1. There are mainly 7 sub-domains that you have to study in this domain. They are: 
2. The Evolving IS Audit Process 
3. Control Self-Assessment 
4. Performing an IS Audit 
5. Internal Controls 
6. Risk Analysis 
7. ISACA IT Assurance and Audit Guidelines 
8. Management of the IS Audit Function

2. Management and Governance of IT

Domain 2 mainly concentrates on IT management and IT governance and validating your capability to identify vital issues and provide recommendations for safeguarding information and related technologies. 

It mainly focuses on giving required leadership along with assurance. In addition, it checks whether processes and company structures are ideal for achieving goals and backend the organization's strategy. 

Candidates in this domain should have the ability to assess a company's IT grade. Its demonstration includes all the IT processes and directions for maintenance, implementation, strategy development, and approval. You should also know about IT strategy alignment with the organization's objectives and strategies and how to calculate the IT governance structure to know if IT performance, directions, and decisions support its objectives and strategies. 

More work in this second domain includes verifying the alignment levels with the organization's objectives, strategies, and regulatory requirements. These include the sectors of IT, policies, IT human resources, IT organizational structure, related processes, IT standards and procedures, and IT resources that include allocations, investment, use, and prioritization. 

This domain also covers the knowledge of complicated management practices to know whether the organization's IT-oriented problems are checked, evaluated, monitored, managed, and reported. Another major concern in this domain is business continuity. It is very important to study about company's BCL (Business continuity plan) along with IT disaster recovery plan alignment to be aware of the company's standards to continue the required strategies of business during the IT disruption time. 

All the other auditing management and IT governance tasks include checking controls with the organization's procedures, standards, and policies and verifying the IT main performance factors to evaluate if the management gets enough information in time. 

There are 13 subdomains under this domain. They are: 

1. Auditing Business Continuity 
2. Procedures and policy 
3. Risk Management 
4. IS Practices of management (consists again of five sub-areas) 
5. Maturity and Process Improvement Models 
6. Business Continuity Planning 
7. IS Organizational Responsibilities and Structure
8. IT Governance auditing Implementation 
9. Corporate Governance 
10. IT Governance (ITG) 
11. Information Systems Strategy 
12. IT Investment and Allocation Practices 
13. IT Assurance, Monitoring Practices for Senior and Board Management

3. IS Implementation, Development, and Acquisition.

Domain 3 IS Acquisition, Development, and Implementation is all about the development, acquisition, and implementation of IT systems to achieve the goals of an organization. In addition, you should be able to write about system development, project governance, testing methodologies, and release management. 

All the tasks in this domain are practical challenges. So, applicants have to know the calculation of the business case for the investments of information systems, which includes subsequent retirement and acquisition, to know if the business case reaches business goals. It is vital to analyze the IT contract management process and supplier selection and be confident that the company's services are met. 

Some more major tasks of this domain consist of assessing the company's project control and organizational framework and knowing if the business needs are met cost-effectively or not. This work has to be done parallelly during the organization's risk management and review steps to know if the project is getting done with respect to the plan and if it is sufficiently backed up by reports with accurate status documentation promptly. 

The candidates should also be able to evaluate system information controls during the development time and the requirements, acquisition, and testing part of the compliance. This has to be done with the company's procedures, standards, policies, and other needs. Candidates should also promptly evaluate the information systems readiness for migration and implementation to know if the project, controls, deliverables, and the organization's needs are achieved. They should also determine the system post-implementation reviews to know if the project submissions, controls, and the organization's needs are met. 

There are 14 subdomains under this domain that you must know. They are: 

1. Auditing Application Controls 
2. Auditing Systems Development, Acquisition and Maintenance 
3. Systems Information Maintenance Practices 
4. Development Techniques of System and Productivity Aids 
5. Process Enhancement Practices 
6. Application Controls 
7. Business Application Development 
8. Business Application Systems 
9. Alternative Forms of Software Project Organization 
10. Business Realization 
11. Project Management Structure 
12. Project Management Practices 
13. Alternative Development Methods 
14. Infrastructure Development/ Acquisition Practices

4. IS Support, Maintenance, and Operations.

This Domain tests the knowledge of business resilience and IS operations, estimating your skills in how IT relates to the business overall. 

For this fourth section, ISACA has a very straightforward method, requiring auditors to assess the framework of IT service management and internal and third-party practices. It also helps to know if the service and control levels required by the company are being fixed and if the strategic needs are met promptly. It's very vital to study organizing constant information system reviews to know exactly if they proceed to achieve the organization's needs of the enterprise architecture or not. 

Other important domain works are also oriented in the fourth domain, assuring IT service and IT management effectively to ensure that it constantly supports the company's objectives. It includes assessing operation activities such as job configuration, scheduling, capacity management, work management, the application of timely upgrades and patches, and assessing the management of database practices to know the optimization and integrity of data quality and databases. It also consists of management of the lifecycle to know if they continue to achieve strategic objectives or not. 

There are a total of 6 subdomains under this domain that you have to know. They are: 

1. Disaster Recovery Plan 
2. Auditing Operations and Infrastructure 
3. Information Systems Operations 
4. Information Systems Hardware 
5. IS Architecture and Software 
6. IS Infrastructure of Network

5. Protection of Information Assets

The Protection of IT assets is the fifth and last domain in the CISA exam, and it is very important. This domain holds 27 percent of the CISA examination paper, with almost 60 questions.

There are 8 subdomains under this domain that you have to know. They are: 

Physical Access Exposures and Controls 

1. Mobile Computing 
2. Auditing Security of Information Management Framework 
3. Auditing Network Infrastructure Security 
4. Security Of Network Infrastructure Security 
5. Importance of IT Security Management 
6. Logical Access 
7. Environmental Controls and Exposures

Which Of The 5 Domains are Vital Compared with Others?

Now, that you know about all 5 CISA domains, it is clear that domains four and five cover almost 50 percent. However, it is also essential to get a good score in the other domains to qualify for the exam. 

CISA certification is fundamental for IT professionals, and it has practically become a required credential in the IT industry. So, reading all the five domains thoroughly and getting the certification is the best and foremost thing you have to concentrate on.

Conclusion

CISA domains are vital in clearing the certification exam. To become the very best cyber security professional, you should add a "Certified" caption to the title of Auditor of information systems on your resume. In addition, you can sharpen your career by completing KnowledgeHut CISA certification course. Then, your chance of becoming a CISA professional will be very high. Also, keep in mind that ISACA considers only dedicated candidates for this renowned certification, and it needs strict professional and academic criteria for candidates.